Many of you reached out to us via Twitter last night and today regarding a situation a Customer Twittered about that occurred on a Southwest flight. It is not our customary method of Customer Relations to be so public in how we work through these situations, but with so many people involved in the occurrence, you also should be involved in the solution. First and foremost, to Mr. Smith; we would like to echo our Tweets and again offer our heartfelt apologies to you. We are sincerely sorry for your travel experience on Southwest Airlines.
As soon as we saw the first Tweet from Mr. Smith, we contacted him personally to apologize for his experience and to address his concerns on both Twitter and with a personal phone call. Since the situation has received a lot of public attention, we'd like to take the opportunity to address a few of the specifics here as well.
Mr. Smith originally purchased two Southwest seats on a flight from Oakland to Burbank – as he’s been known to do when traveling on Southwest. He decided to change his plans and board an earlier flight to Burbank, which technically means flying standby. As you may know, airlines are not able to clear standby passengers until all Customers are boarded. When the time came to board Mr. Smith, we had only a single seat available for him to occupy. We are responsible for the Safety and comfort of all Customers on the aircraft and therefore, we made a judgment call that Mr. Smith needed more than one seat to complete his flight. Our Employees explained why the decision was made, accommodated Mr. Smith on a later flight, and issued him a $100 Southwest travel voucher for his inconvenience.
You've read about these situations before. Southwest instituted our Customer of Size policy more than 25 years ago. The policy requires passengers that can not fit safely and comfortably in one seat to purchase an additional seat while traveling. This policy is not unique to Southwest Airlines and it is not a revenue generator. Most, if not all, carriers have similar policies, but unique to Southwest is the refunding of the second seat purchased (if the flight does not oversell) which is greater than any revenue made (full policy can be found here). The spirit of this policy is based solely on Customer comfort and Safety. As a Company committed to serving our Customers in Safety and comfort, we feel the definitive boundary between seats is the armrest. If a Customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat, a Customer seated adjacent would be very uncomfortable and a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement.
Comments
I love Southwest for protecting me from having to sit next to fat people squished into one seat.
I agree. Southwest has "redirected" larger people to other seats when they are struggling to even find the seatbelt because they are so large. Normal sized people should not have to suffer because "customers of size" are taking up more than their allotted space. The bottom line is to be considerate, which I think Southwest does an overall great job of, but the negative stories are escalated.
Also if you are large, you are not entitled to spill over the arm rest. The arm rest is in fact not even all yours.
Excellent job Southwest, you have certainly done more that what he deserved, his attitude and language on Twitter was uncalled for. As he's a regular traveller he would have ticked that he agreed to the terms and conditions of carriage, therefore he should be aware of the arrangements for "more than average sized' passengers.
This is the funniest BS blog I have ever read. I'm pretty fat myself and i dont use that arm rest thing. I have never been kicked off a plane before. I will never fly SWA again.
Kevin Smith has already confirmed he received no phone calls or messages; keep lying.
So, what you're saying is, "Sorry, Kev, but you ARE fat." Sorry, Southwest, but you ARE assholes.
So, Kevin Smith was complaining about an issue he already knew about (based on his previous double-seat-buying habits). He was complaining about Southwest enforcing a 25-year rule he already knew about. He was complaining that the Southwest pilot was extremely observant when the pilot immediately identified that something was wrong.
In cases like this, I'm glad corporations now have free speech :)
Did it ever occur to you that maybe he purchased two seats normally so he didn't have to sit NEXT to anyone else? Unless your seats are half the width of other airlines, there is absolutely NO way this man was encroaching on another person's space.
If I could afford it, I would purchase two seats just so I wouldn't have to sit next to any of you annoying "average-sized" parents with drooling and kicking children, or simply to avoid travelers who want to talk to me and be my best friend for two hours while I'm trying desperately to ignore you.
Except that Kevin Smith says the flight wasn't full.
And if you're going to have this policy, it needs to be consistent. Why was he issued one ticket when he's "supposed" to have 2 seats? Why does the captain get to make a subjective judgment?
I'm a fan of Southwest...or I was until today. You need to clarify this policy. It doesn't affect me sizewise, but if you enforce the size policy arbitrarily, how do I know you won't enforce some other policy just as arbitrarily?
Anyone ever think that he may purchase two seats so that he doesn't have to talk to the person next to him for an entire flight--perhaps to protect him from "Hey, can you read my script?"
He is not THAT large.
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