Silent Bob vs. the airlines, the sequel

Remember last February, when Kevin "Silent Bob" Smith was kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight because he couldn't fit into the seat? Well, the "Clerks" filmaker is back in the headlines this week after suffering what he feels is another injustice at the hands of airport personnel.

Seems Smith, his wife, Jeffifer Schwalbach, and friend Jason Mewes arrived at JFK an hour before their scheduled 11:45 a.m. Virgin Atlantic flight to Los Angeles, according to a post on his blog, SilentBobSpeaks.com. And although the trio contends they arrived at the gate at 11:35, the gate clerk closed the Jetway door as they were approaching, he wrote in an email to the airline, which was posted on the blog.

"We told him we were on the flight and he told us it was too late; the flight was closed. It was 11:36 . . . still over five minutes 'til the scheduled departure," Smith wrote, adding that the clerks refused to try to get the checked luggage off the plane so that Schwalbach could retrieve her medication.

Smith says the airline apologized the same day, and gave them free future tickets in addition to a refund.

But why did he wait until 10 minutes before the scheduled takeoff to approach the gate? When I travel, I head there straight from security, and I usually arrive at the airport 2 hours early. Apparently, I'm not the only one wondering this, as Smith posted that's the number one question he's been getting over twitter these past few days. The answer, in a nutshell, is because I'm not famous:

"When you fly first [class], you board first, sit down… and then EVERYONE files past you. And when you’re the Too Fat To Fly guy on a plane? Well, everyone stares. Then the whispering starts. A hundred people look right at you - when you’re not on a stage. It kinda blows.

"But [Ben] Affleck told me that when he flies, he uses a concierge service: a company that works with the airport and each airlines. 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. Essentially, you board last. The entire service is designed to get you to the plane door shortly before the door closes.

"We were at the airport and checked-in for over an hour before departure, waiting in the lounge. Dorothy, our concierge, has been doing her job for years; she knows EXACTLY how much time she has to get her clients to the plane before the door closes. This is how she makes her living, so it behooves her to know when to head for the plane; we had time. The plane was not only in sight, it REMAINED in sight for the next 15/20 minutes. Dorothy the concierge was, rightfully, beside herself: the gate agents made HER look bad - even though this is EXACTLY how she does her job every day.

So that’s why I got to the door ten minutes before the flight: because I was told to by a professional who’s been working JFK for years. It didn’t matter; The gate agents made up their minds to lose Virgin some business."

This guy can't seem to catch a break when traveling. But he's remained a good sport, adding:

"But that’s in the past now. Virgin America did EXACTLY what any corporation/company should do when their customers have issues with their service: they almost instantly self-corrected. I appreciate that they’ve done their best to repair damage and apologize."

Your thoughts?