Might have to call in the Antonov-225.
Posted on 02/08/2006 4:55:46 AM PST by billorites
Concord – An African-American woman claims Southwest Airlines unfairly subjected her to its policy requiring large passengers to buy two seats because of her race, a lawyer said yesterday at the start of her federal trial against the airline.
Nadine Thompson of Exeter, president of a cosmetics company, sued Southwest in federal court for discrimination in 2004, saying the company doesn’t uniformly enforce its policy requiring obese passengers to buy two seats.
Thompson, who had flown on Southwest frequently, was on her way to a business conference in Chicago in June 2003 when she boarded her flight at Manchester Airport. Not long after she took a seat in the back of the plane, put the arm rest down and buckled her seat belt, an employee she saw at the check-in counter asked her to get off, Thompson’s lawyer, Neil Osborne, said in opening statements.
Nadine Thompson, president, CEO and co-founder of Warm Spirit Inc. beauty and wellness company in Exeter, is suing Southwest Airlines. (DAVID LANE) She was told at the plane’s loading bridge she needed to buy a second seat for “her comfort and safety,” Osborne said, even though no one was sitting next to her. At the time, the 5-foot-8-inch Thompson weighed between 300 and 330 pounds, according to court records.
When Thompson asked for an explanation, she didn’t get one. “It was never made clear to her that she was too big to fit in her seat,” Osborne told the six-person jury.
She refused to leave and decided to return to her seat. An employee told her that if she left, Southwest would give her a refund, Osborne said. She declined, but she became increasingly agitated and decided to leave — only to be met outside the plane by a few Southwest employees and two Rockingham County Sheriff’s deputies. At that point, she started yelling at the group, at times using profanity.
“Did you ask me to purchase another ticket because I’m too fat to sit in the seat? Did you ask me to purchase another ticket because I’m a black woman?” Thompson said, according to court records.
Thompson, who got a refund, said she was humiliated and suffered emotional distress. “Southwest just asked me to get off the plane either because I’m too fat or too black or just a woman,” she said to people as she was being led to the ticket counter, according to court records.
Thompson is not challenging the passenger seat policy itself, Osborne said.
“This is not a case about weight discrimination,” he said. “This suit is about the inappropriate application of a policy in a discriminatory manner.”
Garry Lane, a Southwest lawyer, said the airline’s “customer of size” policy, introduced in 2002 in response to “squished customer” complaints and safety concerns about evacuations, wasn’t written clearly at the time. Employees made some mistakes in explaining it, but did not act out of racial bias, he said.
The policy specifically didn’t require Thompson to buy a second seat after she was allowed to board, but employees mistakenly had told her that she had to, Lane said.
“It has to be handled discreetly,” Lane said of the passenger-seat issue. “It’s part of the company’s policy.”
The employees who spoke to Thompson made sure the loading bridge was clear of other customers before they asked her to come out, he said. Also, they had noticed her when she boarded the plane, but found it difficult to judge if she needed to buy another seat without seeing her sit down, he said.
The policy states that a customer of size is someone who can’t sit in a seat without having the armrest raised and is sitting on part of the seat next to him. Lane said the Southwest employees will testify that they saw the armrest up most of the time and that Thompson was sitting on part of the adjacent seat.
Lane said none of the workers ever shouted at Thompson, used profanity or touched her. The deputies, who handle security at the airport, did not handcuff her and helped her make flight arrangements to Chicago via another airline, he said.
Thompson was expected to testify today.
She thinks she was discriminated against because she was "a woman of color" while the airlines says it was merely applying its policy regarding "a customer of size".
Don't you love the euphemisms?
You are right that white and yellow people get obese. Medical research shows that some black and brown folks are very prone to obesity...more so than others.
Hawiians, some peoples of South America and Central America, some sub-Saharan Africans...the list goes on.
You just answered the liberal assertion: "Bush's policies are forcing the poor to decide between food and medicine!"
Now we know which one they choose most often!
The controversy over double-charging fat airline passengers began when an internal memo escaped the confines of Southwest headquarters, which are in a shack on the outskirts of Barstow, Calif. (This is also where Southwest keeps its plane.) The memo was to remind employees of a 22-year-old policy stating that customers must pay for as many seats as they occupy, and that ticket agents, if necessary, should remind customers of this fact, preferably in a loud voice and using the expressions "jumbo" and "tons-o'-fun." ... So how much spillage constitutes "occupying"? Where do you draw the line? What, should Southwest put a box at the ticket counter, and you have to stand in the box, and if you don't fit completely inside it, you have to pay for another seat? YES. That would be GREAT. I would spend hours at the airport, just watching people get in the Fat Box. -- "Seating Disorder," July 10
yes it has worked so well with the moslem scumsuckers.
""Bush's policies are forcing the poor to decide between food and medicine!""
That is such a crap statement (not by you, but the libs), because the poor can get pretty much whatever they want for free. it's the undereducated working people who really get screwed. If you make between 30,000 and 50,000 and have kids, you'd be better off to quit your job and move downtown, preferably right next to to state 'entitlements" office and get your free government housing (with cable TV), free governemnet food and free government college tuition and free government methadone, free government summer camps in the "Fresh Air" for the kids, etc.
Nell Carter's long lost twin?!?!
I can't wait to see this on A and E's "Airline"
http://www.aetv.com/airline/airline_about.jsp
"Airline™ focuses on the ups and downs of passengers and Southwest's staff and crew at Los Angeles International (LAX), Chicago Midway, Baltimore/Washington International, and Houston Hobby airports."
~~~~~~~~~~
Nevermind, I see she boarded in NH, too bad -- but even if it had been filmed, we probably wouldn't get to see it since she's suing.
That is why we have created generations hooked on gov't support. These people are smart enough to work the system to maximize their gov't benefits, but do not get jobs because there is no incentive.
That's why welfare reform worked so well.
Maybe they should have one of those things at the check-in counter: "If your butt won't fit here, you need to buy two seats."
Might have to call in the Antonov-225.
Dont' you get to upgrade to first class when the seats are not filled? My husband and I are frequent flyers and do. I don't see anyone whining that we got something they didn't! It would be petty for someone to complain that the fatty has a seat that fits his butt.
Heck, the shadow of her butt probably weighs 50.
"Don't you love the euphemisms?"
Heh, indeed. Why is '[noun] of [adjective]' less offensive than '[adjective] [noun]'? That's what I want to know!
When you mail parcels you pay according to weight. Why not charge passengers the same way ... so much per pound including luggage.
If you're huge, you've gotta buy two seats, lady. Doesn't matter if you're white, black, yellow, red, or green.
Not fitting isn't a clue? Doesn't this woman own a mirror?
It's often true that cheaper food is less healthy, but no one is forcing people to eat so much of it. You can save even more if you buy the cheap food and eat smaller portions. Or adjust your priorities - spend a little more on the healthier food and cut back somewhere else. Besides, if this woman is a CEO and can afford to fly on an airplane, it seems she ought to have enough money to buy whatever healthy food she wants.
Probably the armrest for the next seat over.
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