The 32-year-old said he could not afford the £928 charge and his aunt died of bowel cancer in Canada two days after he was due to see her. He said: "I was absolutely devastated. I hardly cry, and there I was reduced to tears out of frustration and humiliation in the middle of the airport."
Mr Russell was escorted off the plane because his 52-inch girth meant that the armrest could not be lowered for take-off, as demanded by the airline's regulations. Mr Russell, from Wolverhampton, said he is angry that the airline did not explain to him before he boarded that his size could be a problem. "The worst thing is, my aunt has died now," he said. "By the time I got home from the airport, she was too ill to talk on the phone, so I couldn't even say goodbye to her.
"I'm not small, I don't deny it. But that doesn't mean I should be treated so disrespectfully." Air Transat agreed to refund Sandy's ticket price "as a gesture of goodwill." A spokesman said: "We can't ask people their measurements before they book a flight – it's a breach of their human rights. In this case, the armrest would not go down and separate Mr Russell from the lady beside him – and he was taking up more than a third of her seat."
6 comments:
Well, if they're going to charge people extra for their girth, they should clearly state in their terms if a passenger's hip or waist measurement exceeds X inches, he or she should consider purchasing two tickets. If the person decides not to purchase a second ticket, he or she may be denied passage upon checkin if there are no extra seats on the flight, and will have to pay an administration fee to be rebooked.
I wouldn't want to be crammed in next to him. It was bad enough sitting next to my father, who barely fit between the armrests and would lift them the second he was allowed.
They could handle it a lot better though.
He knows he's big. He should've known there would be problems.
I wouldn't want to lose a third of my seat to some guy's fat. I paid for a full seat... not two-thirds of one!
I agree with L, i recently took a 15 hour flight from Canada to Australia and sat next to a very fat woman who spilled over into my seat!
I weigh 135, which is less than 10 stone. He would take up 5 times as much room as I do. And yet he thinks he should only have to pay for one seat? Then maybe I should only have to pay 20% of the price of one seat? Get realistic. It's not prejudice against the obese, it's common sense.
I certainly have no problem with people who take up 2 (or more) seats being charged for them! I just think the airline could handle it better -- in a way that's both tactful and informative, and less likely to involve an embarrasing confrontation at the airport. This is bound to happen more and more as people get bigger and airplane seats get smaller.
Post a Comment