Southwest Airlines is once again in the news for its claimed mistreatment of a passenger of size.
Trampus Adams and his wife were flying from Las Vegas back home to Portland when an airline staff member requested that his wife get off the plane to purchase a second ticket. The staff member had made the decision that she was unable to safely fit in one seat.
The humiliation drove her to tears and she began hyperventilating. In fact, the course of events were so stressful, that she ended up in hospital the next day.
To be perfectly honest, I’m having a hard time picking any side here – Mrs. Adams is 5-foot-8 and weighs 350 pounds, so there is no denying that she is a “passenger of size”. In a photo taken by her husband, he’s trying to show that his wife had no problem fitting in one seat, and that the demand for purchasing a second seat was wrong.
From the perspective of the airline, a judgment call was made, and assuming the staff didn’t select her just to annoy her, the have every right to pick safety and comfort of their fellow passengers over politeness.
I do think the airline was wrong to have her get off the flight to pay for the second seat – these issues should be resolved before passengers board, to prevent the kind of embarrassing situation Mrs. Adams had to endure. In addition to this, she had been allowed to fly to Las Vegas without any incident, so it is obvious that Southwest Airlines was not applying the rules consistently.
So – dear readers – what do you think? Was Southwest Airlines correct to demand that she pay for a second seat, or did they insult her? To clarify – Mr. Adams is not asking for money, he just wants an apology from the airline.
(Article and photo from KOIN Local 6)
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