In light of recent accusations of airlines being discriminatory of overweight passengers, I decided to repost this particular story that occurred last summer to my husband. This was originally posted in July 2009:
I wanted to share this situation (that occurred yesterday, not to myself, but to my husband Jason) with the hopes of receiving a little feedback. Jason had a flight booked to Idaho, for a mission trip he is helping with. I guess his first initial flight, from DFW to Salt Lake City was fine, and then the second flight to Boise is when the dilemma took place.
After boarding the plane and taking his assigned seat, a flight attendant approached my husband and told him that he was “too big” and needed to move. She then escorted him elsewhere, and the harassment ensued again. After this scene, she then proceeded to walk past him and loudly announce that she would go fetch the seat belt extender, because she was sure he would need it.
Wow, the audacity of people never ceases to amaze me! Now granted, my husband is….well, big, at 6′5″ and 380 pounds, he’s definitely a large man, for crying out loud, he’s a lineman on a Semi-Pro football team! And I can understand that maybe he was “crowding” (albeit unintentionally) a passenger next to him, which could be reason enough for him to move. But there is such a thing as tact, and apparently this flight attendant could have turned this situation into a much more positive experience for my hubby, as well as for the entire flight. There could also be many other variables involved in this scenario, such as the attendant was in a bad mood, or she might have just been griped out, or she could just be a blunt, gruff kind of person. In my opinion though, any way you view this, it is a form of discrimination, and made my husband uncomfortable, and feel humiliated. After paying close to $400.00 for a flight, you expect good, if not excellent treatment, and I don’t believe that Jason received that.
I’m not one to call out companies, cough, cough, Delta or be a tattle-tell, but I am extremely disappointed with the way this flight attendant, (who is in essence a representative of the actual company) treated my husband. We aren’t looking to sue, or receive any compensation or freebies, but heck, a simple training session on how to treat large, tall, or overweight folks might help a little. And a lesson on couth wouldn’t hurt either!
So, what do you think, is this acceptable behavior, or is it discrimination?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Thats really terrible. Delta has been terrible to me before when I travelled with my two babies alone. Its discrimination for sure. I was preeeetty snarky with the chick once she crossed the line with me, and she backed off. But it shouldnt have come to that. the first thing I thought was “what does she do when a REAL problem occurs”
okay but seriously your hubby is a semi pro football player!? how cool is that!
I’ve had trouble with that unnamed airline, too, though not in this area.
As you’re saying, I understand that everyone has a right to be comfortable during the flight. In the recent news report about weight discrimination, the person affected had purchased TWO tickets to ensure that his size didn’t intrude on anyone else. Only after he was bumped to another flight (where there weren’t two seats available) did his size become an issue.
I think the problem comes in when people are treated badly (as your husband was) and when the rule isn’t applied uniformly. If the airline is going to make an issue of size or weight, they should do it across the board. It shouldn’t be one testy flight attendant hassling one passenger because she feels like it.
I think it was very inappropriate for that flight attendant to treat your husband that way. I have only flown a few times and luckily I have courteous flight attendants. However, the airlines should have a training session for all employees on how to approach things like this in a respectful way.
That was aweful … and uncalled for.
I am so sorry this happened.
I do not think it is acceptable behavior. It sounds like the flight attendant could use additional customer service training.
I thought of this post when I heard that on the news…..ARRRRRGH!!!!
1. I wouldn’t mind more room myself, and I’m not all that overweight.
2. I have been obese before, and I don’t enjoy flights all that much let alone being pestered about my most sensitive fault.
I may be the odd one out here but I don’t think it was necessarily discrimination as much as it was an extreme lack of tact and the proper knowledge and common sense as how to deal with the situation.
Asking your husband to move wasn’t discrimination, nor getting a seat belt extender. It’s not as if they declined to let him have a seat. However, it is EXTREMELY bad form and lack of tact. Personally, I think all flight attendants should attend some sort of mandatory sensitivity training and receive proper and consistent training with rules and protocol involving issues such as this.
The same treatment can be applied to any situation – a parent with unruly children, a crying baby or two, someone with extreme body odor, etc. The thing here is how the crew is trained to deal with it tactfully and discreetly. It IS a service industry and it is their job to provide a service to ALL their passengers, not just the ones that don’t cause them any ‘inconvenience’.
I hope that I explained myself well enough. So in a nutshell, no, I don’t think your husband should have been treated like that under any circumstances, but no, I don’t think it was discrimination. Just an extreme case of lack of tact and sensitivity.
That is truly terrible. I would voice your opinion to their customer service department. It might not get you anywhere but sometimes a company needs to know when they have a rude and insensitive employee.
Not acceptable treatment at all. If they have to move a paying passenger for any reason it should be done as kindly and quitely as possible.
Shouldn’t your husband be the one to make the call if he needs a seatbelt extender or not? I think I would have made an even bigger scene for the flight attendant, and let her or him know that I was going to be contacting the higher authority..
I think that they could have went about it another way quietly..
Your kidding right? I can not believe they would treat any perso that way. Do they treat the pro-football players like that when they fly? What a**h*les!!!
Yikes! What a horrible situation! My sister-in-law was a flight attendant, and they’re not supposed to behave this way! Miki
Awww, your poor hubby! I know this had to have hurt his feelings.
Yep, I agree with Heather, the flight attendant needs another customer service training class and then follow it up with a common sense class. 