Goodyear Blimp Impersonators Vs. Me

December 3, 2009

in Portly Stories

Over last summer when I was returning to home in Michigan after a meeting in New York, I had a rather lousy experience. First I arrived there with some 2 hours to my departure time so I should have plenty of time. Right? Wrong, it seemed a lot of employees had called in sick or something because it appeared there were only 3 people managing the whole airport. So the line to the ticket booths was naturally long. Worse, no thanks to a ticket counter who couldn’t spell my common 5 letters name right, they couldn’t “find” my ticket. I don’t see how can anyone misspell a common name like “Smith” yet that ticket counter must have done so. It must have taken them 30 minutes, and with the help of another employee they did find my ticket online but I was dangerously close to missing the flight. (PS that agent needs an eye exam, she obviously couldn’t spell from reading my ID card)

I was greeted to a full plane with just time to spare. but whoops, the seat that was assigned to me was missing. No they didn’t have a fictitious listing on their computer, nor did the computer have an error. The missing seat was buried under the fat blubbery butt of 2 guys that appeared to be over 500 pounds each. There were supposed to be 3 seats there but it seems those guys were so huge they thought they were entitled to an extra seat for
free.

I kindly pointed this out to the FA, but they couldn’t do anything about it because it would be discrimination if they were removed. Being 6’4 and 240 pounds, I wouldn’t be able to fit in between them, and I definitely didn’t
want to try. My luggage had been loaded already and it was almost time to depart so I couldn’t get off and take an alternate route home or even stay another night and try for the morning flight. I was put into coach section (a big downgrade from what I paid for) only to find out I couldn’t even sit properly because of my tall frame, and the coach seats were obviously designed for kindergarten kids. No matter what position I was in, my knees were boring through the back seat and annoying another passenger. And I couldn’t have my legs across the aisle because apparently there is a policy that disallowed this. I am glad it was only a short flight from NYC to Detroit because I know my knees were squeaking and groaning loudly the whole way out of Metro Airport from being crammed up for a while.

I sent in a complaint to Detroit Airport when I got home, never got any response. Not even a canned Thank You. Not a single cent compensation for forced seat downgrade from first to coach. I would be very glad when ALL airlines are required to note any oversized passenger for booking purposes so they don’t overbook fat butt. Because the alternative would be sitting right on them, and I know FAA wouldn’t allow this.

PS  To add a final insult, one of my suitcases never arrived and it has been almost a year now. I also filed complaint on this and never got compenstation for missing luggage.

{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

ps December 3, 2009 at 4:27 pm

Something wrong here. 3 seats across and you didn't get what you paid for? I gather it wasn't a first or business class seat as they are 2 across. If there is a 3 across in the US for a short haul in business or first from NYC to Detroit, never heard of it. Sounds a little fishy except for the FA saying he or she does not want to get hauled into court for discrimination. We all know that's AA. Give some more detail on this one. Look online at the AA flight.

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ps December 3, 2009 at 4:29 pm

And a PS- it may have been an exit row or premium economy but if you paid more, caveat emptor.

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Hugh December 4, 2009 at 12:26 am

Ummm, what plane/airline has 3 across First Class, yet coach is too small to sit in?? I am about your size and while the coach seats aren't spacious, I can certainly sit in them. I am throwing the BS flag here.

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Demotage December 4, 2009 at 9:38 am

It doesn't make sense that he was in first class. There are no planes that have a middle seat in First.  Besides, FC seats always have that wide shelf between the seats, so there is no way someone could spill into the adjacent seat.

Maybe he meant premium economy where there would still be three seats on a side.

I recently bought a ticket on UA and then upgraded it to "United First". There was no First Class section on the plane, just premium and regular economy. The "First" apparently referred to the fact that I got to go through the FC line in security.  The seat in premium Econ was configured 3 seats on each side of the aisle and was just a regular seat, but with mire legroom. So something like thar may be what he meant.

There are however, clearly some exagerations. There is no way it takes 30 minutes to find a name due to a misspelling. After 30 seconds, you'd just spell it for them.

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Guillermo December 5, 2009 at 8:34 pm

A 240 lb. man whining about the size of someone else?? Anyone else see something odd about that?

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Kath December 8, 2009 at 1:28 pm

Guillermo – He's 6'4. So no, I don't see anything wrong with that, dummy.

As for the story, I also call BS, for reasons previously stated by other comments.

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Sacha July 20, 2011 at 12:50 pm

Actually, a 6'4'' person weighing 240 pounds IS extremely overweight! Not yet "obese", but no, he shouldn't get to whine about someone else taking his seat and not being able to fit in coach.

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