Another Too-Fat-To-Fly Controversy Hits Southwest Airlines

NYC Political Strategist: Me, Mom Told We Must Buy 4 Seats

May 18, 2011 11:33 PM

Kenlie Tiggeman says Southwest Airlines told her and her mother they’d need to buy four tickets instead of two to board a flight. (Photo: CBS 2)

Reporting John Slattery

Filed under

Local, News, NY News, Seen On CBS 2HD, Watch + Listen

Check These Out

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — Southwest Airlines has apologized to a mother and daughter who said they got rough treatment at the airport.

Kenlie Tiggeman, a 30-year-old political strategist and weight loss blogger in New York City, said it was humiliating, being told she was too fat to fly, reports CBS 2’s John Slattery.

“It was rude. It was in front of lots of people,” said Tiggeman, who’s originally from New Orleans.

Tiggeman said the incident happened in Dallas over Easter. She and her mother were told by a gate agent they each had to purchase two seats.

“And said that we were, in fact, too fat to fly, without an additional ticket,” Tiggeman said.

Yet, this was a return flight, and they hadn’t been stopped before. The gate agent said it was policy.

“I was asked what size clothes, and how much I weigh. I gave answers in front of a gate full of people, some of whom were snickering,” Tiggeman said.

Tiggeman, who once weighed 393 pounds, is down to 268 pounds.

A spokeswoman for Southwest said: “If a passenger cannot fit in a seat with the armrests down, a second seat must be purchased. If the flight is not full, that added charge will be refunded.”

But Tiggeman said she does fit in a seat.

Southwest, which allowed the woman and her mother on a later flight, apologized, refunded their tickets and gave them free vouchers.

Passengers at LaGuardia said Tiggeman got a raw deal.

“As long as she fit in that seat, she should have been allowed to fly,” passenger Arnette Small said.

“I mean, if she fits, she fits, that’s what I say,” Kala Drust said.

“I think if people are rather large they to take accountability for their size and need to buy two tickets. If in fact she fit in the armrests, it’s a different ball game,” Dan Hehal added.

Last year, movie director Kevin Smith, known for his cult hit “Clerks,” was ejected from a Southwest flight, told that he didn’t fit. The airline later apologized.

The policy on wide-body passengers varies from airline to airline. All the Federal Aviation Administration requires is that each passenger be in a belt, which sometimes requires a seat-belt extender.

Tiggeman said she purchased two tickets to fly in the past, but since she’s lost so much weight, she’s been told by several airline employees it was no longer necessary.

Please offer your thoughts in the comments section below.

Another Too Fat To Fly Controversy Hits Southwest Airlines

bill long

Slim down or buy two tickets. It’s simple.
Dave

Sounds like everyone’s on the same page here — if you spill over into my seat, it’s unfair to me. I’m paying for the flight too. So pay for a second seat unless there are empty seats you can spill over into without affecting anyone else.
Charie Bean

Pay for another seat, I PAID TO USE MINE NOT TOO DISCOUNT YOURS!

art

Agree!

jimmy simmons

ITS A BUSINESS NOT A CHARITY IF YOU USE TWO SEATS YOU NEED TO PAY FOR TWO SEATS ITS PRETTY SIMPLE

Dave

Problem: If you buy two seats to be more comfortable, they will put someone else in there if they suddenly think you’re fine to fly in a single. They try to have it both ways.
Bre

And she diddnt need 2 seats. Did you read she was under the weight limit. She fit.

Jolean

No way did she fit PROPERLY in the seat. Maybe she could squeeze enough of her girth in between the armrests but she could not have fit completely within a 17 inch seat. I am 5’10, 150 lbs and I fit in a 17 inch seat, there is precious little extra space. Where do you think her extra 120 lbs was going to ‘fit’? Her thighs and belly rolls would be flopping over into the space another customer paid for…and that’s just not right.
nofatchicks

sureeee she fit.

I’m she would fit into Cinderella’s glass slipper too.

rust

How about the airlines open their eyes and recognize their customers’ needs and have special oversize seats on each flight?

NotOnMyDime

And then there will be less seats per aircraft, and we all pay more per ticket to make the flight profitable. Typical liberal, make me pay for those too stupid, lazy, or FAT to take care of themselves.

Bill Brennan

a true liberal would want to have a seat tax for all to accommodate the fattys
Gulcin

Was buying economy plus tickets due to long legs. The tickets were running a few hundred extra for each trip. Now, I buy a yearly subscription for the seats.

