Posted on 07/26/2010 2:35:27 PM PDT by MissTed
Edited on 07/26/2010 3:15:37 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Where I come from that'd be worth a free flight later that evening, and two vouchers for future flights. I'm all for the pound of flesh gambit.
Frequent fliers will know that sometimes you can get to the airport sooner than you had expected and try to catch an earlier flight. If your ticket isn’t unrestricted, you have to pay for the change and be willing to standby for the earlier flight. I’d say something like this was going on.
Having flown South West frequently, I’ve observed that they do not like to turn away late arriving passengers who miss the 20 minute gate check-in window where their reservation is subject to cancellation and a standby can be given their seat. SW tries to accommodate these last-minute folks.
I’m guessing the kid had tickets for two seats and rather than send an airplane out with an open seat, the agent elected to pull the standby and seat the doublet thus filling out the cabin. Just my very educated guess.
The biggest mistake SW made was letting this get into the news. They could have bought the girls silence for a lot less than a year of free flying.
‘berating’
You make a good point. Upon reading the article I just assumed overweight=overeating, a medical problem didn't even occur to me. Anyway you look at it being fourteen and obese must be pretty hard, whatever the reason.
Can someone please find the information in the article where it said the teenager was late arriving? I can’t find it anywhere. Oh, that’s because people on this thread are making assumptions about what happened and judging this young person unfairly because of their prejudices.
Original article
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/07/24/2911747/petite-flier-booted-off-southwest.html
The key sentence:
Why the extra concern? The person(girl) requiring two seats was just 14 years old.
Southwest was probably hamstrung by federal law, anti-discrimination against the fat kid.
Believe me, the airline would rather sell the extra seat that obese passengers may now demand for free. It’s an absurdity, but the airlines’ hands are tied.
The skinny lady’s problem was that, even paying full-fare, she was flying standby, which meant she was at the top of the bump list if she didn’t have a confirmed reservation.
The article is short on info so we don’t the situation or whether the teenage girl had paid for both seats or was charged for the seat when it became evident it was needed in order for her to fly. Apparently the girl had a seat booked and it maybe that the standby seat was needed to meet the requirements of the airline’s “customer of size regs”. We just don’t know.
You are correct about the guidelines for seats according to the Southwest Airlines website.
Southwest Airline Site:
Guidelines for Customers of Size
Customers who are unable to lower both armrests and/or who compromise any portion of adjacent seating should proactively book the number of seats needed prior to travel. The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats and measures 17 inches in width. This purchase serves as a notification of a special seating need and allows us to process a refund of the additional seating cost after travel (provided the flight doesn’t oversell). Most importantly, it ensures that all onboard have access to safe and comfortable seating.
For more information, please refer to our Customer of size Q&A: http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/cos_qa.html
Or the woman’s.
AH, the old “medical condition” BS. We have epidemic obesity because an entire generation has been born with its posterior attached to a LazyBoy and an a forkattached to one hand and a spoon to the other.
Nobody gets to the garganuan proportions seen these days (300 lbs +) because of a “medical condition”, eating like a pig and not exercising is a “medical condition”.
BTW, I have been on the plane with people from the NFL and NBA. They take up one seat because they fly first AND because they are HWP. In other words, the 290lbs lineman is usually about 6’6”.
Just my very educated guess.
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That’s a good guess, but have you ever seen an airline agent pull a passenger from an already boarded airplane?
Just to accomodate someone who missed the boarding call?
If I was this woman, I’d be hollering too.
True, she was flying standby but this quote from the article states she paid full fare for her seat.
“She was flying standby from Las Vegas to Sacramento and had paid the full fare for the last available seat on the plane.”
I didn’t say anything about her being late arriving. Th earticle does say, however, that the girl had paid for ONE seat.
I don’t know. I still like SW airlines and will use them int he future anyways.
Can someone please find the information in the article where it said the teenager was late arriving?
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Not in the article, but if you know how standby works, then you know: The obese kid was late. Missed the boarding call.
I look at it this way, fat people = fodder.
Good point. You are absolutely right.
What I’d like to know is why all these too-fat-for-one-seat stories are about Southwest — large-size people don’t fly United, American? Or do they have larger coach seats such that there is no requirement to purchase two full fares, this business of selling off your seat to stand-by doesn’t happen with the other airlines??
No, the woman kicked off the plane was quoted as saying that. How would she know whether the child had paid for both seats or not?
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