Oh My Goodness. Did anyone hear about this? This is just awful...

[ButterCup85]

Lol, the two bars go right along with the body scanner!

http://www.k3dav.com/apps/photos/pho...toid=107704782 While we're on the subject, scroll through those pics they make me laugh!

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by Sunshine87

When I was 180lbs (@ 5"9') I felt like I was pushing the limit on my space....

This is disturbing in it's own right. If the airlines make the seats so small that even an average-sized woman (or a relatively thin man) "pushes the limits" of her or his space, how far should that trend be allowed to continue before customers object?

Anyone over 150 lbs has to buy two seats (which would mean 1/3 to 1/2 of more of American women and most American men)? Anyone over 200 has to buy 3? Anyone over 300 has to buy 5?

If they're going to do that, why not make couch-style seating and charge by hip/*** width. That would be more fair.

[oddreee]

Pulled this from Southwest's site:

Customers of Size Policy
Guidelines for Customers of Size
Customers who encroach upon any part of the neighboring seat(s) should proactively book the needed number of seats prior to travel. The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats and measures 17 inches in width. The purchase of additional seats serves as a notification to Southwest of a special seating need. Most importantly, it ensures that all Customers onboard have access to safe and comfortable seating. You may contact us for a refund of the cost of additional seating after travel, provided the flight does not oversell (which means having more confirmed Customers than seats on the aircraft).

I don't think it's too detailed.. I'm not sure there is a better way to word it, but no doubt the employees did not properly express their policy and handled the situation poorly.. The flight was not oversold from what I understand, and if the sw employees had handled it better, and clearly expressed the policy, maybe it wouldn't have gotten so out of hand.

[jumelle]

Originally Posted by HappilyMe

I checked out when the blogger felt the need to specify the race of the larger male. It clearly wasn't necessary and makes her outrage over weight discrimination seem somewhat hypocritical.

ETA: *Unpopular Opinion Alert* I have sat by larger people on planes and it is extremely uncomfortable. IMO at her size, it seems as if it would be uncomfortable sitting next to her. The way SW went about it was rude and demeaning, however, there is a valid reason for the policy.

Originally Posted by girlinwaterglobe

Yeah, I noticed this, too. She is so eager to complain that everyone is bigger than her, the woman who complained, the ticket agent, blah blah blah. She only said "african-american" because she wants everyone to reference their stereotype that all african-american people are fat. This guy wasn't even fat, he was fit. He is a professional athlete for goodness' sake.

That's pretty much what I took issue with, as well. They were intimidated by his size, point blank. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was AA. They would have done the same thing even if he was White/Hispanic/Asian and had the exact same build. I have no idea what his race had to do with a size discrimination situation.

I'm sorry she had a horrible flight and like DivineFidelity said, a better policy should be in place when these types of situations arise. Can you imagine how many people this has happened to? I understand that SW wants to prevent the discomfort of other passengers, but this was handled completely inappropriately and $200 vouchers can't make up for that kind of embarrassment and disrespect.

[Nola Celeste]

The airline handled things horribly. It's unimaginable to me that a major airline would be so lax in how it trained its staff to handle this issue, because it is NOT an uncommon one. There are a lot of people who have trouble fitting into that 17-inch spot--and not all of them are obese.

It's also ridiculous that there isn't a universal standard. As Kaplods said, is it an encroachment issue or a fuel-use issue? How much encroachment is too much--are we talking about someone's *** pressing against another person so tightly that circulation cuts off, or are we talking about the merest possibility that person A's booty could greet person B's occasionally?

With all that said, though, the blogger's behavior wasn't without blemish. I found the mention of the big football player a needle-scratch moment too, and for two reasons. For one, don't we all acknowledge that a 6'5" athletic man probably carries his weight VERY differently than a 5'5" woman? No one said boo to him about his seat because he fit into it. For another thing, whiskey-tango-foxtrot was his race worth mentioning? That just struck me as plain weird.

I also found it strange that she was concerned about "Barbara" and how humiliated she felt, yet she took photos of her at what had to be a really low point in her life and posted them. I sure hope she asked the woman first, because the only way that that experience could've been more mortifying is if she knew pics of it were going to wind up on the internet.

I found myself getting angry at both sides after reading the piece. It's ridiculous for airlines to have no standards about "how wide is too wide," but it's also rude to post other people's photos, bizarre to mention another passenger's race when "6'5" LSU athlete" would surely have been enough to identify him as a big guy, and delusional to assert that you don't overlap a 17-inch spot when you do.