A&e's New Series Airline

[super80fa]

I have to say that I really like the show. The whole thing was worth it just to watch that lady drag her two kids around Midway. She was so funny. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we see her on t-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads. I was a little suprised that no one thought about alternate routings to San Diego earlier on though. She had the timetable in her hand the whole time. You would have thought she would have tried to build a connection herself. I did feel sorry for her sons though. They tried to keep their distance from mom.

What really blew me away was the way the MDW crew handled the blackout. SWA earned some points for this. They came off looking good, and they should have. I think the whole show just shows how SWA people are real people and they don't act like snobs like we see at a lot of the other airlines. I don't think they are "acting" for the cameras. The employees I have dealt with have always been positive and really nice. And I didn't have a camera in their face. Some people are always going to find fault in Southwest no matter what they do. And for people who keep saying that business people don't fly SWA, you need to pay more attention to the cabin shots. There are plenty of people in those seats who aren't in shorts, overalls or turnip sacks.

 

[orangeman]

Incorrect. The age in question was 18 months, NOT 2 years. And to me the kid definitely looked older than 18 months.
What amazed me was that the parents were traveling without ANY ID for the kid! I thought that nowadays all passengers, kids included, had to show ID to get through the TSA gauntlet!

I also watched these episodeds. As a F/A for WN i can say that the policy is 24 months and over that requires a seat. This is an abitrary # that is the same for all carriers. My understanding is this is an issue of safety for the child. If the child doesn't have a seat purchased; they are offered a special fare so that they can be seated in a pax seat (w/ our w/out a car seat). Obviously last minute situations can cause problems. Proof of age is made clear at the time of reservations.
I am not sure, but I.D. is necessary from age 16+ via the TSA mandate.

Chris

 

[orangeman]

Recap of tonights epsisode - manager at MDW should be nominated for sainthood. And...is the narrator part of SWA? If so - relay this message...Kansas City (MCI) is in Missouri, not Kansas. There were two references of passengers on a flight from "Kansas".

KCFlyer, The narrarator is NOT a WN employee. The fact that there is one at all was negotiated by WN before agreement to filming the series. I am a WN F/A and also noticed the "Kansas" reference. Perhaps A&E should research their geography!
Chris

 

[orangeman]

Recap of tonights epsisode - manager at MDW should be nominated for sainthood. And...is the narrator part of SWA? If so - relay this message...Kansas City (MCI) is in Missouri, not Kansas. There were two references of passengers on a flight from "Kansas".

KCFlyer, The narrarator is NOT a WN employee. The fact that there is one at all was negotiated by WN before agreement to filming the series. I am a WN F/A and also noticed the "Kansas" reference. Perhaps A&E should research their geography!
Chris

 

[skycruiser]

KCFlyer, The narrarator is NOT a WN employee. The fact that there is one at all was negotiated by WN before agreement to filming the series. I am a WN F/A and also noticed the "Kansas" reference. Perhaps A&E should research their geography!
Chris

The Kansas reference is a general one. People in the industry refer to MCI as Kansas and not KC or KC Missouri.

 

[orangeman]

KCFlyer, The narrarator is NOT a WN employee. The fact that there is one at all was negotiated by WN before agreement to filming the series. I am a WN F/A and also noticed the "Kansas" reference. Perhaps A&E should research their geography!
Chris

Sorry for the double post! Now triple i guess :unsure: :unsure:

 

[skycruiser]

I've seen a coworker pressed against the window in her window seat as a rather obese passenger took the center seat behind her. But here's the "consumer friendly" point your missing...the other airlines leave it up to YOU to initiate the action...you gotta complain about your seatmate. So...you quietly get squished on your flight, taking time only to write the airline and complain. And then you get a free ticket. I hate to point this out, but the other airlines are losing money...giving away tickets to compensate someone for "sharing" their seat is not a great way to get back to profitablity.

First the monetary loss to airlines is most likely not even recorded in the books. Second lets discuss your "Consumer Friendly" issue. I asked before were does it end and you didn't answer. Yet some more examples: do fat folks buy an extra movie seat? How about an extra venue seat at the concert, ballet or symphony? To propose that a person call into reservations and proclaim they are obese and need two seats is outrageous. Are you that insensitive to others that you can't share a very small space for such a limited amount of time. No, you would rather they pay more and humiliate themselves for your own comfort. See, you’re what’s wrong with this country, to hell with this world. You’re the type that is always thinking about your there comfort level. Never thinking about the rest of us. This country was built on sacrifice yet your years of living a life full of selfish fulfilling space issues has made you too soft to throw your hat over the wall for the good of mankind. And what’s worse is, not only do you ruin it for the rest of us with the obese flyer issue, but you completely blow the notion of American nobility in the process. The children of the world have no heroic figure to emulate. So the future of mankind continues on it’s downward spiral into entropy and mass extinction until all that was once great about the human race lies buried in the primordial stew to which we’ll most certainly return. Thanks to you and ill refusal to have a Little compassion for the obees flyer we shall all be forever be remembered as the sad footnote in the book of life. The fat hating oppressor's who could of breached the chasm of becoming and being. But instead opted to cover, his own ass, and seat, in the process.

