I had the chance this afternoon to speak directly with director Kevin Smith. I let him know that in my 18 years here at Southwest, I have never dealt with a situation like what has been unfolding in the last 48 hours. I let Kevin know we have refunded his airfare. I told him we made a mistake in trying to board him as a standby passenger and then remove him. And I told him we were sorry.
Now, 48 hours later, after talking to many involved, we know there were several things going on that day and that our Employees were doing their best to get his flight out safely and on time, including finding seats for everyone and trying to accommodate standby passengers. The Captain did not single Kevin out to be removed, but he did ask that the boarding be completed quickly. At that time, our Employees made the decision to remove Kevin after a quick judgment call that he might have needed more than one seat for his comfort and those seated next to him.
Although I’m not here to debate the decision our Employees made, I can tell you that I for one have learned a lot today. The communication among our Employees was not as sharp as it should have been and, it’s apparent that Southwest could have handled this situation differently. Thanks, Kevin, for your passion around this topic. You were a reasonable guy during our conversation.
Southwest, like most carriers, has a policy to assist passengers who need two seats onboard an aircraft. The policy is an important one for the comfort and safety of all passengers aboard a plane, and we stand by that 25-year-old policy. This has our attention, and we will be reviewing how and when this delicate policy is implemented.
Comments
Hey Ronda, you keep eating up Smith's story. The fact is, I wasn't there, maybe he's telling the truth, maybe he's not. Either way, this just wasn't that big a deal, there are much more important things in life to worry about than if a rich celebrity got his way. SW has apologized for boarding him and then taking him off, if that's not good enough for you, then that's too bad I suppose. Just fly someone else and pay more across the board, and get treated badly for your trouble. I've flown SW for years and have been delighted by the friendly service and reasonable prices. Did Mr. Smith have a bad experience? Perhaps, but if this was the worst thing that happened to him that week, he should count himself lucky.
Both of your blogs regarding Mr. Smith still contain lies that some of your customers are eating up. Shame on you. Admit a mistake was made and tell the truth.
He, in no way, was near not qualifying to fly in one seat based on your 25 year old policy. He easily showed the person ejecting him that his arm rests go down just fine as well as his seat belt was buckled, without an extender that you offer other customers.
Southwest has also admitted that the pilot had nothing to do with this decision and it was made by another employee but your newest blog still states it was the captain.
Elderly and handicapped people pose more of a safety concern when a quick exit is needed so stop with the guise of "safety concern" unless you are in the habit of throwing them of planes too. Besides, does buying two seats make you move any faster?
You are only addressing this because you have since found out that he has an audience or you would be making an apology to Natalie as well (the female customer you humiliated by using her to make a point to Mr. Smith).
I will never fly Southwest again and will be very vocal about the matter to all who will hear me.
I'm scared to fly Southwest. I'm fat and I don't really want to be where I'm openly hated.
While I understand and support the two seats policy, letting him ion the plane and then claiming "the pilot" made the call to kick him off in the name of safety is clearly BS. When was the last time the pilot strolled through coach evaluating people's waistlines? Now it's "the pilot wanted to finish boarding quickly"...but (A) you have already LOST credibility when speaking for the pilot, by lying the first time (and not the lie about the armrests, explained below) and (B) Smith was already boarded, so deplaning him only delayed things further.
What clearly happened was the check-in people let him on, and some stewardess probably made the call that he was too fat. When confronted with the fact that he actually did (probably just barely) fit into the seat, the decision had already been made. The "armrest test" was irrelevant and it never mattered whether he passed or failed it. It was just a lie you told him in hopes that he'd buy it, shut up and deplane. It was probably pretty disconcerting for those involved that he actually tried calling them on it by lowing the armrests.
I've had a few bad experiences with SW and rude and arbitrary decisions of its staff...but its cheap, so I keep flying. You are pushing on a thread, though. Treat people with dignity and enforce your policies in a non-capricious manner or you'll lose yet another customer in me.
I would echo was was said earlier, how many obese people have you insulted and not apologized to because they were not famous? Rule One when Flying Southwest: Be Famous. Everyone else abandon all hope.
It's about time service industries focus on the masses who maintain themselves in the middle of the bell curve instead of fixating on occupants of the 2nd or third standard deviation. To quote my father, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Sorry, Kevin.
Dr. Kent Sasse wrote an interesting blog piece on the issue of air travel for obese individuals here: http://www.sasseguide.com/blog/kevin-smith-and-southwest-airlines/
I don't care if someone is 100 or 300 lbs. I don't want their body in my seat. For those of you who think airline seats are too small, fly an airline with first class seats or buy two in coach. Either way, you should be the one to cover the extra costs. NOT ME!
great job southwest...not only do you cheap out with making seats so small to cram everyone in, putting people on like a cattle car, but then have the judgement to blame the passengers. i'm already not a fan of the cattle car approach to seating, but since you guys are apparently dumb as stumps (this just makes the case), won't be flying with you any longer.
get a different business model and deal with the real problem, or just do everyone a favor and go out of business.
He was flying standby, they put him on the plane, he didn't fit, so they asked him to get off and take the next flight, right? What would you have preferred they do, remove the non-standby passenger he was sitting on?
And you know that since he was the last or almost last person on the plane, some poor guy watched him coming down the aisle, looked around to see that the only empty seat was the one next to him, and just about cried.
I am fat, can i take a fly with south west??