Southwest isn't "standing up for normal-sized people", they are trying to strong-arm their policy. However, the policy wasn't the issue. The issue was the way they handled their business. They flopped humiliation on a person where no humiliation was needed. I'm not really even against the two-seat policy, and I come from a family of large people... but to humiliate a person for no reason is unacceptable. The disturbing part is that it would have been a non-issue, had the person not had a voice, but the person they humiliated DID have a voice. And whether or not you think he is whining, he has EVERY right to say that this situation was humiliating and degrading and wrong.
On the fat note, though: I have never seen a tall person be ejected for requiring more leg room, or a person with long hair be ejected because their hair was spilling over to the seat next to them. Why is fat still the last bastion of discrimination? When you fly, you accept that you will be in contact with the people around you. Even when you are normal sized, you have to share an armrest and possibly even touch legs with the person next to you. If someone is truly large enough to require two seats, that situation should be handled with more grace than was shown to Kevin Smith and also the woman he met on a later flight who was asked to purchase an extra seat (might I add that the seat was empty and also paid for by Mr Smith) because she was "of size". Southwest needs to stop clarifying their policies and actually apologize because the way that they handled these situations was deplorable on a customer service level.
This isn't a "normal people crusade". It's not reverse size-ism. It's about their horrible handling of an unfortunate situation.
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02-16-2010
04:11 AM
1 Love
So this silent Bob is fat and prefers to use 2 seats. But if there is only one seat available, he thinks it's ok for someone else to be in the next seat and be crushed by him???
Come on, grow up. Oh no, please don't grow up 😉
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02-15-2010
07:46 PM
Copy & paste corporate BS. Way to go SWA, you just lost a bunch of customers, I'm sure your stockholders are real happy.
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02-15-2010
10:32 AM
1 Love
He could fit safely in one seat, didn't need a seat belt extender, and he's confirmed that you've never contacted him. You're just hiding behind a blind policy that DIDN'T EVEN APPLY HERE. Your own people even admitted he was unjustly thrown off.
I can't believe how many angry and envious people are posting about how evil it must be to be large (but still fit in ONE SEAT), and are willing to bow and scrape to a corporation, eager to be publicly humiliated.
Southwest will never see a dime of my money again.
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The people in Mobile missed the boat on this move. Instead of geting SWA in our town or P'Cola, it went to St. Joe. Now we have a choice of which 3 to 4 hour trip to make. West to MSY (3 hrs), North to B'ham 4 (hrs), and now East to St. Joe (3 hrs). Thanks SWA!!!
P.S.
I am happy, however, to see that you are expanding and hope to land a contract with you someday to move in closer to the Mobile area to save us some much needed time and money.
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