 

[KCFlyer]

First the monetary loss to airlines is most likely not even recorded in the books. Second lets discuss your "Consumer Friendly" issue. I asked before were does it end and you didn't answer. Yet some more examples: do fat folks buy an extra movie seat? How about an extra venue seat at the concert, ballet or symphony? To propose that a person call into reservations and proclaim they are obese and need two seats is outrageous.

Hmmm..If I want the extra space, there's always first class. So...I should pay more and sit in first class, and thats somehow fairer than asking a person of size to pay a reduced rate for a second seat. Where does it end? Let me turn that around for you....I think the issue with the smelly person was just insensitive. Can't those pantywaist self absorbed passengers put up with a smell for a short flight? OR a seeping wound? Should our "tolerance" be limitless?

Are you that insensitive to others that you can't share a very small space for such a limited amount of time. No, you would rather they pay more and humiliate themselves for your own comfort. See, you’re what’s wrong with this country, to hell with this world. You’re the type that is always thinking about your there comfort level. Never thinking about the rest of us. This country was built on sacrifice yet your years of living a life full of selfish fulfilling space issues has made you too soft to throw your hat over the wall for the good of mankind. And what’s worse is, not only do you ruin it for the rest of us with the obese flyer issue, but you completely blow the notion of American nobility in the process. The children of the world have no heroic figure to emulate. So the future of mankind continues on it’s downward spiral into entropy and mass extinction until all that was once great about the human race lies buried in the primordial stew to which we’ll most certainly return. Thanks to you and ill refusal to have a Little compassion for the obees flyer we shall all be forever be remembered as the sad footnote in the book of life. The fat hating oppressor's who could of breached the chasm of becoming and being. But instead opted to cover, his own ass, and seat, in the process.

You ever watch Green Acres? Do you remember when Oliver Douglas started on his speech, a fife would play in the background? I swear, I heard a fife playing when reading this paragraph. But a couple of points -

You seem to know a lot about me...that I am what's wrong with this country...that I'm blowing it for the children of the world. That I am the begining of the end of human race. Maybe you're right on that part - but then you said "The fat hating oppressor". And boy, are you wrong on that one...My uncle weighed over 400 pounds - yet I asked him to sing at my wedding. I had him stay in my home. I loved right up to the day that complications of his obesity killed him. My old roommate was 350 pounds...a big guy. I remember the time I had tickets 4 tickets to a Dallas Cowboys game and suggested that we take a date. A few minutes later, he was upstairs in tears because he was afraid that the girl he wanted to ask wouldn't want to go because he was fat. I told him to ask her anyways...it was only a football game. If she didn't want to go with him because he was fat, then she didn't deserve his attention and he should find another who would. Later, he was the best man in my wedding. This past year he lost a hundred pounds. That was due in part to kidney cancer. I'll tell you this...I would give anything to get those hundred pounds back and that cancer gone. So I think that is pretty good for a "fat hating oppressor". Your touchy feely bull#$%^ sort of turns my stomach.

 

[skycruiser]

You seem to know a lot about me...that I am what's wrong with this country...that I'm blowing it for the children of the world. That I am the begining of the end of human race. Maybe you're right on that part - but then you said "The fat hating oppressor". And boy, are you wrong on that one...My uncle weighed over 400 pounds - yet I asked him to sing at my wedding. I had him stay in my home. I loved right up to the day that complications of his obesity killed him. My old roommate was 350 pounds...a big guy. I remember the time I had tickets 4 tickets to a Dallas Cowboys game and suggested that we take a date. A few minutes later, he was upstairs in tears because he was afraid that the girl he wanted to ask wouldn't want to go because he was fat. I told him to ask her anyways...it was only a football game. If she didn't want to go with him because he was fat, then she didn't deserve his attention and he should find another who would. Later, he was the best man in my wedding. This past year he lost a hundred pounds. That was due in part to kidney cancer. I'll tell you this...I would give anything to get those hundred pounds back and that cancer gone. So I think that is pretty good for a "fat hating oppressor". Your touchy feely bull#$%^ sort of turns my stomach.

