OK, all you fat-haters, you are assuming the teen did not have to pay for the seat because the short, skinny woman said so. The article says no such thing, and if you read Southwest’s policy, they MAKE oversized passengers pay for the seat, if the plane is full. The article has conveniently left out whether or not the teen was charged the full fare, but their policy on their website states clearly that they must if they cannot put down the arm rests. The oversized passenger (the teen) likely paid for the seat because she had to. The skinny lady was a late arrival (standby) so, she was not guaranteed a seat, and the ‘fattie’ teenager, as you people have judged her, had bought a seat.
I think you people are being very unfair to the child in this situation. Fat teens are subjected to humiliation all the time. Fat adults are subjected to humiliation all the time. In my opinion, the ‘grown-up’ in this situation, with the STANDBY ticket behaved like a child. I don’t care if she paid full fare.
And many of you are reacting like children as well. Think about that poor teenager and how humiliating this incident probably was for him/her. I see people who are on standby not make it on the plane all the time. They don’t cry like little babies about it.
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
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??