And in our mind's eye everyone of us just knows what this woman looks like.
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.
you have not suffered anything until you fly to s america. they load those planes up so good, i dont know how they get off the ground. and the smell? i dare anyone to try it.
Do a price comparison at the store, outside of the veggie isle. The cheaper a food is usually means the worse it is for you. I'm not saying its an excuse, but price shopping alone on a budget is one of the hardest ways to stay fit unless you are a vegan.
I have flown to Mexico City under much the same conditions...lol. Does that count? It was a horrid experience.
I wonder how they'll weigh her testimony? Hopefully they treat the suit with sufficient gravity....
It is expensive to eat a healthy diet. Recently, I took stock of my cheapskate ways-make cheap meals because I'm tying to save money-lots of pasta and casseroles. I decided to spend more on groceries because my kids were looking a little pudgy-more fruit and vegies, leaner cuts of meat and a a YTNCA membership is helping us to lose weight and be healthier in general. It costs money to buy healthy food-the poor eat a high carb an a high fat diet.
Nyconse
"I find it odd that the poor in America are often grossly obese"
Eliminate food stamps and stamp out the problem.
Looking at the grocery baskets of the lard asses paying for them with food stamps tells me they are buying and gorging on fat food the rest of can't afford.
Is that a picture of the plaintiff or an airplane?
:0 )
Thompson formerly the dean of "multicultural affairs" at exeter academy.
I sat next to a huge person once. She was so big she took up all of her seat and more than half of mine. I was squeezed into the lap of the person at the window. Her body completely filled the seat area up to the seat in front of her and puffed out on top. Neither she nor I could have gotten our tray tables down, nor was the people in front of us able to recline. The plane was completely full, so there was no where else I could go. She was wheeled on and off the plane because she was too big to walk. I had to wait until the plane was empty, a wheelchair was brought out to get her and she was wheeled off before I could get move. It was a nightmare. Fortunately for me I did not have a connecting flight. Yes, I think that someone that large should buy two seats.
I think they should buy three seats. I have had to sit next to a FAT person on several flights and it is not something that one should be made to do it is punishment. Having to sit on the edge of my seat for 3 hours was not fun.
People are fat because of their personal actions and should not be allowed to fly unless they do not cause others pain and suffering.
Oh the irony. Coming on the heels of Coretta Scott Kings funeral, where we heard songs of praise for her fight for equality....comes this cow who's too fat to fit in a seat, and starts screaming racism. Disgusting.
ok, you experienced the lite version. from wherever in the usa, mexico is at most five hours? yes? try going to argentina with a plane load of cackling illegals who think the plane stays aloft with magic. its torture, i can imagine the only worse thing would be to fly around africa as their safety record is beyond abysmal.
The closest I got was a flight to San Juan, PR. That was enough for me. I fly a lot and I could tell during takeoff the plane was really heavy and I have been on many cattle cars in my day, that flight was the worst.
So she's fat because she's black?
Actually some black and brown skinned people have a propensity to obesity.
And, she probably had BO to boot!
maybe the un will do something worthwhile, have global classes on how to behave while flying?
Here's an easy solution. Do you know those little racks that you have to put your hand carried luggage in to see if it will fit in the overhead. Well, just make another one that says, "If your ass does not fit here, you must buy another seat." There, no surprises.
And in our mind's eye everyone of us just knows what this woman looks like.
Not race, lady. Fat a$$ - yes! Race, NO!!
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