Southwest kicks skinny woman off!

[jtdlmc]

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/fat-fly-southwest-airlines-skinny-woman-booted-off/story?id=11262521

 

I guess they need to ask for flyer dimensions when the flight is booked!

 

I flew on a 3.5 hour flight last month and when we boarded this huge man (just hugely built, not hugely overweight) sat beside me. I was in for an extremely uncomfortable 3.5 hours - his leg and arm both encroached onto my seat, I was basically squished into 2/3s of my seat. Luckily there was a row of three seats up front that had only one person in it so the stewardess asked him if he would like to move up there - was I relieved! I really do guess there is no way to determine ahead of time if a person will fit in one seat without asking for height and weight upon reservation :eek:

[6rugrats]

Totally distorted story; she wasn't kicked off because she was "skinny". This has already been discussed ad nauseum on this board.

[jtdlmc]

Totally distorted story; she wasn't kicked off because she was "skinny". This has already been discussed ad nauseum on this board.

 

Sorry, I just saw the news article via twitter today.

 

Obviously she didn't get kicked off because she was skinny, but apparently she was kicked off to accommodate a person who required two seats. In my opinion, the person who required two seats should have been the one to be inconvienced into waiting for another flight that had two seats available.

 

Like I said, they need to ask for dimensions when the flight is being booked or even better, give the seat dimensions and if someone books and does not fit in the seat that is their own fault and no one else would need to be inconvenienced because of it.

[6rugrats]

Sorry, I just saw the news article via twitter today.

 

Obviously she didn't get kicked off because she was skinny, but apparently she was kicked off to accommodate a person who required two seats. In my opinion, the person who required two seats should have been the one to be inconvienced into waiting for another flight that had two seats available.

 

Like I said, they need to ask for dimensions when the flight is being booked or even better, give the seat dimensions and if someone books and does not fit in the seat that is their own fault and no one else would need to be inconvenienced because of it.

People who need two seats are supposed to book them in advance on Southwest. They do give the seat dimensions, and there's a section on Southwest's webpage giving instructions how to book the extra needed seat.

 

The "large" person in question was a 14 year old teenager whose parents obviously should have booked, and paid for, the two seats. They got away with not doing so apparently. The passenger who was bumped received a refund of her fare, flight credits and was placed on another flight.

[Sargent_Schultz]

The skinny one was flying standby, the larger one had a confirmed ticket and was a minor.

[klfrodo]

Also, the person kicked of was NOT on her regularly scheduled flight where she had a schedule seat. She arrived early and was put on the plane in Standby.

 

While WN could have handled this a little better, the news story is making it out to be worse than what it was.

 

Imagine that, news organizations embellishing a story.

[Globaliser]

While WN could have handled this a little better, the news story is making it out to be worse than what it was.

Yes. All that WN could be criticised for is clearing the standby passenger too early. If the gate agent had waited until the last confirmed passenger had arrived (ie the fat girl), it would have been obvious that the flight had "checked in full" and the standby passenger would never have been boarded. And if she had never been boarded, there would never have been a story.

 

Sometimes, I think that journalists ought to have to be licensed before they're allowed to write any stories about airlines, air travel and flying. It's plain that some of them don't even know which bits of the aircraft keep it up in the air.

[Globaliser]

However, she needed a second seat that was not booked and not available.

But isn't that the point? It was all a matter of chronology. If the standby pax had not been cleared until all the confirmed pax had either presented themselves for travel or been offloaded, the girl would have arrived at the aircraft with a confirmed reservation and with two open seats on the aircraft. Being a minor, she would have been boarded, taken both seats, and the standby would never have been cleared. Whatever the rights and wrongs of boarding the girl who had a reservation for one seat but allowing her to occupy two, the story just would not have been a story.

[Sargent_Schultz]

She was a minor. Imagine what headlines the media would think up if a minor was left behind in an airport.

 

Responsible journalism doesn't sell advertising. Sensationalism and smut does.

[imsulin]

It makes me feel sad that a 14-year old girl would require two seats on an aircraft.