Quite a touching story coming form someone that just a few post backs said "What is unconscionable about charging a person who's butt is wider than 17 inches for a second seat? Would you, as another paying passenger, have no problem when your seatmate raised the armrest and took 5 inches of your seat?" and "I too have flown quite a bit over the past 25 years. I've seen a coworker pressed against the window in her window seat as a rather obese passenger took the center seat behind her" (that one kinda confused my sense the obese person was sitting not beside but behind your friend). Just because you have one obese friend does not exclude you from the fact that you condone the outright discrimination shown by LUV toward its heavy passengers. That is what this issue is about. So you have an obese friend with cancer, well god speed to his recovery. I had an uncle that recently died of the disease and left a six and ten year old behind. Still that is not the point here. Lets get back to your obese friend and that game. Lets say the Cowboys story you told also had you traveling to a different city and you decided to take your favorite airline LUV. Then, on the return leg, your friend was told by the agent while the other three of you (including the girl who you had to talk into going "just for the ticket") as well as all the other passengers in the cue that he had to buy a second ticket because he was just to big for a seat. Would your have then turned to your friend and said hey buddy "What is unconscionable about charging a person who's butt is wider than 17 inches for a second seat?"? I am willing to bet you would have not only not said that but instead shown a little bit of anger to the agent for the undo embarrassment shown your pal. But I am sure you will again dissect this line by line and again not offer up any opinions to my original question of 'Were does this end'?

 

[KCFlyer]

Sorry skycruiser...my uncle DROVE from Atlanta to Kansas City. Mostly because he knew that an airline seat was uncomfortable for him. And my friend has flown twice in his life, again because he knows he has trouble fitting in an airline seat. That's something called "consideration for others". Rather than forcing themselves on someone else, they opted for an alternative method of travel. But in your world, that's too much to ask...we should all be open to "accomodating" those who are outside the "norms".

As far as my comments about butt size - have you ever been around an obese person? In most ever case, they pretty much KNOW that they are bigger than the average person. Only a militant few believe that they can overlook that when boarding a plane.

Sorry to confuse you on the obese person and my friend. Back in those days, they allowed smoking on planes. I smoked at the time (I know...in your touchy feely world, it's okay for me to sit on you for a couple of hours, but DON'T pollute my air with your nasty cigarette) and she didn't - I was back in the smoking section and she shared her seat with a stranger. Sorry if that's insensitive, but she's lucky she was a "petite" woman - as she had about 10 inches of her 17 inch allotment for the flight from Jackson Hole to Salt Lake City. He seatmate had the other 7 inches. But of course...it was always HER option to buy a first class seat for that extra space, right?

 

[mga707]

Quite a touching story coming form someone that just a few post backs said "What is unconscionable about charging a person who's butt is wider than 17 inches for a second seat? Would you, as another paying passenger, have no problem when your seatmate raised the armrest and took 5 inches of your seat?" and "I too have flown quite a bit over the past 25 years. I've seen a coworker pressed against the window in her window seat as a rather obese passenger took the center seat behind her" (that one kinda confused my sense the obese person was sitting not beside but behind your friend). Just because you have one obese friend does not exclude you from the fact that you condone the outright discrimination shown by LUV toward its heavy passengers. That is what this issue is about. So you have an obese friend with cancer, well god speed to his recovery. I had an uncle that recently died of the disease and left a six and ten year old behind. Still that is not the point here. Lets get back to your obese friend and that game. Lets say the Cowboys story you told also had you traveling to a different city and you decided to take your favorite airline LUV. Then, on the return leg, your friend was told by the agent while the other three of you (including the girl who you had to talk into going "just for the ticket") as well as all the other passengers in the cue that he had to buy a second ticket because he was just to big for a seat. Would your have then turned to your friend and said hey buddy "What is unconscionable about charging a person who's butt is wider than 17 inches for a second seat?"? I am willing to bet you would have not only not said that but instead shown a little bit of anger to the agent for the undo embarrassment shown your pal. But I am sure you will again dissect this line by line and again not offer up any opinions to my original question of 'Were does this end'?

Geez, enough already!
If your immense volume is taking up the space of two people, pay for the space you're occupying!
YHow much DO you weigh, anyway?

 

[ELP_WN_Psgr]

Not to confuse the issue, but the reference to KC smoking "once upon a time" triggered a thought:

Smokers, in general, have more health problems than non-smokers.

As a result, insurance carriers (life, health) charge them more for their insurance.

Smokers are more apt to have to tap into their insurance...either by developing a costly-to-treat disease or keeling over dead (either way, the inusrance carrier will be paying more bucks sooner, on average, than for the nonsmoker).

Now, you might say that smoking is a nasty lifestyle choice and smokers deserved to be punished...to be treated differently than non-smokers.

I would argue back that it is a nasty addiction over which the smoker has little or no control.

How is that radically different from having a greater-than-an-airline seat butt?

Airlines have the same choice the insurance company does.

Either you punish the people who are not likely to use as much of your product (a seat or insurance payments) by charging them the same price as someone who is likely to get sick/die and want money or lap over their armrest/make their seatmate uncomfortable....or you treat everyone fairly by charging a price proportional to what they use.

