This is my first time ever making a post such as this. I have always had positive flight experiences for the most part. However, last night was the most humiliating experience ever on a Southwest Airlines flight. My sister (who is blind with a visible cane and carrying her backpack of medical supplies for her other health issues) were flying back from a great trip in Orlando with my two nieces (children) flight 5678 at 9:30 pm. We waited in the line for handicap passengers just as we did leaving Baltimore with no problem. I was holding my sister's boarding passes while she had the cane in one hand and her carry bag tubing the was attached to her stomach and the girls were holding their carry on bags. The operations agent (a Hispanic gentlemen didn't get his name) rudely told me I can't board with her, one of the kids need to do it. I asked him if I can please board with her to carry her things and get her situated before the other passengers just as we did coming in to Baltimore and on every other flight we have flown together. He loudly said no and "you get treated like everybody else." After he had already created a scene, I told my niece to hold the boarding passes and help her mom carry every thing she needed to the plane and we will see her when we got on. We were B49 and B50, which there were only about 15 people that boarded after us. It was a full flight. My sister was able to hold me a seat luckily and there was still a seat between us. We were seated for about 10 minutes when the same operations agent gets on the plane. There were three empty seats. One was in front of me. He asked the lady if the seat next to her was a "free seat." She replied yes. He then looks at me and asks if it was a "free seat." I replied yes and removed the neck pillow in case someone needed to sit there. Now, instead of moving on to the next person to ask the same question, he says to me again, is this a "free seat" Again, I replied yes. He then loudly orders me to show him my boarding pass. I told him I showed it to when I boarded , but took mine and my nieces out my pocket to show him as I didn't want any problems. By now, everyone is looking at me like I stole something. He asks if it was my sister's boarding pass. I told him no and pointed to my niece behind me. Instead of leaving it at that he asks where is the other boarding pass. I am puzzled at what more he wants. He says I asked you if this was a free seat and you said yes. I said answered what you asked me the same question you asked the lady in front of me. My sister became upset and asked why did he keep asking me the same thing when I answered. He looked at me and then looked at the seat and said you aren't understanding my question. It was in that moment that I understood why he was getting upset. Even my blind sister and the flight attendant knew what he was trying to say. He was insinuating I was too big and needed two seats, so I had to have two boarding passes for both seats even though he knew he scanned my pass and my niece who had nothing in her hand to scan. I was so embarrassed. He didn't say another word. He just stormed off the plane. I say stormed because he didn't even go over to the other person to ask if it was a "free seat". It felt intentional. He was in the wrong. After we were in the air, the flight attendant came over to me and apologized several times and assured me he had no right to talk to me in such a disrespectful manner. Now, I am definitely a big girl, but I fly all the time and have yet to need to purchase a second seat. Even if I did, that would be my business and not for an operation agent to try to force upon me in that moment. This was the worse experience I ever had. My sister was upset and texting family in that moment afraid we were going to be removed from the plane because the agent was not once but twice rude and lacked compassion. This man needs sensitivity training to support dealing with the special needs population, women, and larger people in general. I am definitely rethinking flying with Southwest if this is how my family will be treated in the future especially after a long awaited vacation as a teacher who surely deserved it from beginning to end.
