The Big Issue

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If you would have known me back in 2003, I would have been about 100 pounds heavier then I am now. Of course, I still have a lot of room for improvement, but for as long as I can remember I was always a heavier guy.

When I moved away to College in 2004 is when I finally decided to change that, and the results are what I am today.

Luckily, when I was at my heaviest I didn’t fly very much. Lately I’ve been hearing more and more stories of heavier-set people flying and being discriminated against. In the industry, generally, these heavier fliers are referred to as “POS” or “Passenger of Size” or “COS,” “Customer of Size.”

Each airline has their own policies and procedures in place to deal with the weighing issue. For example, my current airline will allow a POS to sit in an exit seat, even with a seatbelt extender, where as my previous airline didn’t. Southwest Airlines, subjects a POS to “the armrest test.”

Southwest brought this practice to light, publicly in the A&E Television Show “Airline.” In this particular episode a frequent flier is told at check-in that because of “the safety and comfort of himself and the other passengers” that he needed to buy an additional seat in order to fly. They brought the customer on board the aircraft, prior to boarding, to ensure that he could fit in between the arm the rests. Take a look.

The above situation happened to a record producer, now, let me tell you a quick story about what just happened to a film director. Kevin Smith, calls himself “fat” however, he passes the arm rest test. Because of how crowded Southwest Airlines flights usually are, he usually buys 2 seats when he travels to ensure the seat next to him is empty simply for the extra room, not because the airline requires him to do so. Trying to travel home to Los Angeles from Oakland, CA, Kevin arrived at Oakland airport early for his 7pm flight. He noticed there was a flight leaving at 5pm that he’d be able to catch home. Long story short, he requested to go standby for it, and he got on the plane.

What happened next though, was nothing short of embarrassing. After Kevin boarded the flight, the agents discovered that there was only 1 seat left on the plane, that they gave Kevin, but they noticed he had 2 seats purchased. They must have believed that he had two seats purchased because another employee didn’t believe he’d pass the ‘armrest test’ and went on to the aircraft and pulled him off the flight. They told him the “Captain” requested his removal for his safety and comfort. Later, he found out that wasn’t the case.

Rather than asking him quietly on-board the aircraft why he had two seats, for him to explain the situation, they instead removed him.

As a former heavy guy myself, I would have been mortified if I was removed from an aircraft under the pretenses that I was too overweight to fly in a single seat. Further, the agents who came down to remove him from the aircraft, obviously saw that he was seated, between 2 women, comfortably and didn’t require the second seat.

I am glad that at my current airline I’m hardly ever, if ever, faced with the situation that these agents were put in. But what I do know is, having been in Kevin’s shoes just a few years ago, I would have handled this situation very differently.

Some people are larger then others because they don’t care, have medical conditions, eat emotionally, etc. But, to handle a situation that can be embarrassing and humiliating for that person even in an intimate conversation, in front of countless others, the way that Southwest did,  is down right wrong. Not only did they not have respect for him as a paying customer, but they also lacked respect for him as a human being.

There are many people today who are comfortable with who they are and will, in front of others, announce that they need a seatbelt extension. Even though they were open about it, I still make every effort I can to hand them the extension as discreetly as possible. Even though they are okay with the situation, the interaction we’re having as passenger/customer and flight attendant, isn’t the business of the people seated around them.

What did we learn from this situation? We learned that we are all in this together, there is more to a situation that might meet the eye, and its best to ask questions. Asking questions will not only provide you with an answer to what’s in front of you, but it’ll also give you the information needed to make an informed decision.

Follow-Up: Southwest Airlines reached out to Kevin Smith, who made his ordeal public on a podcast and on Twitter. They refunded his airline ticket and formally apologized mentioning that the ‘communication between their staff wasn’t where it should have been.’