I am a Southwest customer and have enjoyed many flights on Southwest Airlines. I appreciate your customer service most times and your ability to get the planes out on time and safely to my destinations. I also love that you fly Burbank to Vegas to Buffalo. I go to Buffalo a lot. Again, I'm an avid fan of Southwest Airlines and enjoy flying this airline.
I am also an avid fan of Kevin Smith and his movies. While I don't always agree with Mr. Smith, I believe he is passionate about the topics he discusses and speaks his mind which I enjoy.
With all that being said, I do want Southwest Airlines to consider revising this "Person of Size" policy or at the very least recognizing that this is a problem. This is a clear discrimination of certain types of people. I am less horrified by the policy than hearing Mr. Smith's complaints of being embarrassed and singled out. There is a loss of dignity that was experienced and hearing his personal account on his smodcast podcast, I felt for him.
I would just like to say that I have never experienced this on Southwest or any other airline and I am what I would consider a "Person of Size". I'm fat, I know it and I'm working on it. So are many other Americans in this great country of ours. I am aware that people don't want to feel infringed upon. I feel the same way. But air travel is more like a packed bus now except everyone needs a seat. I understand that when I travel, that I will not be the only fat person on board. Everyone wants to be comfortable when traveling. But everyone deserves the same level of respect. This policy on Southwest and other airlines is not clearly identified. You are relying on particular employees to administer this delicate policy but yet, no one asks me questions when I buy a seat. Perhaps this policy needs to be enforced differently. Perhaps a seat should be present at the airport and everyone should try it out if they want to. Like at an amusement park. I'm not sure there is a good way to administer this policy, but the truth is that it happens. This issue with Mr. Smith just has brought this delicate issue to the forefront.
I do not agree with people posting comments on this blog that makes fun of or belittles people that are larger than them. I am concerned with this, because I have flown on many Southwest Flights and will one day I be singled out and embarrassed in front of a plane load of people? Again, I have never been. But I would consider myself fat. But I don't consider myself so fat that I would be required to purchase a 2nd seat each time. But maybe one day I am? The piece that disturbs me the most on this whole fiasco is that a person was embarrassed and a corporation was responsible and therefore damaged in the process.
Thank you for the apology to Mr. Smith. Thank you for allowing this to stay an open dialogue on your site, which you could've very easily just stopped comments. I believe that this is a sensitive but important issue of our time. Americans are overweight, but that shouldn't mean a loss of rights even when flying in the air. I will continue to research and monitor the situation and hope to stay a customer of Southwest Airlines. I will not hesitate to take my business elsewhere if this problem feels like it's not being worked on.
Again, thanks for the forum. Thanks very much with the well worded response from Linda Rutherford on this blog. A voice of reason amongst all the chaos. Much appreciated.
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