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Kicked of the Plane for being too
Tall.
Consumerist reader Laura writes in to share the story of how her stepfather was
given the boot from a Horizon Air flight because of his 6'9" frame.
Laura says her stepfather, an MD with many miles of travel under his belt,
always tries to book exit row seats whenever he flies in order to give his long
limbs the extra inch or two of room. But when booking a recent flight, those
seats were completely booked.
Calls to the airline and appeals at the gate for scoring an exit row seat were
fruitless. In fact, one Horizon customer service staffer had jokingly stated
that the passenger's long limbs were now the flight attendants' problem.
And that's exactly what he found when he finally boarded the flight.
Here is some of the letter Laura's stepfather sent to Horizon:
My legs do indeed stick
right out into the passage and since the plane was full there was no option to
get a single seat where I could put them out of the way. Of course I realize
that it will always be necessary to get the carts etc up and down the aisle and
when I have been faced with this situation in the past [as I often have been],
things have worked out just fine.
At this stage the flight attendant walking up the aisle tripped over my legs and
asked me to put them out of the way. I told her that I could not take them off
and that I had tried several times to get a seat change. I then quoted what the
phone operator had said and [she] immediately took offense, "What do you mean
that your legs are MY problem?"
This did not go down at all well and she took off to the front of the plane... I
sensed that she was miffed by this exchange.
Shortly thereafter, I was approached by perfectly behaved ground staff and told
that I would have either to fold my legs out of the aisle or I would have to be
removed from the flight. At no time did another flight crew come back to see me
and at no time was there discussion of a possible seat change. I told this
gentleman that this was no new situation and that I had never been faced with
this ultimatum before. He left... but shortly thereafter a further official
appeared and asked me to get off the plane.
In the past, when I have been landed in this situation, the attendants have
always been most attentive and have made every effort to get me reseated in a
more suitable seat such as the exit rows. In this case these were right in front
of me and occupied by two rather small females neither of whom volunteered to
offer their seat in exchange for mine but also none of the flight attendants
even bothered to ask them if they would do so... At no time was my voice or [the
attendant's] raised so there was no altercation or confrontation which could
certainly have triggered a removal.
Not only were my travel plans totally disrupted but the humiliation of being led
off the plane was very unpleasant. My whole experience over this has soured me
on what until now has been a very happy flight partner. |
