02-16-2010
02:35 AM
Saying it's a "safety issue" is a cop-out, because if that's the case, then people with infants/small children, bulky carry-ons/electronics, and/or physical disabilities are also "safety issues."
Saying it's an issue of "intrusion of personal space" is also a cop-out - others have mentioned perfumes, body odor, coughs/sneezes/nasal snurfling, etc. I sat next to a woman whose personal odor (not really BO, my guess is that she just ate a lot of garlicky food) was so overpowering I was on the verge of vomiting the entire time. Likewise screaming kicking children and, yes, chatty seatmates. These are also "intrusions."
Saying it's an issue of expeditious boarding is yet a third cop-out - how does removing a passenger who's already seated, belted, and waiting for takeoff speed things up? Pick a story - ideally the true one - and then stick with it.
With apologies for length:
I am overweight, and about 6' tall. My teenage son is 6'4", and skinny as a rail. Both of us technically fit into Southwest's seats, but neither of us are comfortable. (I never fly on my own, so I always use him as a "buffer" just in case I accidentally brush the person next to me - I'm antisocial too, so it also helps avoid unwanted chit-chat.) Yet it's not just us who have problems with the seating space allocated: A friend of mine, about 5'2" and 100 pounds, developed a blood clot in her leg after a lengthy flight where she was too cramped to move about freely (seated next to people similar to her in size).
The problem is a real one, for EVERYONE affected by it (those of us who aren't 5'5", 120 lbs as well as those of you who are inconvenienced by our long legs or grossed out by our extra pounds) but the solution is going to be far more nuanced than "buy an extra seat, fatso." As one gentleman upthread mentioned, *buying* an extra seat doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be allowed (by airplane staff) to *use* it. Fuel costs make it an even more difficult minefield to navigate - redesigning the seats to allow more room for everyone means fewer ticket sales per flight, which means ticket prices have to go up for everyone if SWA wants to stay solvent. It's not pretty, or easy.
However, the "25 year old policy" is arbitrary at best - witness all the tales of loyal Southwest customers who claim to have had people "spilling over" into their seats yet still praise the "consistency" of the policy!! - and IS NOT WORKING. It's not working for people of size, it's not working for skinny people, it's not working for fat-phobic people, and it's CERTAINLY not working for SWA's PR situation. SWA was a leader in the field for low-cost, no-frills, straightforward air travel - pull it together, guys, start thinking out of the box and become a leader in the field or being sensitive to your customers' needs AND their dignity - ALL of your customers.
A good way to start would be by retracting this "I'm sorry you decided to get your feelings hurt" excuse for an apology and then #1 tell the truth and #2 stand by it. If the problem was about completing the boarding quickly, remove the remarks about two seats (and explain how removing an already-boarded passenger speeded things up). If the problem was that Smith was too large to fit in the seat according to your policy, remove the remarks about boarding issues (and either explain how he didn't fit in the seat despite meeting your criteria, or come right out and say that he's lying).
If you're telling the truth on your side and believe that what you did was right and was done for the right reasons, you don't need to mealy-mouth it - pick an explanation, stick with it, make a REAL apology or don't make any apology at all, and then start brainstorming on how to avoid this sort of thing in the future. The issue is the CONSISTENCY of your policy - figure a way to make it consistent and not arbitrary (always a pitfall), or else - ideally - come up with a better policy... and please, include people of varying sizes in your focus groups. My beanpole son is just as uncomfortable and embarrassed about inconveniencing others as I am - not that either of us will be flying Southwest until there's some kind of resolution and progress on this...
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