HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Kevin Smith is making his list and checking off airlines.
The director has vowed to never fly Virgin America again, less than eight months after he was famously kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight for being "too fat."
Smith took to his blog Monday after he and his wife, Jennifer Schwalbach, and a friend Jason Mewes, weren’t allowed on their New York to Los Angeles flight. Smith said they checked in over an hour early at John F. Kennedy airport and "even took advantage of a concierge service – an airport liaison whose job it is to get travelers on their planes on time." But the threesome was turned away from boarding the flight when they got to the gate 10 minutes before departure.
"We pleaded with Manny (the unfriendly face of Virgin America JFK working the gate), pointing out the remaining time (there were still 8 minutes before scheduled departure), and pointing out that the jetway was still attached to the plane," wrote Smith. "Flying as much as I do (usually up at the front of the plane), I know that the jetway only gets pulled back ONCE THE PLANE DOOR IS SECURELY CLOSED."
"As we tried to get Manny to realize our bags were under the plane and we’d been checked in for an hour, the jetway stayed in place," he continued. "The plane wouldn’t pull back from the gate for another 15 minutes (if you want, I can show you the picture we took of the jetway still attached, with Mewes’ phone displaying the time in the foreground; yes, I took that picture; sadly, that’s the world we live in now)."
The flight fiasco resulted in Smith missing his kids’ first basketball game, but his biggest gripe was not being able to get their luggage off the plane since it contained medication his wife needed.
"I’ve been through it with an airline before," he complained. "I knew this was a losing battle-for-reason; I’ve dealt with petty, per-hour tyrants who abuse their authority and assume nobody further up the corporate ladder is ever gonna hear about how they represented their employers in the worst possible light. Sometimes, y’all put folks up front who give your company a bad name."
Smith ended by saying he would "never spend another dime on anything Virgin-related ever again," but he lightened up after the airline tried to make amends.
"Unlike Southworst, @VirginAtlantic seems to care: lovely, apologetic email, full refund for flight, free tix offer – all before I’ve landed," he updated his fans. "I appreciate the gesture/effort."
