Southwest Airlines refused to fly a skinny woman because of obese teen

The Southwest Airlines refused to fly a skinny woman to make room for an oversized 14 year old girl that needed to seats in order to be able to fly.

This case was brought to the attention of several experts that advised airlines to start installing special big seats on flights for Americans that are bigger than the average weight. This case is unusual, since the common case is airlines refusing people that are too fat to fly, can not fit in their chair and did not think about buying a second ticket. The lady sent away was 5 feet tall, and weighted 110 pounds woman from Sacramento, California. The lady said that it did not seem right to her to leave because an obese person did not have enough place in her chair, although that person only paid for one chair. The reason for which the woman flying from Las Vegas to Sacramento, and paid full ticket for the last available seat on the flight was thrown aside because the obese passenger that was given priority to was a 14 years old girl traveling on her own. Marilee McInnis, the Southwest spokeswoman, said that sometimes they have to face with frustrating circumstances and try to take the best decisions possible. The skinny woman was placed in another flight to Sacramento, an hour later. Marilee McInnis said the flight was completely full before boarding the adult which was not supposed to be on this flight, and after that they found out that a 14 years old passenger traveling alone needed more than one seat to get safe and comfortable to her final destination, so they had to ask her to take the next flight to accommodate the young.

The normal Southwest policy is that passengers who are too big to fit in a seat have to buy two tickets, and they will receive the money back if the plane is not full. The Southwest chairs are 17 inches wide and they would not say if the girl bought two tickets or not. George Hobica, the president of airfarewatchdog.com, says that a ticketed passenger has priority over one flying standby, but they took the decision taking into consideration the fact that whoever was supposed to be picking up the 14 years old girl would have panicked if she was not coming down off the plane when she was supposed to.