Spotlight Blogger: Kenlie Tiggeman
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A Weighty Situation on Southwest Airlines

May 05, 2011 7:49 am by ReneeJRoss in Health
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I love reading about Kenlie's journey to health and weight loss on her blog All The Weigh. To date she has lost over 100 pounds and is still working on losing more. It saddened me to read about her experience with Southwest Airlines last week, she and other passengers on the plane were discriminated against because of their weight.

Kenlie writes:

My mom and I typically board early so we were waiting in line when we noticed the gate representative (who had just printed our new tickets) publicly and loudly discuss the weight of a larger woman and clearly distraught woman who was brought to tears. The woman, Barbara, was told in front of everyone at the gate (including Mom and me) that she would have to purchase an additional seat to return to her home city. As a self-proclaimed frequent Southwest flyer, she said that she had never been so embarrassed, nor had she ever been asked to purchase an additional seat. Then she said "what about those ladies?!" Enter Mom and me.

Please read Kenlie's story on All the Weigh -- it is unbelievable that this is still going on!

seatbelt

Photo Credit: Lee J Haywood on Flickr

Read more from A Weighty Situation on Southwest Airlines at All the Weigh

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Kristi_Bernard
Kristi_Bernard 5 pts

What ever happened to compassion? Would it have been so difficult for them to be pulled to the side. Common courtesy can take someone back to being human. Do unto others...

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ShoreBookworm
ShoreBookworm 5 pts

What a terrible experience!

I have MS and a combination of medication and immobility has caused me to gain a lot of weight. I am so upset about it and terrified of an incident like this happening to me. As a result, I will not fly anywhere right now.

The judgmental attitude towards the overweight is offensive and unfair.It is assumed that anyone who is overweight is simply a glutton who cannot control themselves, but there is so much more to it. Some people do overeat due to bad habits and some because of an eating disorder. Some of us have gained weight because of a medical condition. No one wants to be overweight, no one deliberately chooses it, it is always associated with some form of emotional, physical or lifestyle dysfunction.

Humiliating people is wrong on so many levels, not to mention being simply bad business.

Marie

www.nourishourselves.blogspot.com ( http://www.nourishourselves.blogspot.com )

www.msrenegade.com ( http://www.msrenegade.com )

www.theshorebookworm.blogspot.com ( http://www.theshorebookworm.blogspot.com )

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NSane
NSane 5 pts

That is really sad because I frequent a lot of travel blogs and Southwest actually has one of the clearest policies on this issue. I can't recall what the determining factor is if you have to buy an extra seat, something to do with the armrest. Anyway, you buy an extra ticket and they refund it if the plane isn't full. Her situation is truly disheartening and I can't believe she would be treated that way.

Natalie writes Almost Never Clever ( http://almostneverclever.wordpress.com ), a deviant scrapbooking blog that just might surprise you.

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brucem
brucem 6 pts

What a painful incident for anyone to have to endure. Southwest needs to admit their employees really blew it. It shouldn't take special training for a company's workers to treat customers like fellow human beings. I'm so sorry Kenlie, her mother, and Barbara were subjected to this!

Melanie blogs at http://isthisthemiddle.blogspot.com/

Melanie

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