Southwest Suddenly Decides Frequent Flyer Is Too Big To Fly
This is reader Chip. He's 6'1" and says he flies twice a week for business, without incident, on Southwest Airlines. He is a self-described "big guy" but says he doesn't have any problem sitting in an airplane seat — and doesn't need a seat belt extender to do so. So, why did he suddenly get stopped at the gate and told he needed to buy a second ticket?
Chip writes:
I fly twice a week for business exclusively on Southwest Airlines. In the last year I have probably flown 50-60 times on Southwest. I am about as loyal a Southwest customer as could be expected.
So imagine my surprise last Monday when I went to board my 12:40pm flight from Las Vegas (where I live) to Omaha and was prevented from doing so an unruly the gate agent who thought just by looking at me, she could determine whether I was too big to fit in one seat and informed me that I needed to buy a 2nd ticket.
Now I am a big guy (6'1, a few extra pounds) but I've never been stopped, asked, suggested, or otherwise looked-at-funny that I should buy 2 seats, by Southwest or any other airline... so I initially shrugged it off as an honest mistake. But she wouldn't budge! Nor would two of the supervisors who were called. They dug their heels in and I stood there arguing with them as my flight boarded and left without me. This was a business trip, so I ended up losing a day of work.
The worst part of the whole experience, when I told them I fly twice a week they didn't believe me! I tried to get no less than four(4) Southwest staff to pull up my travel history, both to show them that I was a frequent traveler and my weight wasn't an issue, and to show them I'm a LOYAL customer, but they wouldn't do it. I was stunned at the lack of customer service.
The proverbial cherry on top of the whole ordeal was a backhanded apology by the final supervisor who said "he was sorry that I was never stopped before." Now I was irate.
Defeated, I went home to reschedule my flight for the next day. I looked up their rules for ejecting "persons of size" and it turns out the true test for determining if someone is too big for one seat is the put them in the seat and see if the armrests go all the way down. These people didn't even do that. They are clearly not allowed to just visually determine if someone is too big or not, that's discrimination! Mind you, I didn't get anywhere near the plane, this all happened at the top of the jetway where the tickets are collected.
It's been one week and although I've sent this to Southwest executives, Southwest customer service, and Southwest's twitter account, I have yet to receive any official response or apology from them other than the appalled customer service rep who's job it is to constantly apologize to people like me. Would this be a good time to mention that their customer service line is constantly busy and the only time to get through to them is 7am in the morning?
I'm not looking for any free stuff, all I want are the two Southwest employees who denied me my flight (one gate agent, one supervisor) to be educated on what their policies actually are so this won't happen again. As I said, I fly twice a week and I don't want to be ejected again.
Thanks Consumerist. Keep fighting the good fight!
Chip also provided a blog entry where he details his communication with Southwest. A customer service rep has indeed apologized over the phone, but could not guarantee that Chip wouldn't be randomly yanked from a flight in the future.
Here's what he would like from the airline:
1. An official written apology/letter from Southwest management that I can carry with me so as to prevent this from happening again.
2. An acknowledgment that the gate agent and supervisor acted in the wrong.
3. That gate agent and supervisor are reprimanded or otherwise informed that they acted in the wrong, directed to the actual guidelines for "customers of size" so they will not arbitrarily yank someone off a flight again.That's all, no money, no free stuff, no lawsuit, no 6 o'clock news. Just an apology and some effort put into making sure this is not a repeat occurrence.
The policy as written is pretty clear, and Chip just wants it to be followed. That doesn't sound like too much to ask from a guy who flies twice a week. What do you think?
Chip says his rebooked (single ticket) flight to Omaha progressed without incident.
Frequent Traveler is Too Fat to Fly on Southwest Airlines [Chip's Blog]
UPDATE: This complaint has been resolved.
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Comments:
Well I commend the OP for wanting a very reasonable response for this issue, I'm rather shocked that we have such a bad customer service story on Southwest.
Am I wrong or don't a lot of folks around these parts usually RECOMMEND Southwest over say, Delta or United?
(or am I getting Southwest mixed up with another airline?)
Whether or not he should be required to buy two seats, Southwest should be consistent and objective in its policy. If there's an official test that they use, that test should be performed at the passenger's request.
I think Chip is correct in asking for what he's asking. He flies with them all the time, without incident and this kind of thing costs him and his employer time and money.
