I usually hang up the phone when there is a recording on trying to talk to me, but this time it was Judy Maggio with a KVUE viewer's poll. Apparently Southwest Airlines is instigating a policy that would charge overweight patrons for two seats. The poll wanted to know if I thought that was a fair policy (I do) and whether or not it would positively/negatively/not influence my decision to use SW (it wouldn't influence me at all).
Posted by jfer at June 19, 2002 1:32 PMsounds like a PR nightmare. Maybe they should have a row of seats called the "doublewide"? Like Handicapped bathrooms. If an overweight person required special seating they would have to notify the airlines. So are we now going to have to fess up our dimensions to get on a plane? I definitely think that if someone takes up two seats they should pay for it. Nobody wants to sit next to the guy whose so weighty that they take up more than their fair share..but implementing this sounds like a nightmare.
Posted by: Mermu on June 20, 2002 2:16 PMYeah, I wonder if they'll do it like for carry-on luggage: Your butt must fit in "this space" in order ot be allowed just one seat :-)
BTW, they've had this policy for many years, but they are now planing to enforce it more consistently.
The other thing is that an overweight passenger will get refunded for the second seat if the plane is not completely full. IMO, this seems very fair.
Posted by: Stepan on June 21, 2002 9:27 AM