Tit For Tat At Southwest: Working WiFi, But 'Big Guy' Passenger Turned Away

June 24, 2009 at 9:42 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (4)

Get your credit cards out as Southwest Airlines enters Phase Two of their In-Flight WiFi plan, as today marks the beginning of their charging for it.

Onboard the four planes currently outfitted with Row 44 WiFi, passengers can expect to shell out between $2 to $12 for access, with the final price displayed when your browser is launched and based on flight time and what device used to connect.

But it's not all good news for Southwest Airlines today, as another passenger controversy erupted when a very frequent-flying man, Chip, was deemed too large to fly without purchasing another seat. Writing Consumerist, Chip explains the ordeal:

I fly twice a week for business exclusively on Southwest Airlines. In the last year I have probably flown 50-60 times on Southwest. So imagine my surprise last Monday when I went to board my 12:40pm flight from Las Vegas (where I live) to Omaha and was prevented from doing so an unruly the gate agent who thought just by looking at me, she could determine whether I was too big to fit in one seat and informed me that I needed to buy a 2nd ticket.

Now I am a big guy (6'1, a few extra pounds) but I've never been stopped, asked, suggested, or otherwise looked-at-funny that I should buy 2 seats, by Southwest or any other airline ... I stood there arguing with them as my flight boarded and left without me. This was a business trip, so I ended up losing a day of work.

All this without actually bringing up the passenger's frequent flight history or taking him onboard the plane to test if the seatbelt fastens and the armrests go down. Apparently the stress continues as the only apology offered was that a supervisor was sorry he had not been stopped before. Burned!

Since Chip isn't even asking for free flights in compensation—he wants only an official apology and that the gate agents be re-schooled on how to handle such situations—Southwest doesn't have anything to lose by addressing it. What do you think? Remember that what's at stake is giving up traveling on your favorite airline forever.

Related Stories:
· In-Flight WiFi Update [BlogSouthwest]
· Southwest Suddenly Decides Frequent Flyer Is Too Big To Fly [Consumerist]
· Southwest Airlines News coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: ChicagoEye]

Comments (4)

Return to » Tit For Tat At Southwest: Working WiFi, But 'Big Guy' Passenger Turned Away

If you're going to have this kind of policy you have to have your gate agents follow a protocol, and in this case, the protocol was clear: Let the dude sit in the seat. His frequent flyer status should have been proof enough, but if you get him in the seat, even if passenger and agents disagree on what "fitting in" means, at least the airline can say, "We did that and drew our own conclusions." Unfortunately it doesn't surprise me at all that this would happen, because Americans love judging fat people and it's not like they have feelings to protect.

Good morning, JetSetCD - Paula Berg here form Southwest Airlines. I was, of course, very sorry to learn that one of our Customers had a bad experience while traveling with us. I attempted to reach Chip online and submitted two comments to his blog - one on June 15 when I first saw his post and then another on June 22 - neither of which have been posted. I am not sure why they would not have gone through, but I am sorry if that gave the impression that we weren't listening or weren't concerned. Nevertheless, I was ultimately able to get into contact with him over Twitter and email to 1) apologize and 2) let him know that I had asked our Customer Relations Department to expedite his request. Our Vice President of Customer Relations and Rapid Rewards has since sent him a personal response clarifying our policy, apologizing for the handling of the situation, and confirming that matter would be appropriately addressed with the Employees involved. Naturally, we value Chip's business very much, and would hate to hate to lose him as a loyal Customer. Paula Berg Southwest Airlines

Thank You for the response, Paula. We hope that Chip gets back with you and appreciate your comment.

F' em.

Jaunted

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