It's not like he IS too big and needs a 2nd seat. He's not - some idiot just thinks they can eyeball it and tell him he is. Unacceptable.
Get on it Southwest - this is not how you treat a loyal customer.
I hate to say this Chip, but sometimes being polite isn't going to win you that appology.
Dial up your local news station and let em know, and mention it's featured here on the Consumerist. Next thing you know, you'll have some free advertisement and Southwest has to acknowledge they fubar'd.
I don't entirely agree with his interpretation of the policy--it doesn't preclude employees' stopping of passengers, and in fact it pretty strongly suggests that that will happen. However, I would totally agree that he's within his rights to require them to stick to their stated policy about the lowered armrests being the definitive gauge. I also don't know that carrying around an apology would be sufficient, because there's no guarantee that anybody would stay the same size; I'd think instead that the statement should back up the need to judge customers by the armrest standard any time the customer requests that final judgment.
@dragonfire81: Southwest service has always been stellar in the past. Let's hope that's not changing.
Wow, 6'1" and a few extra pounds is big enough to get hit by this policy? That would cover at least 5 of my guy friends, just going off the top of my head.
Chip handled this beautifully, I hope he gets what he asked for!
Goodness. I can't believe no less than 3 employees stopped what they were doing to argue with this poor man but not one of them could just check to see if what they were arguing was valid?
Maybe he could just print out the policy and take it with him when he travels? It isn't a perfect solution, but it should get the job done.
@dragonfire81: Actually most folks do, and Southwest has very good service considering the reputation that "budget" airlines tend to have.
However, when Southwest screws up, it tends to be a big-time screw up, remember the woman who was kicked off last summer because a flight attendant thought her skirt was "too short"?
@floraposte: I agree with your interpretation of the policy as written. I have a sense that if the employees in this situation have even read it, they got to the part that empowers them to make the call, and stopped reading/caring. I also agree that while an apology can be helpful in principle, I'd prefer a letter that more clearly outlines the policy so that I could produce it if the situation arose again. Although considering how stubborn the employees were the first time around, even a formal letter from an exec might not have helped.
@floraposte: I think that the letter of apology would also include the actual guidelines for determining whihc passengers need two seats. That kind of back up could definitely come in handy.
@Carso: Incidentally, it is ridiculous that this gentleman (or any passenger) should need to carry the airline's own policies with him as an enforcement tool. I strongly support re-education for the involved parties.
Wow, I hope this doesn't happen to me tomorrow with southwest. I am 6'2" and a few extra pounds (pretty much all centered in the beer gut). Otherwise I am quite muscular. I have never had a problem fitting into an airline seat. Granted it is sometimes difficult to fit my knees in, and sometimes the armrests hit the top of my thighs, but they never fail to go down because of my gut. From this picture I would say I'm a bit smaller than Chip, so I suppose we will see what happens at the airport tomorrow.
Psh. Mr Friday is 6'7" and 350 lbs. Not once has he been ejected or asked to purchase a second seat. Though we will think twice about booking through Southwest now...
Actually, this seems like a brilliant plan on the part of the airlines. Shove in more and more tiny seats that are uncomfortable for everyone, and then humiliate all the slightly heavier passengers at the gate so they'll never fly with you again and you save on gas.
Hm, most Consumerist readers applauded when United said they were doing this, naively assuming that airlines would not use this as another way to profit. [consumerist.com]
I partially agree with Chumas.
Be nice for a little while, give it another 10 business days, then become Southwest Airline's worst PR nightmare. Seems reasonable to me to give them ample time to resolve it, and then show them what happens when they treat loyal and intelligent customers like crap.
So where was this policy when a plus-sized lady took over literally half my seat?
"The proverbial cherry on top of the whole ordeal was a backhanded apology by the final supervisor who said "he was sorry that I was never stopped before." Now I was irate."
People who give non-apologies or backhanded apologies like that need to be bitch-slapped.
See if Air Canada or another Canadian airline travels to the locations you need to go to. It has been determined to be against the charter to require obese people to purchase a second seat, so they are required by law to get one for free.
Face it folks... the flight was probably overbooked and they took this opportunity to screw a passenger off the flight.
@NightSteel: Yes, he should publicly humiliate a real person, with real feelings because he didn't want to have to touch a yucky fat lady.
