I
boycott Southwest Airlines because they enforce a "customer of size" policy that patently discriminates against people of size. Southwest is not the only airline to have this policy but they are the only airline to actively enforce this policy and have been known to aggressively humiliate their patrons. The patrons who have suffered from SW's insensitivity are patrons who "are unable to lower the armrests (the definitive boundary between seats) and/or who compromise any portion of adjacent seating." Customers who fall into this definition are asked to purchase two seats because according to Southwest, the fatties have been making life uncomfortable for everyone else and the skinny bitches apparently are the favored customer. If SW is so concerned with the comfort of their patrons, they would not consistently decrease the size of their seats to increase the capacity.
Yesterday, I was forced to buy a ticket on SW because I got sick and had to cancel my ticket purchased on Hotwire and SW was all I could afford at the last minute. When I was checking in, I overheard the conversation of the customer at the next station. He was a large man being cross-examined by a rude SW employee. The tiny SW employee who probably has no idea what this man faces on a daily basis, repeatedly asked him if he was familiar with SW's "policy" and if he was
certain that he could fit in the seat. He answered affirmatively once. Then again and again and again until the man looked like he was going to cry. The woman was relentless. I would have walked off but he probably didn't have the budgetary freedom, much like myself, to go to another airline. But, buying two tickets is not a bargain!
The most infuriating part is that I was checking in right next to this man but the woman helping me did not even broach the topic. On sight, I easily fit into their vague "customer of size" characterization. And since an employee is trained to arbitrarily raise the issue whenever he or she thinks a fat person is trying to board the plane, this policy is pure bullying.
After watching the man suffer through the pointed harassment, I began to worry. What if the next SW agent thought I was too fat and made me buy another ticket? Would they single me out in front of the 200+ people waiting in line to board? Would I start crying? Would I start yelling? Would I threaten to sue? As I boarded and had not yet been approached by an employee, I started scanning the aisles, hoping the plane would not fill up so I could sit in a row with an extra empty seat. I also started to worry that the person next to me could potentially complain about my "extra baggage." Would they exclaim that I was making them uncomfortable and force the attendants to make me adhere to the policy--" buy another ticket or get off!" Then I worried about asking for a seat-belt extender. Does that automatically make me too big? Does that automatically make me ineligible for only one seat? Why should anyone have to deal with this? I had to go through
A LOT of worrying at the hands of this fucking policy. Isn't flying stressful enough?
How is this fair? I can barely write this post without welling up in tears. Fat people are teased, taunted, ridiculed on a daily basis. Being fat is not a choice. It is not comfortable. I do not enjoy feeling like a pressed sardine in a tight airline seat. I do not enjoy asking for a seat belt extender. I do not enjoy the looks other passengers give me, avoiding my eyes, hoping I won't sit next to them. But why throw that anger at me? Why not get angry at the airlines who are more concerned with their profit margins than with making
everyone comfortable, not just the customers "not of size?"
Hopefully, the man at the counter will get angry and boycott SW from now on. I will never again fly with this airline, no matter what my budgetary restraints are. I am going to look into the legal implications because SW has been sued plenty of times over this. There is a lot going on here: the arbitrary policy picks and chooses who it disfavors. Let's get angry. No one should have to deal with this, no one!
