Skinny woman kicked off plane for chubby passenger

14:00 AEST Fri Jul 30 2010

MSN NZ Travel staff

A Southwest Airlines passenger said she was left "stunned" after reportedly being kicked off her flight so that an overweight passenger could have an extra seat.

The tiny woman, who wishes to remain anonymous and weighs in at 49kg, told reporters she was removed from her seat so that a chubby 14-year-old could have two seats.

"It didn't seem right that I should have to leave to accommodate someone who had only paid for one seat," she told the US publication Sacramento Bee.

The plane was scheduled to fly from Las Vegas to Sacramento but the woman was told she would have to wait for the next flight.

A spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines has said they intend to apologise to the woman over the incident.

User comments

The sooner airlines all have cattle like shoots with scales for passengers to check in through the better. If you can't fit through the shoot you pay for two (or three) seats and the total weight of you and your baggage are what you're allowed. Fair for everyone and it is dealt with before anyone gets near the plane. Check-in changes were bought in quickly when terrorism became a threat -seems to me airlines are sitting on their hands and until their have been some massive law suits over the current crazy way of operating their business they will continue to shunt the skinny in favour of the fat

the parents are probably twice the kids size. boo hoo im sad.. give me another pie n chips.. wot.. im not gonna go walk and get it no ill take a taxi... wow that was exhausting.. now time for another pie n chips.. my litre of diet coke means its ok

airliner should built plane 4 oversize people that will sort out problem

The issue shouldn't be that the teenager is obese and had to take up two seats.. it should be actually focussed on the fact that the AIRLINE chose to accomadate him with two seats and bump the female passenger... After all, the teenager didnt go on to the plane with the purpose of kicking off another passenger. Blame the AIRLINE... and stop focussing on the size of the teenager...

What a depressing world we live in when people cannot be accepted for their size all these fat haters have obviously never had a weight problem or they would hopefully have more understanding just because he is fat does not mean he is greedy or doesnt exercise. you all need to learn some tolerance

Im sorry but the kid should be fat enough to need two seats, No-one should be ever, Humans aren't designed to be fat, I know some people can actually lose the weight but that's like 1 in 100 thousand, all the rest of them just need to take care of themselves and eat healthy, Its not hard and you'll thank yourself later... I mean put down the fork... Why should society feel sorry for you. Its not our fault, Put yourselves in our shoes, your inconveniencing us, and our money has to go towards your surgery and medical bills. Please stop being so PC...

Um excuse me but that girl should have purchased an extra seat if she was going to have more bloody folds of fat to go around. She shouldn't be over weight at her age anyway, what the hell are her parents thinking? They should have kept her at a healthy weight, and that's just disgusting if she's a teenager and she needed two chairs to cover her bloody *** i wonder how many she'll need in the future when she needs to take a flight somewhere. That is really disgusting. Whatever the reason, she shouldn't be over weight. I am seriously thinking that American's need a fitness program for fat kids, like more fat camps to decrease the amount of fat folds on those children. So what if she's 14, she should limit herself to less calories and more fiber. Her parents should be ashamed of themselves, abusing their kid like this. Just because she may be hungry, doesn't mean you allow her to over eat. She'll only end up hating them for making her fat.

It's a no brainer - the fatty and his family should have been the ones to get the next flight. If I was the woman I would have refused to leave.

Pt 2. This skinny passenger should now sue the parents and or ticket purchaser, and the company for Discrimination. Including 'stress' and 'humiliation' due to this incident. As I said, how the hell can the company possibly "make it up to her". What? Offer another flight where the possiblitity of being "kicked off" again? Hell yeah, sounds great. And those working for these companies are only doing their job, which I respect, but why should a skinny, lighter person be "made an example" of for this 'fat boys' ticket purchasing era? Come on counter people,get it right!! Get a law passed the enables 'signs' advertising that you 'may' be required to purchase an extra ticket if you feel a customer is too big for the seats. Have a "closed" room where the customer is given the opportunity to be shown that they need an extra seat for their flight. How hard could this be? So the shareholders might miss out on a few extra coins in their dividends, but customer satisfaction gains profit.

I agree with "Me" and "G" of Auckland, and "LS1993" of Wellington. I also think "Doughnut" of Fatsville is rather arogant. I, at 90kgs am considered large, and if I ever travelled by plane, I would certainly hope (expect) to be advised if my size was going to affect other passengers seating arrangements. As a teenager, I was slim until a motorcycle accident in late teens, I gained weight in hospital and never lost it. Not the fault of the hospital. Me, just being lazy. {I now go to the gym 3x weekly for health & fitnes}. The Air Company can not possibly make it up to this passenger. Maybe it's time 'skinny' people started screeming 'discrimination'!. Yes, there are some large people whom are naturally 'big boned', and I personally find 'medium' sized healthy woman attractive. But you have to accommodate all your customers based on size and weight... so I feel the parents (purchaser of ticket) should have brought tat extra seat at purchase time, resulting in a win win for both.