02-15-2010
06:41 PM
1 Love
Southwest:
The policy you hold has become an industry standard. Whether or not Kevin Smith was, in fact, too large to fit in the seat is the question he is proposing.
I believe you are handling the situation, from a public relations perspective, marvelously. I would go further to say, as a Kevin Smith fan, his following is extremely loyal to him and will follow him arm and arm in the crusade against Southwest. (While this may not be true of the more rational fan base).
With his new movie coming out, the whole thing may be a publicity stunt orchestrated by either him or his publicist (and a pretty effective one at that). It's unfortunate that a company's reputation has to suffer - however slightly or perhaps, in the long run, majorly - from it.
I think it's a GREAT call on your part to not have offered him any exceptions in the way of customer service or refunds. That would have been, in my opinion, a fatal mistake. Those who complain with the biggest scenes are always given the greatest exceptions, and I've never agreed with that policy. I believe far more people would have been upset by this had you backed down and offered him crazy exceptions. (Also, it wouldn't have changed the minds of any of the Kevin Smith followers, anyway, as he seems to be unhappy regardless of what you have done.)
Not-so-silent-Bob is not an offensive title? He is tweeting about this experience every couple of minutes for days now. It's better than saying Big-Mouthed-Bob-Is-More-Like-It, while that may be what you actually think right now.
I suppose all I can say, as a fan of both brands, is that you have handled it to the best of your ability, and I hope that you have followed through on communications you have claimed.
I'm sure the whole thing will die down by the time his movie opens.
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