(Originally appeared on the Daily Waffle blog.)

 

With one more name added to the list its time to talk about flying celebrities.  No, we have not given the gift of breaking the laws of gravity to our richest entertainers.  Although to be fair, when that is invented who else will be able to afford it?  Instead this is about the recent trend of throwing celebrities off of planes because of their behavior.

Now sometimes this is warranted.  Recently Alec Baldwin (he of 30 Rock and lesser brothers) was kicked off of an American Airlines flight because he wouldn’t put his phone away.  I’ve never played Words with Friends but if its half as addictive as Angry Birds or Plants vs Zombies he may have reason to not want to turn off his mobile.  Alec’s reasons are that the plane was waiting for its turn on the runway and other people had their phones out.  Its unknown if the other people were also being asked to put phones away, or if he was singled out.  Either way it is standard flying procedure to turn off your phone.  Celebrity or not, he was not being asked to do anything that us Morlocks wouldn’t also be asked.  The story will fade away and neither American Airlines nor Alec Baldwin will have to endure any damage because of this incident.

Then we have Southwest.  This airline has become such a joke that anytime something bad happens to an individual on a flight we all ask, “were you flying Southwest”?  The sad thing is, most of the time this question is answered in the affirmative.  They kicked famed director Kevin Smith off of a flight claiming he was too fat to fly.  If the arm rests go down, and the seatbelt clicks you’re set.  I think we all have had horrible flights where these two simple things did not happen, and yet there you sat, getting intimate with a larger stranger.

I know what you’re thinking!  “I bet some skinny chick wouldn’t have these problems!”  And you would be right.  As long as that skinny chick isn’t gay and doesn’t have the audacity (sarcasm button) to kiss her girlfriend in public.  Star of the L-Word, Leisha Hailey was removed from a Southwest flight for kissing her girlfriend.  The airline stated that they are a family business and cant tolerate such actions on their flights.  I took a cross country flight in which the in flight movie was Monster In Law starring J-Lo.  That was offensive!

Kissing your love is not offensive.  Many people taking flights are taking them to a vacation destination.  As someone who works opposite hours as my lady love I can tell you that should the opportunity arise to have a week together we would be acting like high school kids.  Holding hands, snuggling, kisses and overly lovey conversations.  With extra fees for luggage, drinks and three dollar tiny bags of pretzels the sight of a couple in love may keep me in a good enough mood to get me through the trip.  And its not like the two ladies had their pants off!

Billie Joe Armstrong was kicked off of a Southwest flight for having saggy pants.  Saggy pants.  Look the days of luxury airlines are over, I know.  The airlines don’t provide me with a comfortable experience and in return I’m not getting dressed up for them.  Sounds like a fair deal to me.

Not only is there the rudeness and intolerance involved in these issues, but the stupidity of pulling these things on celebrities.  Not to say its right to make anyone feel like garbage or to remove them from planes for prejudice reasons. But, how can you be so dumb to do this to people who have thousands if not millions of fans across all social media who will turn events like these into major news stories.

How about you, readers of the Daily Waffle?  I know many of you live in a country pretty much surrounded by water (some would call that an island).  Therefore travelling anywhere else by any means can be an ordeal.  Can a person be too fat to drive?  Should trains be segregated into straight and gay cars?  Or do people just need to calm down and be a little more respectful of their fellow travelers?