Woman Removed From Plane to Make Room for Overweight Teen

NewsCore ^ | 7/26/10 | Staff

[MissTed]

Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines, came under fire for removing an overweight passenger from a flight. Now, five months later, the airline has done it again

[Coldwater Creek]

Or better yet FedEx em!

[oneamericanvoice]

Rather than being tolerant you go for the usual bash. Shame on you. What if this had been a star athlete, say NFL? The kid might have a medical condition rather than just liking to eat. Funny, how people don’t consider that. If the poor guy has kidney problems he might have been light a year or two ago, but gained since. I feel bad for the lady, but she was flying “standby”. She did not have a seat on that flight. People are treating the kid as if his seat wasn’t paid for. Part of the problem with airlines is that the designed the cabins to carry more people with less comfort (seat size, let room, head room). Where’s the outrage over that?

[Ready4Freddy]

The article didn’t say that, did it? I do wonder why jumbo wasn’t told to take the next flight since she was late, tho.

[Responsibility2nd]

I don't know if the fat kid paid for one seat or two.

 

She says one seat.

 

"It didn't seem right that I should have to leave to accommodate someone who had only paid for one seat," the woman, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Sacramento Bee.

Even if he did pay for two, he (she/it??) should probably have been denied the flight.

 

If you're on standby and a passnger is a no show, then great - you get to fly. If fattie later waddles in after boarding - after the stand-byes have been seated - then Tough Poopski.

Makes no difference if fat or not. It's not right to show up late and expect to bounce off a paid passenger.

[oneamericanvoice]

You’re rude.

[oneamericanvoice]

Would you suggest the same thing if the passenger were a NFL player? Shame on you.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Southwest should let the lady fly free for a year. Ridiculous!

The lady was a standby passenger - she had no reason to expect to be able to fly.

[oneamericanvoice]

Not funny. You are mean and rude.

[Responsibility2nd]

Why?

If you fly standby and space is available, should you not be allowed to board?

Of course. So she was boarded. She got on the plane.

THEN.... a passenger - fat/thin doesn’t matter - shows up late - after everyone is seated.

You think it’s OK for that late slob to bump off a paid passenger?

I didn’t think so.

[pissant]

Tolerance is libspeak. If you too fat, buy two seats.....and show up on time before they seat the standbys

[oneamericanvoice]

Overweight people have feelings too. Guess it doesn’t matter though, because this is a “fat” person. And it definitely doesn’t matter that it’s a “fat” kid. All fat people are fare game for the rude folks like those on this thread. Thought FReepers were better folks. Guess I was wrong.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Would you suggest the same thing if the passenger were a NFL player? Shame on you.

What's funny is that the majority of Americans are classified as obese. Most of the posters calling this 14-yr old kid names likely have some weight issues themselves.

[longtermmemmory]

have any of the knee jerk reactions even been in an airplane lately?

The seats spaces are so small it would be illegal to hold animals in such a space.

[reagan_fanatic]

LOL!

[Azzurri]

Why are there no names or photos in this story? Common, a teenager too fat to sit in one seat and nobody thought to take a picture.

No recent photos of the kid, but here he is in his younger years.

[erkyl]

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.

[Ready4Freddy]

I feel bad for the lady, but she was flying “standby”. She did not have a seat on that flight.

Yes, actually, she did. She had a seat as soon as they gave her one on standby, presumably because the girl was late. SWA fooked up by taking the woman's seat and giving it to the girl.

[Responsibility2nd]

See post 29.

As I understand ‘standy’, you will be boarded and seated if a fully booked plane has a ‘no-show’.

Evidently she was boarded. She was on the plane. Per the article; she was asked to leave the plane.

If you’re on a plane, then yeah. You DO have a reason to expect to fly.

Unless SWA has an idiot policy that allows latecomers to hold up 100 + people and board at will.

[untrained skeptic]

Not really Southwest's fault. They get beat up either way. The determining factor in this case appears to be that the woman who was asked to deplane was flying standby.

Southwest would have been asking for a lawsuit if they booted off the customer who had booked in advance in order to make room for a standby customer.

[achilles2000]

“If the fat teen had previously reserved his two seat and paid for them in advance”...

Fatty paid for one seat. If fatty could not fit in the seat, then fatty shouldn’t fly until he or she buys another ticket. But since the last ticket has been sold at full price, fatty should have had to wait.