Saw this one coming....

[NEDude]

There have been several cases in which obese people have sued companies over unfair practices. In the cases which reached the supreme court, it was ruled that obesity is not considered a disability which is covered under the ADA.

 

[Lindy]

FYI

Southwest did refund the entire amount of the trip (for the family of four). The family travelled back to NM via Greyhound.

The family thought that it wasn't necessary to purchase the other seats, as they were travelling w/ two "normal" size individuals.

I'm waiting to see how this shakes out w/ the ADA.


Additionally, the family was travelling to the funeral of the mother of the brother/sister who are overweight and SWA believes that the first gate agent "let it slide" because of the reason for the travel -- just trying to be nice. The gate agent on the other end didn't have a choice, because it is my understanding, that the a/c was full.

 

[flint4xx]

If there is one empty seat on the flight, the cost of the second seat will be refunded. If the airplane is full, then they must pay for a second seat or take a later flight that isn't full. That is fair and reasonable. There are 136 other folks on the plane that have rights too.

 

[troy]

We should look at it this way. An airline sells space on it's aircraft called "seats" One seat costs $xxx.xx. If you use 60% of the seat next to you, you pay for 60% of the next seat.

Or they could just sell the space by the pound........

 

[Anaconda]

Re: Wont fit into the box!

I personnaly think it is a safety hazard when you have a person like that blocking an emergency exit or even worse, stuck in it. Yes, I have seen it happen! Humorous now, but very dramatic then. I have had people on my aircraft actually require two extensions.

yeah, tim, i've actually seen this happen. i was sitting in an exit row seat on NWA when a "person of size" sat down next to me. i was thinking what a safety hazard it was. later, when i asked my girlfriend (NWA FA) how that can happen, she said they had been sued a few years ago and were no longer able to restrict fat people from sitting in an exit row, even for safety reasons. thank god i was sitting between the person and the emergency exit.

there have been several instances at my airline where we run out of seatbelt extenders on the aircraft.

the policy of having large people buy two seats has actually been in place at several airlines for a number of years, including southwest. according to a recent article in usa today, the airlines have never lost a lawsuit brought against them for this practice.

 

[alimaui]

What about when a training flight is grounded to to an instructor that is "hormonally challenged" and the airplane wont get off the ground....


Ali
has seen it happen

 

[V-1]

"If there is one empty seat on the flight, the cost of the second seat will be refunded. If the airplane is full, then they must pay for a second seat or take a later flight that isn't full."

Just curious...what do they do when there's one empty seat on the flight, but two corpulent customers booked on the flight?

Anyone else think it might be a good idea for the airlines to promote sumo wrestling matches between amplitudinous passengers to decide which one gets to occupy the empty seat? Airlines could designate a special area of the terminal for such matches and charge other passengers to view while waiting for their flight. Much more entertaining than "airport CNN" and perhaps a valuable tool to return the airlines to profitability.

How about seating voluminous passengers next to each other? That could solve everyone's problems.

 

[waka]

Anaconda mentioned that airlines (or at least NWA) could no longer restrict large folks from sitting in the exit row. What a crock! Does anyone have more details on this matter?

What about the first time that an aircraft has to be evacuated and someone is too large to fit through the over-wing exit? I see many different sizes of over-wing exits. Does anyone have the scoop on the minimum dimensions?

 

[Timebuilder]

Although we have disagreed in the past, I'm with you on this one.

Back on the first page, I saw: We are all enlightened enough to know that in many obesity is hormonal and not just due to overeating. It should be interesting...

Actually, the vast majority of obesity is not hormone related. When I asked my AME about this, he said that for all but a small handful of people, the problem is "strictly alimentary".

 

[con-pilot]

I know exactly what you folks are talking about.

A few years ago I had to catch an airline flight to replace a captain on one of our 72s because he had gotten sick. As I was then working for the government we had to travel in cattle class.

I was assigned an isle seat and there was a man sitting in the window seat, leaving the middle seat open. Just before push back we both were feeling lucky because no one had shown up for the middle seat; I had been told that the flight was full.

Sure enough I hear a commotion and looked up, and guess what? You got it; here come this woman that had to have weighed 400lbs. Yup, she had the middle seat. I get up and stand in the isle has she lifts up both armrest and plops down. The poor guy in the window seat is squashed against the window and I now only have half of a seat left.

This fat b!tch stares at me daring me to say or do anything. Well no way in he!! am I going to try to sit back down. I go to the head FA and tell him I have a problem. He is getting upset because it is push back time and I refuse to sit down. However when he come back to coach and sees the problem he calms down. As we stand there trying to figure out what to do this fatso starts to bellow that she should be moved up to first class because the seats are bigger and if they don’t upgrade her she will sue the airline for discrimination. (Which make one wonder how often this fatty had pulled this trick and had gotten a free upgrade?)

There was only one first class seat left. So to make matters easier we went up to the cockpit and I showed the Captain my ID (United States Marshal) and pilot licenses. And to make a long story short I rode the jump seat and he poor guy in the window seat got the first class seat. Fatso stayed in coach.

I did find out later that the fat bimbo did sue the airline because she had to have a seat belt extension and that she was embarrassed when a FA made a PA announcement that the flight would be delayed because there was no extension onboard. I don’t know what happened, she probably settled out of court for a couple of $100,000.00.

So in closing; GO SOUTHWEST!

One other point, no way could this fatso gotten through the window exit.