A GUILTY PLEASURE THIS PRESIDENT’S DAY is following the evolving story of Kevin Smith’s ejection from a Saturday night Southwest Air flight from Oakland to Burbank.
TO FAT TO FLY?
Kevin “Silent Bob” Smith purchased two round trip seats. Had tickets for the 7:30 pm return flight. Arriving hours earlier, Smith went standby for the 5:10 flight.
The 5:10 flight was almost full, Smith could only get one seat.
After stowing his carry-on and sitting down, he was told that the captain had a “safety concern” and Smith had to deplane.
While waiting for a later flight, Smith started posting Twitter messages. While not as popular as Sockington (the cat), Smith has 1.66 million followers. Southwest has 1.03 million.
Smith maintains that the armrests could go down and he could buckle his safety belt without an extension.
You can get the album version of Smith’s experience in an one hour and 27 minute “SModcast” posted last night. SModcast #106
Gawker posted one of 970+ articles about the incident (HERE). This conflict was covered on this morning’s National Public Radio, The Wall Street Journal, and was posted in Hungary’s #1 news site. After saying no, a representative from Good Morning America showed up at Smith’s house Sunday night.
SOUTHWEST RESPONSE
Southwest and Jet Blue are considered the most customer-oriented air carriers. The gal working the Southwest Twitter account quickly responded to the first flurry of tweets from Smith.
In later tweets Smith says that her response “… was buried in the wave of responses I got.” Gawker caught a screen shot of the responses:
Southwest posted an apology and explaination yesterday. Gadling.com made a screen copy before the Southwest servers crashed Sunday night. (Apology Statement HERE)
Smith disputes some of the facts in the apology, that he “always” buys two seats and that he received a call from Customer Relations. Until two hours ago, 36 hours after the incident, Smith said that he has not received a phone call from Southwest.
LARRY KING TONIGHT?
About five hours ago @kingsthings reaches out to Smith “Lots of news about KevinSmith & Southwest, I would love to interview him about this tonight.”
Three hours ago “good news I’m in LA. too. No need to go to the airport. Would love for you to stop by tonight and we can talk.” Smith responds ‘kay Thanks
LINDA FROM SOUTHWEST
Within the hour of the last @kingsthings response, Smith tweets about a phone call he gets from Southwest. “If the call I just had was legit, a Linda from @SouthwestAir just apologized & said the pilot DID NOT single me out for Fatty-ejection. Waiting on a call back now.”
What would make things right for Smith is:
They could start by blogging the stuff Linda told me. I told her I would sign any document promising I’ll never sue @SouthwestAir – all they have to do is tell the truth.
I’ll go back to using @SouthwestAir if they just nut-up and admit a) they did, indeed, f-up and it got out of control, b) I (& y’all) were misled by the blog posting on @SouthwestAir: I was not, in fact, ejected because I couldn’t fit in my seat/was Too Fat To Fly. Just be honest.
Everyone’s so scared to admit to fault/f-up, for feat of getting sued. In front of all of y’all, I say this: I’ll never sue @SouthwestAir no matter WHAT facts may emerge. I don’t want any @SouthwestAir $$$, I want south western justice! You should get that, as you guys are Texans! .
Once these tweets were posted, there were media reports that Southwest made a second apology to Kevin Smith. Twitter has been over capacity for much of the time I have been writing this item.
EDITED TO ADD: Southwest’s Conversation with Kevin Smith
From My Conversation with Kevin Smith by Linda Rutherford:
Although I’m not here to debate the decision our Employees made, I can tell you that I for one have learned a lot today. The communication among our Employees was not as sharp as it should have been and, it’s apparent that Southwest could have handled this situation differently. Thanks, Kevin, for your passion around this topic. You were a reasonable guy during our conversation.
SO, LET’S CONSIDER THIS SCENARIO …
Instead of Southwest Air, it is your fire department. One of your crews is involved in a major citizen mess-up. Your department posts a response that is based on incomplete information from the crew.
A day later you get additional information that makes your first response appear mean-spirited and evasive. Admitting this situation will destroy a hard-fought reputation as being the municipal “good guys.” It will embarrass the elected officials and fire chief’s boss. This may result in additional budget cuts.
Would YOU accept Smith’s offer?
Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
URBAN COMMANDER is an irregular feature aimed at career staff working in metro-sized fire departments. It will cover topics that were too esoteric, short-term or “sharp” for the Fire Officer: Principles and Practice textbook. Click “Urban Commander” under Categories to get all of the articles.
I will be in Baltimore and headed for the Uno Chicago Grill at the Inner Harbor. 
EMS 2.0 Higher Education Information
It was hard finishing the article because I was seeing the Twitter “Whale Fail” when checking for updates.
The episode was stunning, an example of REAL reality TV. Interesting people telling compelling stories rich in texture. It helps that Justin and Mark are photogenic and articulate.
A Small Win for the Fire/Rescue Service
CommentsIN PENNSYLVANIA, AS IN MOST OTHER STATES, the Home Builders Association has launched a vile disinformation campaign against the implementation of the 2009 International Residential Code that went into effect on January 1. The revised code requires all newly constructed townhomes in Pennsylvania, built after Jan. 1, 2010, and all newly constructed one- and two-family homes built after Jan. 1, 2011, to contain a residential fire sprinkler system.
The Pennsylvania HBA has not only started spreading downright lies about the Code, but they also filed a lawsuit against the state in an attempt to block the adoption of the revised code. As part of the lawsuit, they asked for an injunction to halt implementation of the code until the lawsuit was settled, a process that could take years.
On Wednesday March 10 Commonwealth Court Judge Johnny Butler denied the injunction, saying that it does nothing to address the underlying issue they are citing.
The builders’ lawsuit will continue forward, though. It (the suit) claims that changes written by an outside code commission and adopted Dec. 31 by the state is an unconstitutional delegation of lawmaking authority. Judge Butler, in denying the injunction, reminded the builders that the 2006 Code that they are petitioning to go back to were produced by the same process that they are now saying is unconstitutional.
While the lawsuit is still standing, Firegeezer believes that the judge’s point is a strong one and may complicate the HBA’s suit. For now, the new code is still in effect, a small win for the public’s safety.
As part of the war of competing press releases, the National Fire Sprinkler Association published an op-ed in the Scranton Times Tribune HERE that contains some good points that you could add to your own arsenal of facts when the inevitable blizzard of disinformation from the builders and developers in your area begins.