Southwest Airlines, or @southwestair, provided a pretty good example over the weekend of how to use the Social Web to get ahead of the game when managing a negative customer experience.  Film maker Kevin Smith tweeted his frustrations at being kicked off a Southwest flight for, he claims, being too fat.

I follow @southwestair but not Kevin Smith – although I do now – so I tuned in when I began seeing Southwest’s multiple tweets, including this one which really got my attention:

“I read every single tweet that comes into this account, and take every tweet seriously. We’ll handle @thatkevinsmith issue asap”

Here’s the complete recap, thanks to Mashable.com, and it’s mostly straightforward:

The incident, which took place on Saturday, resulted in dozens of Tweets on Smith’s account (he has 1.6 million followers at the time of writing). A brief sampling:

Dear @SouthwestAir – I know I’m fat, but was Captain Leysath really justified in throwing me off a flight for which I was already seated?

Wanna tell me I’m too wide for the sky? Totally cool. But fair warning, folks: IF YOU LOOK LIKE ME, YOU MAY BE EJECTED FROM @SOUTHWESTAIR.

Dear @SouthwestAir, I’m on another one of your planes, safely seated & buckled-in again, waiting to be dragged off in front of the normies. (accompanied by a Twitpic (), top right)

Southwest, which also counts over 1 million Twitter followers, responded:

@ThatKevinSmith hey Kevin! I’m so sorry for your experience tonight! Hopefully we can make things right, please follow so we may DM!

Hey folks – trust me, I saw the tweets from @ThatKevinSmith I’ll get all the details and handle accordingly! Thanks for your concerns!

I read every single tweet that comes into this account, and take every tweet seriously. We’ll handle @thatkevinsmith issue asap

I’ve read the tweets all night from @thatkevinsmith – He’ll be getting a call at home from our Customer Relations VP tonight.

@ThatKevinSmith Ok, I’ll be sure to check it out. Hopefully you received our voicemail earlier this evening.

@ThatKevinSmith Again, I’m very sorry for the experience you had tonight. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do.

@ThatKevinSmith We called you on the number you had on file in your reservation. If you prefer a different number, please DM me. Thanks!

Our apology to @ThatKevinSmith and more details regarding the events from last night – http://cot.ag/96KHC7 #Southwest

Two thoughts: I commend Southwest for its use of Social media and its willingness to engage an upset customer. I also doubt this is over. Kevin, based upon his latest tweets, is none to happy about the experience and seems intent on making sure the world knows of his negative experience. You can follow him, and his continuing fuming, here: http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith