southrntrnzplnt
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I was a ticket/gate agent for years for Delta, and its one of those touchy subjects that we have to deal with. If a passenger is obviously over sized, we do have the right to charge for a second seat. Most will already by the second seat to have the room, but you have people who are still in denial, or who dont want to or dont have the means to pay for the second seat. Southwest is the only airline that I know of that is strict about enforcing the rule. However, if the flight isnt full I dont bother bringing it up, I would move the passenger sitting next to that person, or call them up and tell them I found them a better seat or a row to themself. I even had a passenger buy an entire three seat row in the back of the MD-88 aircraft we ran out of Jackson, MS. She always was very pleasant, and would ask for pre-boarding so that she would save herself additional embarassment trying to get to the back of the aircraft during active boarding.
Should you get compensation, not really. If you complain enough, if it were me, I might give you some miles and if I was in a good mood and the flight was empty and you didnt buy your ticket on a 3rd party bulk website (like Priceline, Hotwire, Cheaptickets...etc) I may possibly give you an upgrade, but no actual monetary compensation.
A gate agent can however deny boarding to a passenger who is obviously over sized on a full flight and they didnt pay for a second seat. Its a touchy situation, but unfortunately I have had to do it. It gets really really ugly too, im not exactly skinny, but personal threats and attacks usually follow suit in those cases.
The worst was a lady who was over sized, in a wheel chair and had a leg injury. Her leg was wrapped and had an infection, so there was an odor, not bad enough to warrent denying her boarding from the smell. When she arrived it took us nearly an hour to de-plane her because the city she flew in from didnt move her to a more forward seat or just put her in first class. She was in the middle of the rear cabin of a 767 and I dont know how they squeezed her down the aisle to get her on, but it took everything we had to get her off that aircraft with out hurting her. She was embarassed and in tears, as was I that I had to sit there and witness this as we tried to get her from the rear of the plane. When she returned later that week, I remembered her and again, we had a full flight and they were booked in the back of a 767. I didnt even hassle with it, I just gave them a free upgrade to avoid any further situations. Should they have paid for it, yes. They didnt check in at the gate until we were ready to board and I didnt want to deal with the hassle of getting the money or the scene at the gate. She teared up as we got to the aircraft door remembereing what torture it was to get on and off the plane, so I just sat her in the first seat in first class. The guy whose seat I took I moved to another seat in 1st class, explained that I needed to put a handicapped passenger there and gave him some miles in his Frequent Flier account since that was his preferred seat.
There are regulations on the books, its up to the agents to enforce them. Again, its a touchy subject and hard to know when to draw the line and tell someone, "Im sorry, you a$$ is too big for one seat, you have to pay for two." |
Jackie J
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A&E used to have a show calle Airline. I saw on one episode they gave a guy a credit for having to sit next to a large person when he complained. It is a touchy subject and you don't want to hurt the persons feelings, who knows they may have a medical condition that causes their obesity, but why should you have to pay for your seat and suffer. Maybe the airline should have a row of large seats. I would call and complain though, you never know they may give you somthing for your trouble. |
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