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
isnt this discrimination against him because hes overweight, by him purchasing two tickets he handled his end of the problem.. i recently fly on sw and purchased 3 tickets and 3 of us flew. the customer service on our return flight was terrible.. my son had not flown much and went back to use the rest room he ask if it was empty and where it was located the flight attendant reply to him was do i look like the bathroom monitor and if you dont know where it is then maybe you dont need to use it. TOTALY UNEXCEPTABLE IN MY BOOK I then went to use the restroom and this flight attendant was on her cell phone texting messages when all the others were busting their buts to do their job i ask for her name and id and she refused to give it to me. DO THESE PEOPLE FORGET THAT BY US FLYING ON THEM WE ARE PAYING THEIR WAGES. I HAVE FILED A COMPLAINT ABOUT THIS BUT THAVE NOT HEARD BACK.
I'm a reasonably intelligent person and realize that half these posts are BS, people who love the opportunity to complain about something, or have an agenda/axe to grind about discrimination in general...
But SWA, take note: I am a large person who flew on your airline a few weeks back from San Antonio to Omaha - and I had no problem. But this morning, when I had the opportunity to select another flight from San Antonio to Orange County, I chose another airline.
Why? Not because I think you're totally in the wrong, but Mr Smith's account IS the more believable of the two and I, for one, won't take the chance of the same thing happening to me. Doesn't mean it won't happen to me on another airline (and I will come back here and post my experiences if it does), but one DOES tend to shy away from the KNOWN bad experiences vs. the unknown ones.
Bad publicity is a very delicate thing and you didn't handle it well - even with a 25 year old policy on your side. Public opinion may even grant you the logical victory - and STILL stay away based on the 'spirit' of how you defended your actions. And it IS customers that keep your company running, yes?
SW states they are a " Company committed to serving our Customers in Safety and comfort", but they have identified that this is true only IF YOU ARE NOT BIG. I'm a big person, without enough money to buy an extra seat, but I fit within the two arm rests of one seat, and the skinny guy beside me takes up that arm rest and more.... Other Big People Know exactly what I'm talking about because we are the trure individuals who are "commited to comfort of others on the flight". (PS. Kevin buys two seats because he can afford not having to share.... aren't we all happy when there's an empty seat next to us - YES)
Over one-third of U.S. adults are "obese", which means this one-third has a chance of being kicked off SW. If the one-third is OK with the chance of being imbarased in this way they would pass on SW. I'll be letting my friends know about this and I'm not flying
statistic source: www.win.niddk.nih.gov
Discrimination, blatant discrimination. I can squeeze into one of those airline seats designed for a 12 year old Asian boy, but I still have broad shoulders. And yes, in my mid 40's, I do carry a little extra in the middle unlike an Olympic swimmer. Does that mean I'm FAT? Fat people are aggressively and openly discriminated daily. Would you kick someone off the plane for being Black? How about wearing a turban on their head? Here's a thought, come up with a policy regarding the lady sitting next to me holding a screaming baby all the way to Tampa!!!
I, myself am a person of large size and listening to Smith's podcast has opened my eyes about you guys the way you handled it was way off and i will never fly southwest again you guys did wrong and you guys really need to admit it.
I, myself, have had a bad experience tonight with Southwest. I have been working to book a trip to four for my entire family to Orlando and been checking flights daily. I decided to book our flights today, even though they were incredibly expensive AND choose SWA over others that were cheaper because of the reliability. After booking three flights (because the site would not let me book them at the same time) the fourth flight price went up within 5 minutes of my first booked ticket. The customer relations person said that the flights must have been book for that price. Give me a break, we are all flying at the same time, sitting in the same section, with no special treatment. I was appaled that we now have to pay for more expensive air fare for one of the passengers because of this. It is so ridiculous and completely unreliable. I will never fly SWA again.
I fly all the time for work, and will never fly SW because of your policy. I fit just fine into an American seat, I've never had any complaints or problems, but just the Idea that I might be singled out on a SW flight is enough to keep me off your planes. I feel sorry for an airline who feels justified in singling out potentially 35% of US passengers, rather than finding ways to be better accomidating. How can alienating 35% of a population be a good business model?
i just listened to Mr Smiths account of the entire Feb 14 incident. I also read Southwests posts on this blog explaining their side.
I can say that Mr Smiths account is entirely believable. The post at the top of this blog does not explain or excuse the behavior of the Southwest crew. It was clearly a case of heartbreaking discrimination.
I have had my own share of problems with Southwest employees. In many cases they have gone out of their way to make a problems instead of solving them. This is a perfect illustration of that.
My family will not fly Southwest ever again.
As someone who flies twice a week I can honestly say, I will never fly SW again. This has nothing to do with my size (I am quite average) but I feel like they have no problems mistreating me on a whim. I am sure SW does not need me alone, but 5000 people like me will make a difference. I hope it was worth it SW.
I love the fact that nobody who commented was on the plane and doesn't know what really happened. It's similar to making a mistake in a big game. We can shout and scream all we want, but the best decision was made in the moment. I'm fairly sure that the employees didn't think to themselves, "I know! Let's make a lot of people made by kicking this guy off." They were probably thinking, "What's the fastest way to take off while being safe and comfortable?" With that being said, there does need to be a revision of the policy and consistency of it actually being followed or abandoned. There needs to be a fine line.