Jaunted

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]