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05 Apr 2011 12:23

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U.S.: Southwest Airlines: Our Boeing 737s not all they’re cracked up to be

In an inspection of their fleet of 737s following a plane’s emergency landing last week, the airline says that five of their planes had fuselage cracks in them. Kevin Smith’s PR flub no longer looks so bad. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 Apr 2011 13:45

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Politics: National Transportation Safety Board weighs in on Flight 812

  • Was the aircraft well maintained and should it have been maintained better? That is exactly why we are here, to look at why this problem occurred… We did find evidence of widespread cracking across this entire fracture surface.
  • NTSB member Robert Sumwalt • Speaking at a press conference regarding the nearly calamitous defect on Southwest Airlines Flight 812 last Friday, which tore open a piece of the overhead fuselage. Some 300 flights have been canceled to free up the Southwest 737s now subject to inspection, “aircraft skin fatigue” being what inspectors consider the most likely culprit (thanks to producermatthew for his great work on this). source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Feb 2011 08:51

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Culture: Kevin Smith: I just lost tons of weight. Take that Southwest Airlines!

  • 65+ number of pounds Kevin Smith has lost since his unfortunate encounter with a Southwest Airlines flight
  • no Smith isn’t choosing to show off his new figure – he’s dressing exactly the same as he was before source
  • » Not a changed man: In explaining his reasoning, the “Red State” director had this to say about the Southwest incident: “At that moment, I was like, you know what? I’ll lose the weight, but I’m not putting on thinner clothes. Because why? What’s the difference? I’m still the same person I was 65 pounds heavier.” Yep, still a fat dude at heart.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Sep 2010 10:32

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Biz: Southwest gobbles up AirTran in discount airline merger

  • $1.4 billion sealed the deal for Southwest and AirTran source
  • » Why Southwest really wants it: The discount airline currently doesn’t have a stake in Atlanta’s airport, the biggest in the world and the biggest major market Southwest currently doesn’t serve. AirTran’s biggest hub is Atlanta. So this is good for the company.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2010 20:25

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Culture: The saga of Kevin Smith’s wide load and Southwest continues

  • Dude, I know I’m fat. That’s not why I was truly thrown off that plane because I fit perfectly in the seat.
  • Director Kevin Smith • On day three of SouthwestGate, which is proving to be a bit of a boon for Smith, who has a new movie (starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan!) coming out next weekend. Smith has threatened to “scorch the earth” with his complaints. Even though Southwest had the lowest level of customer complaints of all airlines in 2009, Smith is also enough of a PR genius to know how to ride a golden pony like this for days. He survived “Jersey Girl” without too much damage, right? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Feb 2010 21:28

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Culture: Southwest Airlines throws off the wrong fat guy: Kevin Smith

  • Hey @SouthwestAir I’ve landed in Burbank. Don’t worry: wall of the plane was opened & I was airlifted out while Richard Simmons supervised.
  • Director Kevin Smith • Regarding a harrowing experience where he was booted from a flight because he was too fat, according to the pilot. He later got on another flight, but not before he tweeted about it to his 1.6 million followers on Twitter. The director, who helmed the upcoming Bruce Willis/Tracy Morgan awesomefest CopOut, says he’s not that fat yet. In case you’re wondering, Southwest responded, claiming they’ve had the “persons of size” policy for 25 years now. Our question: Where’s your private jet, Silent Bob? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

31 Oct 2009 16:02

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Biz: Some lady’s loud, annoying kid forces Southwest Airlines to apologize

  • It is extremely rare for any situation to escalate to the point where we ask a customer to leave a flight. This was an isolated incident where our flight attendants felt it was the right thing to do.
  • Southwest Airlines representative Chris Mainz • On a highly-buzzed incident where Pamela Root was removed from a flight with her two-year-old son, Adam, because the kid was too freaking loud and whiny. Some would applaud the airline for doing that, but it left Root in a crappy situation, because her checked luggage was still on the fight, meaning she had no diapers or way to take care of the kid. We have sympathy for Root AND Southwest Airlines. It was a tough situation. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

14 Jul 2009 10:32

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U.S.: Phrase you don’t want to hear when flying: Football-sized hole

  • The cabin depressurized, but everyone’s OK. A Southwest Airlines plane headed from Nashville to Baltimore had to make an emergency landing in Charleston, West Virginia yesterday after a giant hole opened up above the cabin 34,000 feet in the air, causing the plane’s oxygen masks to come down. Despite how !#(&@*& scary that sounds, nobody was hurt. Whew. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 May 2009 14:18

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Biz: Southwest, looking for revenue, stares hard at kids and pets

  • $50 charge for children traveling alone on an airplane, round-trip source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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