A petite Sacramento woman was bumped from a Southwest Airlines flight to make room for an extra-large 14-year-old child who required two seats.
The 5-foot-4, 110-pound woman, who was flying standby from Las Vegas to Sacramento, was buckled up and ready to go when the teen arrived late to the gate, reported the Sacramento Bee.[...]
Southwest generally requires large passengers to buy two tickets. But in this case, the child's parents had purchased only one.
Link via Say Uncle | Photo by Flickr user Cordey used under Creative Commons license
However, in the future, perhaps airlines should require passengers to divulge their weight before buying a ticket. An invasion of privacy, yes, but sadly necessary in today's society. What would the airline have done if the plane had been full of non-standby passengers already?
If the other passengers were onboard and buckled, then why was the outsize passenger given such treatment? Surely they should have said "Okay, there's your seat, BUT you can't fit in it and you failed to tell us that you were wider than an airline seat, so you'll have to wait for another flight with enough spare seats".
The passenger who was bumped may indeed have been on standby, but having been told to board, she should not have then lost her seat to someone who actually bought a ticket AFTER she was buckled in and ready to fly.
"However, in the future, perhaps airlines should require passengers to divulge their weight before buying a ticket."
Not sure what that would do. I fly time to time with a coworker that weighs 10 lbs less (only 1" shorter) then I do but has a 5" larger waist (36 v 41).
I would say it's obviously an issue that merits some examination by the airline, but ultimately should end in giving the woman some free tickets or such as compensation. The news is simply trying to sensationalize it by juxtaposing the size of the woman and the adolescent. The woman's small size is simply a coincidence and therefore completely irrelevant in this issue.
I like the term someone used "nontroversy"...pretty much! Slow day in the news room I guess. Glad to hear that the oil spill is all cleaned up.
Don't just assume that she had paid for her ticket. My mother works for Southwest. Employees and their spouses/parents/dependent children can fly free (read: standby) as long as there is room on the plane. My mom has been asked to leave the plane several times after being in her seat ready to go because someone showed up late.
The kid's parents should have purchased two tickets, but they didn't. Too bad for the lady that got bumped. When you fly standby, you should always be prepared to get bumped.
It's not fair that someone who only paid for one seat should get two. If there was no other passenger there, by coincidence, next to him, it's okay. But someone was already there, so it's unfair that she gets kicked out because someone wants 2 seats.
I remember when I was flying to Vietnam earlier this summer this woman next to me kept harassing the flight attendants that she wanted a COMPLETELY EMPTY ROW so that she can sleep, and it was a pretty full flight. Why don't just book 3 seats, or a business class seat? And she kept getting angry at the flight attendants, which pissed me off big time...
First of all, if you show up late to a flight (so late that they've filled stand-by) you've lost your right to get on that flight. Period. That is always in the fine print and if they let you on they are being nice. They aren't supposed to.
Second, when you fly stand-by you can be bumped UNTIL they give you a seat. Then you are guaranteed that seat. When she has that ticket it was her seat as a full passenger, not standby person.
Lastly, booting because someone needs extra space is completely out. Did he, in any way, pay for that seat? No. Did she in some way pay for standby? Yes. It's again his fault for not making his needs clear.
I thought about this and there isn't an answer that doesn't involve an unnerving slant in the story, she's the one we're supposed to cheer for. I mean, she only weighs 110 pounds!
Setting aside the possibility that they might have been able to juggle the seating of other passengers to put the larger kid next to a toddler or small child to even out the space issue and satisfy *everyone* (god forbid somebody should have to do a bit of lateral thinking!), the gate agents had two options: Bump the woman who was flying standby or deny boarding to the late-arriving unaccompanied minor.
It's a no-brainer. You can't just say "tough luck" to the kid and leave him to his own devices. The woman who was flying standby willingly accepted the risk that she might not be able to take that flight, and that's exactly what happened. Case closed.
But even if that weren't the case, the airline would take care of the kid and put him on the next flight.
I've been a UM since before I could read, my best friend is a pilot's daughter, I know the standby rules. If the standby passenger had a seat number, and the luggage on board (if any), the passenger is no longer a standby.
What's more, the lady wasn't in the kid's seat, she was in another seat.
Note, the it's not that she was sitting next to him, and he needed her space (at least, I don't recall reading that anywhere). They just needed to remove one person to allow him to stay on board, and they probably figured that the best option was to boot the ex-standby. It has nothing to do with her weight or where she was sitting.
Someone pointed out that saying one's weight won't really help, I agree, but then have a statement that says "I can fit into a single seat" which needs to be checked when buying the ticket, otherwise the person will be charged extra, etc.