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Southwest does it again
Southwest sure likes to kick people off their planes. This time a thin woman flying standby was booted to make room for an obese teenager needing two seats (who only bought one).
Thoughts?
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Re: Southwest does it again
honestly, it was difficult for me to fit in my seat. I have definately widened out a lot and felt squeezed in and took up some of my seatmate's space. Those seats are just too damn small, but what can you do?
If the lady had a purchased ticket, she'd have room to complain (no pun intended). Her standby status makes her an easy target for kick-off. I wonder if SW would have handled it differently if the obese person was an adult and not a teen . . . like, would they have demanded purchase of another ticket?
Yeah, I would have made the same decision. Especially if the kid was an unaccompanied minor.
The nerve!
House | Blog
The problem I have with the situation is that Southwest recently kicked Kevin Smith off of one of their full flights because he couldn't fit into the seat. If they did that then, when he purchased a ticket, why wouldn't they do that now?
If the woman was on standby, there's a pretty good possibility that she had purchased a ticket for a flight, it's not like she was just getting a free ride.
"Once I got a bath bomb that, once exploded, filled the tub with confetti. Little sharp metallic pieces of confetti. The product description said nothing about confetti. Oh look, there's a tiny, sharp metallic blue star stabbing me in the labia. HOW RELAXING. " - NoisyPenguin
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton
she's a kid! possibly an unaccompanied minor. i think that could change the rules.
Maybe there weren't any standby flyers to kick off. Surely there's a hierarchy of who gets the boot first in these situations. Standby, ticketed passengers who can't fit into their one assigned seat, ticketed passengers who checked in latest in an overbooked flight, etc. This isn't a new practice, people have been booted from overbooked flights for ages.
Also, yes, a standby passenger may have purchased a ticket for A flight, but not for THAT flight, hence they were low-man-on-the-totem-pole.
Maybe there weren't any standby flyers to kick off. Surely there's a hierarchy of who gets the boot first in these situations. Standby, ticketed passengers who can't fit into their one assigned seat, ticketed passengers who checked in latest in an overbooked flight, etc. This isn't a new practice, people have been booted from overbooked flights for ages.
Also, yes, a standby passenger may have purchased a ticket for A flight, but not for THAT flight, hence they were low-man-on-the-totem-pole.
My guess is they used the fat issue as an excuse and they really kicked Kevin Smith off the plane because he's a self-important douche. Great, you made a student film that people liked, and you've been riding on that for years. You can't name your kid Harley Quinn without letting the world know you're a class-A Douce.
I think there should probalby be some kind of system in place to prevent this, though. Perhaps (and I'm not kidding here) you should have to submit your weight or waist size when ordering a ticket, and if you exceed the maximum capacity for a seat, you can find out then and there so you'll be able to buy a second seat. I imagine some folks who don't fly a lot may not realize that they need a second seat (or that they're blocking the emergency exit) until they get on a plane.
I'll bet Kevin Smith did realize this, though.
I didn't realize he bothered me that much until this very post.
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But not for THAT flight. So their choice was to allow a minor to take up his purchased seat and a second non-purchased seat or to kick him off to accommodate a standby person. In Smith's case, the choice was to kick him off or to kick off someone else so that Smith could occupy that person's purchased seat as well as his own.
I wasn't insinuating Southwest did anything wrong if it sounded that way (although the kid should have had to buy 2 seats just like everyone else that requires more room due to size). It's just interesting how these stories are reported, and why. I guess in this case though there wouldn't be a story though if the kid wasn't obese because he wouldn't need the extra seat...
Seriously. This was the chick who stood up on the Today Show to demonstrate that her skirt wasn't inappropriate and they had to censor her crotch, right?
I agree with you, Wendy, that standby is always the low man on the totem pole. I can see being booted because two people who purchased tickets for that particular flight, showed up late and needed their seats back. There were two open seats on the plane, they both could have had a seat, since they both only paid for one seat. But the teenage needed two, so the woman was booted. That I don't see as being fair.
Winged, I didn't see anywhere if it was a child that was unaccompanied, which would sway my opinion, I think, just beause there was no adult to confirm the switch, parents would be freaking out if a child didn't show up on time, etc.
"Once I got a bath bomb that, once exploded, filled the tub with confetti. Little sharp metallic pieces of confetti. The product description said nothing about confetti. Oh look, there's a tiny, sharp metallic blue star stabbing me in the labia. HOW RELAXING. " - NoisyPenguin
I have no idea how they would even go about this, but there does need to be some sort of standardized "you must be this tall to ride this ride" kind of system. It just seems so haphazard. You may be fine one flight and be told you need a second seat the next.
For this particular situation, I agree that a standby passenger is not as important as an unaccompanied minor. Had she been a ticketed passenger, it would be murkier.
Yes. She kept pulling the skirt down when she sat or stood and they kept blurring out her crotch. I laughed and laughed. That chick is from San Diego.
it doesn't say if the cjild is or is not accompanied.
the point is there are two options other than the one they chose- to kick the kid off the flight or to smush her into the seat next to him. they chose the most fair option in a sticky situation
"That chick wins at Penises, for sure." -- Fenton
Actually, airlines only consider you a minor deserving of extra help if you are younger than 12. Nevertheless, Southwest did the right thing, and they weren't going to 'win' no matter what they did.
Eventually airlines are going to have to have bigger seats on their planes, just like parking lots and garages need bigger parking spaces to accomodate all these behemoth vehicles folks are driving.
This reminds me of when we were at Universal Studios a few weeks ago. My step-father is a tall man, but he's also a fairly wide man. We waited in line about 45 minutes to ride the Forbidden Journey ride and they had no "You must be this tall, this big, etc." that we saw. The way you get on the ride is kind of wonky, with moving conveyor belts and you have to jump into these chairs. We get into the chairs and the woman says "Yeah, sir, you've got to go, I can't close the overhead restraint". It kind of sucked.
The moral of that story was, I can see both sides, and it would suck to be the kid and to be singled out. It sucked for my step-dad. But I'm agree with Groomz that there should be something (similar to the baggage measurements) that say "You must be this big to ride the plane".
"Once I got a bath bomb that, once exploded, filled the tub with confetti. Little sharp metallic pieces of confetti. The product description said nothing about confetti. Oh look, there's a tiny, sharp metallic blue star stabbing me in the labia. HOW RELAXING. " - NoisyPenguin
it's obvious that southwest messed up in this regard, but the final decision was right. should they have treated her rudely? no, but having seen how some people turn into hosebeasts in airports, it is possible she was extremely rude and got treated in response to that. someone who feels the need to give her height and weight in a news article seems to be the type to be bitchy.
and i would have hated this but would rather be kicked off than smushed into a seat toughing some random person's fat that squishes under the arm rest. i hate when that happens
Southwest does have a policy that says customers of size (those that can't comfortably put down both armrests), must purchase a second seat at a reduced fare. You can see their policy and rules here: http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/cos_qa.html
However it's a pretty touchy situation and unfortunately is just usually at the discretion of whoever is working. It would probably also be pretty tough to try to get a couple hundred $ from a teenager who more than likely doesn't have a credit card on them. So I think in this case, since the other passenger was a standby passenger who probably had a confirmed seat on a later flight, they probably just used ther best judgement and I agree with their choice.
2/20/2011
Edit: Deleted repost
2/20/2011