I am afraid to book SW due to person of size accommodations

[AlfonsoTMH]

Hi my name is Al. I am a long time SW customer. I recently seen a video of a woman being kicked off a flight at Montego Bay to accommodate a person of size. My question is that if I purchase a ticket and southwest needs to accommodate a person of size with my seat, will I be kicked off the plane and stranded? Further, do these people of size have to purchase the accommodation before hand or can it be done at the gate or short notice? That would be much worse, for me the strandie, as I would be stuck at the airport and have no where to go. Essentially, finding out at boarding that my plans for the next 3 days have changed. In the video I am referring to it seems like SW was completely unprepared and sent the woman's bags to Denver while stranding her. I can't allow myself to be in the same situation. I would like clarity and my 2 questions answered. I am very afraid to book southwest at the moment.

[bec102896]

That woman would receive denied boarding compensation which is a not a C small sum of money 

also she mentions being stuck in Baltimore overnight but yet says they wouldn’t let her board in Montego Bay. There’s a lot more to the story that she clearly is not saying or if you’re simply unaware of they don’t just pick a person to remove. She mentions being on standby therefore she does not have a confirmed seat on that flight or worst case. If she actually had a real seat they wouldn’t bump the entire family only one person lots of missing facts in this case.

when it comes to bumping a person, they have a process and an order such as non-revenue people then the last to check in they don’t just pick because of who you are. 

[floridaguy]

Yeah, I'd be worried sick about this one too.  

[Crystalinaaa]

I actually think the woman in the comment secti92n clarified that she didn't have any tickets on stand by they were all bought. I'm having the same anxiety right now due to seeing the same video. Do you think early bird check in will prevent you from being bumped? 

[dfwskier]

Southwest flew over 157 MILLION people last year and you are expressing anxiety about seeing one person getting bumped - out of 157 MILLION

really??

[Crystalinaaa]

Lol anxiety comes how it comes 😅 when you put it that way it makes me feel better 😂

[DancingDavidE]

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@dfwskier wrote:

 Oh, the airline won't pull a random person off the plane. it will ask for volunters.

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Those were the good old days when Southwest still made the occasional overbooking and I’d always check in at the counter first to get on the volunteer list* if there was going to be one. 

*not for a daily international flight of course

Anyway Al it is difficult to know much about any video online without knowing the passenger or being there in person to witness the events.

Usually a customer of size would reserve in advance, and on the same day only if space was available so to answer your question no it wouldn’t be any significant risk of flying due to this particular issue. 

For any reason where it was necessary to bump someone off the flight Southwest would look for volunteers first (for a reward) and then next an involuntary bump which could be the last person to check in or other factor. 

This usually happens before boarding! It would be even more atypical to pull someone off the plane so I suspect there was something else going on besides a Customer of Size situation.