Passenger Who Purchased An Extra Plane Seat Because Of Their Size Has It 'Ripped Away' When The Airline Resells It
Why are airlines allowed to do this in the first place?
Krakenimages.com | Shutterstock Given the way that airlines treat passengers, it's sometimes shocking that they are even able to stay afloat. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to anything about flying anymore — you pay through the nose for a flight that may take off at some point if you get lucky and the stars align just right, but it also might not.
A passenger's recent experience on a flight is a perfect example of the absurd impunity with which airlines treat passengers like they owe them nothing in exchange for their money — literally, in this case.
An airline resold a plus-size passenger's extra seat because the flight was overbooked.
We're already off to a bad start. The practice of overbooking flights is absurd on its face and results in people getting kicked out of seats they purchased all the time. What a business model!
In this case, a Reddit user who was on the flight said that the passenger affected was "larger" and "couldn't comfortably fit in a single seat."
"They went ahead and purchased two seats — a middle and an aisle so that they, and their fellow passengers, could be comfortable," the Redditor wrote. "I spoke to them before the flight by the gate and they shared that they hadn't flown in quite some time and had purchased the second seat as a way to ease their anxiety."
The passenger was quickly stripped of the seat and told they could contact the airline for a refund.
The passenger boarded the flight and was comfortably sitting between the middle and aisle seats when another passenger indicated that the middle seat was his. They were of course confused and soon a flight attendant came by to manage the situation.
The flight attendant informed the passenger that the middle seat had been resold because the airline overbooked the flight, and that if they wanted a refund they could contact the airline afterward.
This is absurd on its face — why is the onus on the passenger to retrieve a refund for a seat they purchased on top of having that seat taken away in the first place? Even worse was how obviously humiliated the passenger was by the entire situation.
"The passenger who had purchased two seats just gets this deflated look on their face and is clearly extremely upset but doesn't even know what to say," the Redditor recounted. "The other passenger jams in next to them and the entire thing was just so upsetting to watch."
Incidents like this seem to happen frequently, as most airlines don't have fair policies to accommodate 'customers of size.'
The internet is rife with stories from what the airline industry calls "customers of size" saying they've had the extra seats they purchased taken away in similar situations. One passenger says they were even threatened with legal action for refusing to relinquish their seat on an overbooked flight.
It's particularly galling given how expensive it is for plus-size people to purchase extra seats. According to plus-size travel guide Jae'lynn Chaney, only two American airlines, Southwest and Alaska, offer extra seats for larger passengers for free or on a reimbursement basis (depending on availability, of course).
All other airlines require passengers to book ahead and pay for the extra seats, only to frequently strip them of the seat they rightfully paid for, just like what happened to the passenger this Redditor witnessed.
The frequent online shaming of larger passengers makes this all the more upsetting.
"This person tried to do the thing that everyone says — buy a second seat," the Redditor wrote. "And then they do it and it just gets ripped away from them."
Add it to the ever-growing list of outlandish ways airlines take advantage of customers at every turn. It seems that no matter what we do, passengers just can't win.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.