@SavitriPleiades: I don't think anyone here has a problem with the policy of making very large customers pay for 2 seats. But this guy is not all that big. If he requires 2 seats, then so do I (6'1, 260lbs) and so do probably 20-30% of American men.
This should be an exception, not the rule. They should have to enforce that policy at most once or twice per flight. Once they start charging 10% of all fliers for 2 seats, that's just indication that their seats are too small, not that their customers are too large.
@SavitriPleiades: That's as may be, but it's beside the point. They didn't bother verifying whether he needed the extra seat or not; they just arbitrarily decided that he did.
@floraposte: There is an inherent problem with the policy though. In my book at least. I am a large guy like Chip however my problem in airline seats isn't my belly rather its my broad shoulders which due to the shrinking seats are wider than the arm rests. There needs to be a standard set for all airlines by a government agency before we are all greased and stuffed naked into planes to minimize the amount of wasted space.
@SavitriPleiades: Yes, consumerist readers applauded when United decided that people who take up two seats should buy two. But that's totally not what this story is about. This is about a man who did not take up two seats and was being required to buy another.
Depending on what you plan to do with it, that could be more expensive than a second ticket.
It seems like Southwest more or less tries to keep customers happy. This seems like yet another case of an employee who really needed to feel like a bigshot. What better way to feel like a bigshot that exerting power over someone who under other circumstances could easily tear you limb from limb? In all seriousness, the sad part is that some union rule probably protects the employees from any reprecussions. Seriously - what other industry allows basically the lowest level employee to more or less treat the customers as poorly as they see fit? Where I work there is more or less no acceptable reason for treating a client badly - and I guess the circumstances are not exactly the same - but anyone who treated a client badly because of the clients physical characteristics would probably not have the option to stick around until the end of the day.
@Gaurav Dalal: Could have somthing to do with the fact that about 75% of the airlines employees are plus sized ladies???
@katstermonster: Airline seats are getting smaller and smaller, while Americans are getting larger and larger. I wonder if that will ever be an issue...
@sophistiKate: I agree that public humiliation is not necessarily the best course of action - but it's not fair to ask him to sit in half a seat, either. How else could he have handled it?
@HRHKingFridayXX: That's my feeling. I've never had a problem with armrests going down, nor needed a belt extender, but I do feel constrained in seats. I'm fat, no question about it, but I'm not into-the-next-seat fat.
Southwest is one of the few airlines with lots of flights/destinations in and out of Austin. We will now avoid them strongly when flying because we don't need the hassle of something like this at the start of a family vacation.
Although I do wonder how it would affect things to have my preschooler and skinny husband with me...
@SavitriPleiades: The United policy states that you'll have to buy a second ticket if you can't fit in the seat. Southwest's policy says the same thing. The OP can fit in the seat.
They're not really using the policy as a way to profit in this instance because what they did went against policy.
@sirwired: Considering they wouldn't even look up his customer history, I doubt the would pay attention to no stinkin' piece of paper he probably typed up himself (what they would say).
@plamoni: But the United policy would make me buy two seats when I would currently pass the Southwest test. DDD boobs weigh a lot but they don't flop into the next seat. I'm fat, granted, but I can lower the armrests no problem.
The seats ARE too small. They don't accommodate 2/3 of FAA-approved car seats on width alone. We had to go to several stores to find a car seat for our daughter that would fit in an airplane seat, because the one in our car was several inches too wide, and it was average-sized.
This kind of policy is going to be used arbitrarily all the time. Lots of large but not two-seater people will face this. As soon as the public cried, "Yeah, fatties, TAKE THAT!" in response to the initial announcements, the airlines got the message that they could abuse anyone who isn't a stick.
@theblackdog: So, a good airline, good service, you just get an occasional employee on a power trip?
@sophistiKate: As much as I disagree with that avenue, there is no reason (other than common decency) why he shouldn't.
People still have a right to be asses.
@1234tu: If that's true, then why did their supe and other employees, back the rude employee up?
This just sounds to weird (not that I am doubting it happened).
@Eyebrows McGee (now with more baby!): Unfortunately, if you bitchslap an airline employee who deserves it, even just verbally, you're a terrorist in this "post-9/11 world". Don't question the authorities, citizen.
Chip is a better man than I. I would demand their first born.