Long legs, fat, natural born, self-imposed. It doesn’t matter. You owe it to your fellow passengers not to infringe on their space.

peoplerrrstupid

That’s a great idea. The fare for that special ‘fat seat’ should be 2x the fare of what the ‘normal’ seats is.

http://thegospelaccordingtotabby.wordpress.com thegospelaccordingtotabby

@peoplerrrstupid – Did you know that according to Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, that 63.1% of adults in the U.S. were either overweight or obese in 2009?
I think that ‘fat people’ are the new ‘normal.’
rust

right, perhaps not double, but definitely with a premium. I’m not a liberal, however the fact that airlines do this kind of thing makes me wonder if they are in the business to make money or make enemies.
cheryl

@ gospelaccordingtoabbey, so does that mean this is not a problem? It would be interesting to see a sold out flight where every single person was obese and would be spilling over the armrests if they could, except they can’t because their neighbors are also spilling over the armrests. What would they do? Seriously !
momma

@thegospelaccordingtotabby (what a stupid name)
Just because 63.1% of the population does something doesn’t make it okay. If we lower the standards anymore, the bar will have to be buried.
vv

how about having your ticket price be based on the amount of space you’ll need. When they weigh your luggage on check in, they should just ask every customer to step on the weight scale. they would have 3 sizes, and 3 prices.

StraightUP

Clearly Rust has never run a business, met a payroll or taken responsibility for anything in his/her life. My guess is that the rest of us are sending Rust at least one government check per month. How about you “open your eyes” and realize first class seats are wider and available on most other US carriers. Pretty simple: buy two seats or a first class ticket.
art

how about you loose some weight

Kim

Hey Art, how about you learn to spell? I think the hateful spirit so many of you are displaying is the real problem here, not excess weight. BTW, lose is spelled LOSE.

Larry

On my most recent flight on Southwest, I got stuck in the middle seat next to a very large woman who had the aisle seat. Her anatomy extended well over my seat under the arm rest. Fortunately, there was a very skinny woman who had the window seat. The skinny passanger and I agreed to keep the arm rest up between us, so that I could breathe.

Weight isn’t really the problem. The problem is people who are “broad of beam.”
Fred mayer

Sorry I have flown next to someone obese and by the end of the flight my whole arm was sweaty from him. Buy another seat if you are obese, Majority rules get over it
Slick

Just because 10 lbs of flab can be poured into a 5 lb sack – doesn’t mean “it fits”.
Steve P

These people aren’t “Cows” they are people. DanTe’s comment is inappropriate, as well as the airline’s handling of the situaiton. Since this was a return flight, the gate agent who said the woman was too heavy to fly should have looked up the reservation on the previous flight, and assuming there was no problem previously, shiould have let her board the plane.

I can also appreciate the fact that there may be issues for the person sitting next to someone battling a weight problem, but that’s a chance you take.

JOe Dutra

Are you a porker?

Yep, I’m a porker.

Just ask your girlfriend.
momma

Steve P, instead of sitting in front of your computer, you obviously need to get up and take a walk around the block. Don’t take the liberty of commenting from people who are in a healthy weight range, because we deserve to be rewarded with common courtesy and integrity as consumers. We are all battling something, but I don’t have to yak to my seatmates about whatever my personal issues are, so keep your flesh to yourself.

Walter

WRONG! The chance is taken by the person who can’t fit into one seat. Why does the world cater to those who inconvenience others?
Bill Brennan

the chance you take? LOL! How bout if your too obese to fit in the seat you must purchase two instead of imposing on someone else? This is such a sign of how this once great country is no longer anything close… imagine this happening in the 50′s? no way…

Mike

Actually, in the ’50′s, the prop planes were much more limited by weight. They would have to have flown according to the FAA limits of 170 lbs per passenger(average).

SkinnyJim

Maybe the return flight was full and they thought it wouldn’t be unfair to the people that would be seating next to them. I’ve been on a Southwest plane hundreds of times and I’ll tell you a 268 pound person does not fit in one seat. I do agree that wide-body passengers are people and should be treated with the same respect as the slim-body passengers.
jimjeffers

the previous flight had more empty seats then the return flight, and thats why she wasnt asked to buy two tickets at the beginning.
StraightUp

Steve P = MOOOOOOOOOOOO

And the “chance you take” is that some stand up gate attendant is going to tell you what your momma should told you…. “your fat, put down the xbox and go outside.”
Tired of Victims

I’m sure you’re “battling a weight problem”, too. No matter what the cause — more intake than output equals weight gain. Let’s talk…. overflow. “The chance [I] take?” Oh, no….. how much of you overflows into my seat is definitely the airlines’ problem. THEY need to accommodate ME, not YOU. Fat people are not the victims here.
Ken

So, Steve. Let me if I understand you. Because on a previos flight, Miss Fat Stuff had her blubber overflowing, and that makes it OK to impose her lard on yet another passenger on another flight? That is like saying a guy robs a 7-11, and since he got away with it, it makes it OK to rob another 7-11 without consequences? Are you mental or stupid? Most likely a liberal that can’t understand right and wrong. Whether she overflowed on a previous flight is immaterial.

bubble boy

if the butt don’t fit

you cannot sit

MustAquit

Love it!

