Southwest Airlines Community

For all the people so worried about the dangers posed by fat people flying, you clearly have no sense of perspective, which is really funny, considering the issue. I'm sorry you've been so inconvenienced by another human being... oh, or did you forget that that's a human being sitting next to you, and not a "tubby", a "lardo", a "fatty" or any of the other litany of dehumanizing, insulting, infantile terms I've seen around this story today? Safety issues are things like explosives, guns, knives, hijackers on airplanes. It's people who try to fly airplanes into structures that planes aren't meant to be flown into, trying to light themselves on fire in order to ignite the explosives they've smuggled in their underwear, or the infinitely more likely, equipment malfuctioning on the aircraft. In NONE of these scenarios does the size of the person sitting next to you have ANY EFFECT WHATSOEVER on if you will survive the flight or not. ZERO. NONE. If weight and balance is a safety concern, then weigh everyone and everything that goes onto the plane and strictly enforce luggage rules. (I've seen oversized duffles carried on and tried to be shoved into overhead compartments, into underseat space, and then just held in the passengers lap... not an instrument that a seat was purchased for... a piece of carry on luggage that didn't fit and wasn't stowed.) If it's not a safety issue, and it's a matter of customer courtesy, then apply it according to that standard: other large passengers are not ejected, despite impinging on other customers, and Smith tells us that another customer was publicly humiliated when there was no issue of her possibly impinging on another customer's space. This says that not only are the staff consistently rude to people (Not just Smith) but they're inconsistent with application of the policy... meaning this amounts to little more than high-school or junior high bullying. I stopped flying SWA several years ago when their application of this "25 year old policy" began to be enforced more than it had been before. It's clear that my choice to not fly with them has been a good one; their bullying tactics haven't changed. I'm just sorry to see so many people think that they should be applauded for inconsistent application of a policy that results in public humiliation of HUMAN BEINGS. Congratulations, bullies. You all suck. ... View more

For all the people so worried about the dangers posed by fat people flying, you clearly have no sense of perspective, which is really funny, considering the issue. I'm sorry you've been so inconvenienced by another human being... oh, or did you forget that that's a human being sitting next to you, and not a "tubby", a "lardo", a "fatty" or any of the other litany of dehumanizing, insulting, infantile terms I've seen around this story today? If weight and balance is a safety concern, then weigh everyone and everything that goes onto the plane and strictly enforce luggage rules. (I've seen oversized duffles carried on and tried to be shoved into overhead compartments, into underseat space, and then just held in the passengers lap... not an instrument that a seat was purchased for... a piece of carry on luggage that didn't fit and wasn't stowed.) If it's not a safety issue, and it's a matter of customer courtesy, then apply it according to that standard: other large passengers are not ejected, despite impinging on other customers, and Smith tells us that another customer was publicly humilated when there was no issue of her possibly impinging on another customer's space. This says that not only are the staff consistently rude to people (Not just Smith) but they're inconsistent with application of the policy... meaning this amounts to little more than high-school or junior high bullying. I stopped flying SWA several years ago when their application of this "25 year old policy" began to be enforced more than it had been before. It's clear that my choice to not fly with them has been a good one; their bullying tactics haven't changed. I'm just sorry to see so many people think that they should be applauded for inconsistent application of a policy that results in public humiliation of HUMAN BEINGS. Congratulations, bullies. You all suck. ... View more

For all the people so worried about the dangers posed by fat people flying, you clearly have no sense of perspective, which is really funny, considering the issue. I'm sorry you've been so inconvenienced by another human being... oh, or did you forget that that's a human being sitting next to you, and not a "tubby", a "lardo", a "fatty" or any of the other litany of dehumanizing, insulting, infantile terms I've seen around this story today? Safety issues are things like explosives, guns, knives, hijackers on airplanes. It's people who try to fly airplanes into structures that planes aren't meant to be flown into, trying to light themselves on fire in order to ignite the explosives they've smuggled in their underwear, or the infinitely more likely, equipment malfuctioning on the aircraft. In NONE of these scenarios does the size of the person sitting next to you have ANY EFFECT WHATSOEVER on if you will survive the flight or not. ZERO. NONE. If weight and balance is a safety concern, then weigh everyone and everything that goes onto the plane and strictly enforce luggage rules. (I've seen oversized duffles carried on and tried to be shoved into overhead compartments, into underseat space, and then just held in the passengers lap... not an instrument that a seat was purchased for... a piece of carry on luggage that didn't fit and wasn't stowed.) If it's not a safety issue, and it's a matter of customer courtesy, then apply it according to that standard: other large passengers are not ejected, despite impinging on other customers, and Smith tells us that another customer was publicly humiliated when there was no issue of her possibly impinging on another customer's space. This says that not only are the staff consistently rude to people (Not just Smith) but they're inconsistent with application of the policy... meaning this amounts to little more than high-school or junior high bullying. I stopped flying SWA several years ago when their application of this "25 year old policy" began to be enforced more than it had been before. It's clear that my choice to not fly with them has been a good one; their bullying tactics haven't changed. I'm just sorry to see so many people think that they should be applauded for inconsistent application of a policy that results in public humiliation of HUMAN BEINGS. Congratulations, bullies. You all suck. ... View more

For all the people so worried about the dangers posed by fat people flying, you clearly have no sense of perspective, which is really funny, considering the issue. I'm sorry you've been so inconvenienced by another human being... oh, or did you forget that that's a human being sitting next to you, and not a "tubby", a "lardo", a "fatty" or any of the other litany of dehumanizing, insulting, infantile terms I've seen around this story today? If weight and balance is a safety concern, then weigh everyone and everything that goes onto the plane and strictly enforce luggage rules. (I've seen oversized duffles carried on and tried to be shoved into overhead compartments, into underseat space, and then just held in the passengers lap... not an instrument that a seat was purchased for... a piece of carry on luggage that didn't fit and wasn't stowed.) If it's not a safety issue, and it's a matter of customer courtesy, then apply it according to that standard: other large passengers are not ejected, despite impinging on other customers, and Smith tells us that another customer was publicly humilated when there was no issue of her possibly impinging on another customer's space. This says that not only are the staff consistently rude to people (Not just Smith) but they're inconsistent with application of the policy... meaning this amounts to little more than high-school or junior high bullying. I stopped flying SWA several years ago when their application of this "25 year old policy" began to be enforced more than it had been before. It's clear that my choice to not fly with them has been a good one; their bullying tactics haven't changed. I'm just sorry to see so many people think that they should be applauded for inconsistent application of a policy that results in public humiliation of HUMAN BEINGS. Congratulations, bullies. You all suck. ... View more