'Person Of Size' Angry About Need For Spill-Over Ticket

Sacramento Bee via Scripps Howard ^ | June 18, 2002 | Bob Shallit

[Reaganwuzthebest]

As a professional services executive for a software company, Steve McAllister travels a lot. The resident of the California foothills figures he's accumulated a couple million frequent flier miles and flown on Southwest Airlines at least 100 times.

But he never before experienced what happened a week ago. And he was hopping mad.

While buying a ticket for a Southwest flight from Sacramento to Burbank, Calif., he was told he'd need to buy an extra ticket.

The reason? He's what the airline calls "a person of size" - the PC term, evidently, for someone so large he may need more than one seat.

McAllister is, in fact, a big man - 6 feet 2 inches, 350 pounds. But the former college football player says he's never been accused of taking up more than a single seat on a flight.

"To be honest, I was really outraged," McAllister says of the request for double payment. Eventually, after some heated words, he was allowed to get a single ticket but only because the Southwest people were a little premature in enforcing a new policy.

As of June 26, large customers will have to pay the extra fare - but can seek reimbursement if it turns out the flight has unoccupied seats. In the past, ticket agents had the option of charging big people for an extra seat when a flight was fully booked. But they apparently didn't do it very often.

So how do the agents determine if a customer is likely to exceed his allotted space? It's a judgment call, says airlines spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger.

It is, she acknowledges, "a very delicate situation."

[TheLooseThread]

"And he was hopping mad."

I hope he wasn't hopping mad on the flight.

[flair2000]

I flew from Virginia to Texas one time on a cramped MD-80 and was seated next to a very big woman (I was in the window seat, and boy did I get an up-close view of the window). There were some guys who I worked with who were on the flight (we were going to a company function), and I ended up being the butt of several jokes when we arrived at our destination (no pun intended).

[Tony in Hawaii]

Buncha skinny weasel whiners, next time I'll sit on ya instead of next to ya!

[olivia3boys]

LOL!

[A Citizen Reporter]

Exactly! In my experience, the person next to me wouldn't fit in the seat with the arm rest down. I know the airlines are making their per person space smaller, but I resent not be able to use the space that I paid for!

[No Truce With Kings]

What would Nero Wolfe say?

Pfui!

[Ron in Acreage]

He should have been seated with his back to the cockpit door. Now that would stop any hijacker.

[Ditter]

It has to be torture for huge fat people to fly. If I was one of them I'd already be buying an extra ticket without being told, in fact I know a 'large Marge' who does.

[Jean S]

I sat next to a "person of size" on a flight from Mexico. He literally slept on me for the whole trip. It was horrible.

[alaskanfan]

I've been discriminated against since I was in high school. My head was too big and they had to order a special helmet for me when I played high school football.

It's been the same every since, I'm a big man in a Marvin Milktoast world.

[PoisedWoman]

We have just as much right to use the "person of size" sobriquet as weight-challenged lardbuckets. I mean that in the nicest possible way.

LOL!

I got on a plane in the Pacific and after takeoff, stewardess showed us seatbelt extension she'd had to use on weight-challenged lardbucket Hawaiian princess who'd just debarked first class. And BTW, Pavarotti's belt, exhibited at SF Opera, is 57 inches long. Taller than I am. We pay extra to see him on stage.

[Tennessee_Bob]

You haven't lived until you've been placed between two of these 350 pounders on a long trip.

Try a Fokker Turboprop from Champaign/Urbana to Chicago, in bad weather, with him on the aisle and you by the window.

[Ron in Acreage]

The airlines should sit all fat people in the same aisles and adjacent seats. At least this way they will only make each other uncomfortable and not spill over on normal sized peoples seats. When you purchase your ticket you must give your weight so they can properly arrange your seating. The airlines can claim it helps to "balance" the plane for safer flying for the "children".

[Snoopers-868th]

From a smoker..... MUSIC TO MY EARS. Make the beached whales exercise "outdoors" on their lunch hours--it is good for their health and they need our help.

[evolved_rage]

And the sweat marks you inheret from pressing the fat, so to speak.

How about when they use the safety demo seatbelt as a size extender for a normal seatbelt.

[timestax]

I guess Hillary would be known as a Person of Thighs. 13 posted on 6/17/02 5:24 PM Pacific by Paul Atreides

bump

[Western Patriot]

/rant

I fly all the time and let me tell you it can be hell sitting next to "A person of size". The first class seats are a lot bigger. They should have a policy where you either buy a first class ticket or two seats in economy.

/end rant

[Xenalyte]

Way to go, you skinny thing, you! :)

[Xenalyte]

Uh, heh heh, heh . . . heh heh, heh heh . . . you said "fokker."

[Ron in Acreage]

Does the plane carry extra life rafts to acommodate them?