Frequent Flier Kevin Smith: Better Late Than Fat

First he was too fat to fly, and this time, film director Kevin Smith was too late to fly.

The ample-bellied filmmaker behind "Clerks," Mallrats" and "Jersey Girl" took to his website to chronicle how Virgin America refused to let him board when he showed up just 10 minutes before departure. Smith explains that he hates people gawking at him in first class so he hires a "concierge" skilled at helping him be the last passenger aboard.

"Their job is to get you to the plane on time, but not when boarding begins; that way, you don’t have to play the Elephant Man for passengers passing you en route to their seats," Smith explained on his site. "Essentially, you board last."

But Virgin officials wouldn't let him board the flight out of New York's JFK, displaying what he called a  "petty, lazy, unhelpful" refusal to deplane his luggage so his wife could retrieve her medication. It looked like a repeat of his battle with Southwest Airlines, which famously threw him off when he refused to buy two seats.

Virgin execs got wind of the situation and likely averted a public relations nightmare by writing Smith a "lovely, apologetic email," giving him a full refund and an offer for more free tickets --  all before Smith had landed from his next flight out of New York.

"Someone higher up in the company tried very hard to make it right… And succeeded," Smith wrote.

Selected Reading: Today, SilentBobSpeaks.com, IMDB.

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