Woman told she's too big to fly

WOAI ^ | 07/21/2010 | Reported by: Janet Kwak

[Responsibility2nd]

 

Woman told she's too big to fly

 

 

 

SAN ANTONIO -- Mary Louise Lozano says she was humiliated after Southwest Airlines told her she was too big to fly.

"I felt like there wasn't a big enough rock for me to crawl under," says Lozano. On July 8th, she was supposed to fly to Baltimore - a gift from her brother she hasn't seen in four years. However, when she got to the gate, she was told she'd have to purchase an extra ticket because she wouldn't fit into a seat.

"It was judgmental," adds Lozano, who weights 298 pounds. "It was based on their judgment. People were hearing everything that was going on, parading me around. I wouldn't call that discreet.

Southwest Airlines wouldn’t comment specifically on Mary’s case, but say that all their passenger size-related guidelines are found online. Representatives with the airline say passengers must fit into a 17-inch seat with the armrests down, or buy another ticket for extra space. If the plane isn’t full, you can get that extra money back. However, when News 4 WOAI asked how staff members determine who can fit to fly, they said it’s based on visual assessments – what their employees see.

Southwest refunded Mary’s ticket, and her brother is now flying to San Antonio instead.

“Even though I’m very big, I feel very little,” Lozano adds. “I feel damaged or something. I don’t want to take a bus or a plane, I wont’ take a train, I don’t feel like I can travel in any vehicle except my car.”

Here’s a list of passenger size guidelines for airlines at San Antonio International Airport:

Aeromexico CLICK HERE

Airtran: CLICK HERE

American: CLICK HERE

Continental: CLICK HERE

Delta: CLICK HERE

Frontier: CLICK HERE

Skywest: CLICK HERE

Southwest: CLICK HERE

United: CLICK HERE

US Airways: CLICK HERE

[the_daug]

“Next time she should take the train. “

Yea, and strap her down on a flatcar.

A box car is fine. Shut the doors and she can bounce around without bouncing out and loose weight too.

[SeaHawkFan]

Unless an airline seat was a board, your test is not accurate. The seats are padded and curved, so you would need 3-4” less. I’m 6’3” and 275 and very muscular legs and I have no problem staying in my own space.

[sionnsar]

just because Porko Woman's feelings are hurt?

Some medications have the side-effect of putting on pounds bigtime. A family member who was once a fit, trim tennis-player suffers from this -- though she still fits into an airline seat.

[Raebie]

Same here. The first thing he did after he sat down was raise the armrest between us. “Do you mind?” he said. “Absolutely” I said, and lowered it back down.

[Hoffer Rand]

"IF GOD WANTED HER TO FLY, HE WOULD HAVE PUT WINGS ON HER ASS!"

Don't think wings are going to cut it. At her size, she's damn near going to need a JATO.

[ArrogantBustard]

Seat layout and width is determined by the airline, not the manufacturer.

Coach class on the Boeing 787, for example, will be available in either a 3+2+3 seats per row arrangement with seats almost 19 inches wide or a 3+3+3 arrangement with 17 inch seats.

19 inch is similar to a 777, which is remarkably comfortable. 17 inch is narrower than a 737, which would truly suck.

[ArrogantBustard]

The players in the NBA don't fly in coach ...

[Oberon]

The reason why doesn’t matter. If she’s big enough to need two seats, she needs to pay for two seats. It’s not the airline’s job to take the hit for her medical misfortune.

[Matchett-PI]

"Don't think wings are going to cut it. At her size, she's damn near going to need a JATO."

A jet for additional thrust on takeoff? Yeah ... you're probably right. :)

[Scythian]

What about the Cargo hold? Seriously, they should make a special part of the cabin for overweight people and charge them more because of the extra fuel, problem solved.

[Scythian]

I usually get stuck sitting next to something like this, oh wait, that's good !

[sionnsar]

LOL, last time that happened she never stopped talking. That was not good. *\;-)

[Let's Roll]

“Is the airline supposed to give up one ticket’s worth of seating capacity just because Porko Woman’s feelings are hurt?”

What usually happens in real life is she would only pay for one seat and then ooze over onto you, literally. You’re the one who ends up paying. Because the airline didn’t want to hurt her feelings, you end up with the stiff neck, shoulder etc. This is almost never mentioned in these stories but it is what happens if the flight is full and they try to cram 10 lbs of sugar into a 5 lb sack aka one seat.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

What? Those things talk??

(I’m too busy admiring their pysical atrributes to notice...)

[Gene Eric]

>> I am small and hate being sandwiched between blobs of fat.

LOL - so you’re the mysterious voice twixt the two fatties.

[patriot08]

Yeah :)

[whence911]

Seat layout and width is determined by the airline, not the manufacturer. ???

I would think that seat width is a factor of the width of the plane and the number of seats. The manufacturer makes the plane, but the airlines could order wider planes. There's more than 1 company making commercial airplanes.

[ArrogantBustard]

Manufacturer offers multiple configurations, airline picks what they want.

[newnhdad]

I had this one sitting next to me on my last flight that was one for the books. First, I’m not large (5’ 11” 185lbs, 34” waist) and the seat was not tight. The woman that sat next to me was probably 200lbs+ and shorter than my 5’ 3” wife. Her hips were jammed into the seat so tight that it strained the dividers. Her mammoth legs were jamming into my leg and her sausage arms needed their own seats. It was miserable but she kept trying to shove me off the arm rest and I finally turned to her and said “what is your problem?” she said that I was too big for my seat. I retorted “why don’t we ask the flight attendants who they think should pay for a second seat” and I hit the button and asked. After that, she kept her burger hole shut.

The fine folks at SWA gave my wife and I a bunch of free drink coupons which helped deal with the fat bull hippo who by this point was sitting there sweating like Patrick Ewing for three hours while we got hammered and watched videos on the laptop. Based on how quickly they doled out those coupons, I’m guessing they do that often.