ChunkyHeffa

“Kenlie Tiggeman, a 30-year-old political strategist and weight loss blogger in New York City”

She is a weight Watchers and Jenny craig fugitive

Bill Brennan

awesome comment
Bill Brennan

why is this even an issue? too fat to sit in one seat? guess you’re buying two… is that so bad? If not, how fair is it to the poor person stuck squeezed next to you? Not at all. Why? Why should the airline apologize for this. Mrs. & Ms. Piggy need to understand that life is unfair at times and the media needs to as well…
senatorjimjeffers

i’m guessing she made more of the situation to attract attention to her blog. no doubt about it. she knows people love these fattys-on-airline stories.

Fatty

Oh boo hoooo, I am offended! I’m going to sue – oh booo hoo. Lady, you are FAT. Deal with it.
Bankolot

I’ve had to sit next to them and it’s not comfortable! I don’t care if they can fit between the armrests if they have a bunch of flab over the armrests hanging onto me! Their should be height and weight guidelines and if they don’t fall within them, they buy two tickets. And if someone is hanging partially in my sit, shouldn’t I get a discount?
bill weston

BUY 2 SEATS!! What about the rights of the poor slob that has to sit next to them!
Neil C Denver

Amazing. Southwest is smart enough to charge people for the use of their aircraft, yet our federal government is too STUPID to charge obese people for abusing the health care system and indirectly all Americans.

According to the Center for Disease Control, the cost to the country is approaching $300 billion this year.

Obese people should pay their ‘fair share’ of medical costs, which should have a reasonable ‘phase in’ period.

BUT, don’t hold one’s breath. Look at the obesity of our elected officials!!!
Jen

Hey – do us skinny people get half off?

j

LOL
peoplerrrstupid

That woman weighs what both my wife and I together weigh. We should be able to buy one, get one free!

WERTY

PEOPLE WHO ARE OVER WEIGHT SHOULD PAY FOR TWO SEATS AND END OF STORY.
JMWinPR

In addition to the additional seat, there should be a total weight limit as well. e.g. 200lb or some such figure. This would include the passenger as well as carry on and checked baggage.
I got stuck in the middle seat between 2 people like this. Like them I also paid for my ticket and these two poured over the armrests into the area I paid for. It was a real show when the one in the window seat wanted to use the facilities. Watching it get past the beverage cart was a sight to behold. I was hoping it would get wedged in, but no such luck

cheryl

So lets assume there was a weight limit, and lets make it even higher…say 225. So would a body builder who was 225# of pure muscle also be excluded?
schneid

you realize some nfl linebackers, not lineman, linebackers, weigh about 265-280 and are pure muscle. it would be easy to sit next to them compared to 265 pounds of pure fat.that woman weighs as much as james harrison.

Amanda

LOL yeah I see them on TV they can barely move …lol “pure muscle” when everyone sees pure fat …I was wondering how is that people that fat can play in professional sports??? I guess only in America ….

Yikes

I have been jammed in between two obese people before, and they “spilled” over the armrest into “my” space, It was disgusting to have rolls of fat against me the entire flight. Exercise, eat healthy and less, and stay in you own space – or buy the extra seat. “Part” of you may fit in the arm-rests – but really “all” of you needs to fit.

Must be nice…

to have all your fat concentrated from the neck up, isn’t it?

Matt

If her ass is overflowing into the next seat, regardless if the arm rests are down, she needs to buy another ticket.
Chad Reimer

She should know she is on the large side, so being told that in front of a lot of people should be no shock at all, the fact she is a weight loss blogger is amazing!
Fegelein

I think the airline and the human cannonballs ought to sit together, pound down some brewskis, and spend some time chewing the fat.
Fegelein

That was a sick burn, right there.

Surely someone could have given up their seat in chair-ity?
Hedley Lamar

I’ve had to “share” a seat with an overweight person before and I felt like I was sat on for the entire flight. I hate flying and and this may be the worst aspect of all. The %$#@*&! airlines need to respect MY right to not be sat upon when I pay for a ticket.
anne laney

i’ve had to sit next to people of her size and she NEEDS an extra seat. just because you can squeeze yourself in their tiny seats doesn’t mean you actually fit and not taking up your seat mates seat! but major props for her weight loss!

1 2 3 … 35 Next »

News

Another Too-Fat-To-Fly Controversy Hits Southwest Airlines

NYC Political Strategist: Me, Mom Told We Must Buy 4 Seats

May 18, 2011 11:33 PM

Filed under

Related tags

Check These Out

Latest News Video

Help Us Choose

Help Shape The Debates

At Harmon Meadow 6/15

Great Networking Event

Select a Live Stream

News, Sports and Talk Radio

Music Radio