 

[funguy2]

Although, I generally avoid flying LUV because of the inflight service. I flew one flight similar to the MDW-LAS flight they showed in episode 2. A friendly FA is one that helps stow your bags, brings you a second drink, and maybe a magazine. I don't like the 'forced community' atmosphere on LUV. Sometimes I try to work on a plane. Sometimes I try to sleep. Sometimes I try to have some personal thought time. Sometimes I enjoy the inflight entertainment (if its there). Sometimes, I enjoy a good conversation with the folks seated near me (after all, I am not anti-social - my username is funguy ). All of this is difficult to do when the FA's are using the PA system for entertainment.

The myth that all SWA flights are airborne Vegas floor shows is just that a myth. I am one of close to 8,000 SWA flight attendants and the majority of us come to work and do our jobs without all of the bells and whistles. On the handful of trips when I have had a crew that was uh..."outgoing" we have done our best to "read" our audience and make sure that the humor was well received. If we have a family on board this traveling to a funeral, the antics would be clearly inapropriate and we would respect that. My point is that most people do in fact enjoy the goings on and we as crewmembers are in a tough spot trying to make everyone happy. We either tick-off the buisnessman who just wants to get some work done or we disappoint the family of 4 on vacation who heard from all that friends how much "fun"
Southwest is to fly. How do we make everybody happy????

On my 4 hour Southwest flight, the flight attendants encoraged passengers to sing on the PA system, and lured them by offering complementary drinks to passengers. And all I wanted to do was sleep. After two hours I wanted nothing other than to put on a parachute and jump off the plane, as the situation had turned into two or three drunk people singing TV theme songs.

If you find yourself in a similar situation in the future, don't hesitate to ring your call bell and let the flight attendants know enough is enough. We are reasonable people and I have never had a problem asking my co-workers to "save it for the next flight".

You are correct, you cannot please everybody all of the time. However, in my experience... 4 flights with Southwest, I received "antics" once, or 25% of the time. This may or may not be true systemwide, etc, but it was my experience.

By suggesting that a paying passenger ask to stop the "antics", you are putting one passenger in the position of complaining about other passengers. In my case, I would have had to "ruin the fun" of the other passengers. That was not necessarily my goal... I just wanted to sleep.

So that is what I mean by the "shared community". I would have preferred to sleep on that flight, but I didn't want to be the bad guy in that situation. So I did nothing, other than to ensure that if the same fare is available on another airline, I book away from Southwest.

Furthermore, I never meant to imply that "Airline" is not well received among A&E viewers. I thought that the Southwest in-flight service highlighted, which causes me to book away, might cause other folks to book away. My comment was in recards to A&E viewers response to the Southwest service portrayed, not the show overall.

 

[skycruiser]

Geez, enough already!
If your immense volume is taking up the space of two people, pay for the space you're occupying!
YHow much DO you weigh, anyway?

205
8% body fat

 

[KCFlyer]

skycruiser, based on your posting that you have "nonrevved" beside a person of size, and based on your icon for your name, I can only assume that you are an employee of Continental. So maybe you can give us an example of how to better handle the following situation:

Passenger on the 3:15 EWR-DFW flight is a person of size, yet has bought only one ticket. It's a Friday and the flight is full. The 5:15 flight is also full in both classes, except for two seats in coach. The COS boards and takes his (assigned) seat in row 12, raises the armrest and sits in seat 12B. The passenger assigned to seat 12 A boards and notices that his seatmate has raised the armrest and is taking up a goodly portion of his seat. So he heads back to the front of the aircraft to bring this to the attention of the FA. What do you do? Do you tell the passenger that he can wait for the next flight out? What if he says he must get back to Dallas before 8? Would you ever approach the cause of the problem to discuss it? What would your resolution be?

You could refer to CO's contract of carriage which states in rule 21-H-6 (refusal to transport):

Persons who are unable to sit in a single seat with the seat belt properly secured, unless they comply with
Rule 6 I);

So what is rule 6 I? This:

Passengers Occupying Two Seats
Upon request, or if determined necessary by CO, and given availability,, a Passenger will be permitted to the exclusive use of two seats subject to the payment of two applicable fares for the points between which the two
seats will be used. A Ticket will be issued for each seat and the normal free baggage allowance will apply in connection with each such Ticket presented to the CO.

But that is such an insensitive rule. So...whatcha gonna do? deny him boarding because he won't fit in a single seat? Do you confirm him on the next flight and hope like heck that either nobody else stands by for that last seat, or hope that there are more "sensitive" people on board? Because if the flight is full, and that flight is also loaded up with "insensitive" folk, the guy is going to have to stay in EWR overnight. And since it wasn't a problem caused by the airline, he'll most likely have to pay for his own hotel. So...would you "suggest" that he buy the last seat to insure that he gets home?

Well? It's showtime...the camera's are rolling....show us how it's supposed to be done.