Friday, October 26, 2007
I fly Southwest Air a lot. It's the best way to get to Chicago for me and St. Louis. Its a nice airline but has a quirky way of seat assignments: you have to check in online or get to the airport early to get a ticket with an A, B or C on it. A tickets get to board first, then B then C. If you have a C ticket, chances are you are sitting in a middle seat, A tickets get the aisle and window.
On my way to Chicago yesterday, there was a huge lady sitting in the emergency row. Now, on SW, the emergency rows really don't give you anymore room so she wasn't getting what she thought she was when she sat down. Furthermore, all I could think about was that this lady was going to be the one who was going to help people out of the plane in case of an accident? She couldn't even lift a small child up and certainly was going to be liability in that position. I take emergency rows seriously, especially flying into Midway which has shorter runways than most airports.
On the way back, I had my normal aisle seat and the flight was full. There was someone in the window seat and the C passengers started coming on board. At that point, you are just hoping for a small person to sit next to you but of course, I had some huge guy who said "I'm sorry, I'm going to grab that seat, I'm sure you were hoping for someone a bit smaller like a 14-year old girl". I said, "yeah, I was hoping for someone a bit skinnier". I'm not sure if that was mean or not, he brought it up first, but I DID say it nicely. Regardless, I was uncomfortable for the 50 minute flight because this guy can't push his way from the table at Hometown Buffet.
So I'm proposing to Southwest Airlines that they issue a new pass. The O pass. It's for obese people who can't fit their 300 pound frames into a normal airline seat. They should all have to sit in the same aisle with their bodies pressed up to others who are similar sized rather than touching me and others who are average sized. Oh, and they should require everyone to take showers the day of the flight.
On my way to Chicago yesterday, there was a huge lady sitting in the emergency row. Now, on SW, the emergency rows really don't give you anymore room so she wasn't getting what she thought she was when she sat down. Furthermore, all I could think about was that this lady was going to be the one who was going to help people out of the plane in case of an accident? She couldn't even lift a small child up and certainly was going to be liability in that position. I take emergency rows seriously, especially flying into Midway which has shorter runways than most airports.
On the way back, I had my normal aisle seat and the flight was full. There was someone in the window seat and the C passengers started coming on board. At that point, you are just hoping for a small person to sit next to you but of course, I had some huge guy who said "I'm sorry, I'm going to grab that seat, I'm sure you were hoping for someone a bit smaller like a 14-year old girl". I said, "yeah, I was hoping for someone a bit skinnier". I'm not sure if that was mean or not, he brought it up first, but I DID say it nicely. Regardless, I was uncomfortable for the 50 minute flight because this guy can't push his way from the table at Hometown Buffet.
So I'm proposing to Southwest Airlines that they issue a new pass. The O pass. It's for obese people who can't fit their 300 pound frames into a normal airline seat. They should all have to sit in the same aisle with their bodies pressed up to others who are similar sized rather than touching me and others who are average sized. Oh, and they should require everyone to take showers the day of the flight.
