Spirit Airlines kicked a passenger off on a flight from Las Vegas

The man is very overweight -- however he purchased two seats for himself so he would be comfortable and not impinge on other passengers. On his return flight out of vegas they were overbooked. Imagine that. Even though he purchased two seats for himself they wouldn't honor it and kicked off.

 

My "Like" above is for John's final video, not the Spirit story!
Thanks for sharing both, Val!

Edit: Changed my rating. I googled and found the story.
Amazing what happens on airlines these days!

RICHARD

 

Don't know how I got that video attached was supposed to be the link to the story. Will try again

https://www.google.com/amp/myfox8.com/2017/06/25/overweight-man-says-spirit-airlines-embarrassed-him-on-overbooked-flight/amp/

 

He wasn't kicked off the flight but forced to move and his second booked seat was given away which is wrong.

 

I tend to believe in letting market forces dictate corporate actions, but some airlines are the new American SS (yes, there is a high degree of hyperbole in that, but work with it).

Thankfully we're busy angst-ing over resort fees.

 

This new legislation in Canada is a start but the real solution would be banning overbooking altogether.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/passenger-bill-of-rights-airline-bumping-overbooking-flights-1.4118665

 

The story did not mention kicking him off, just said they gave away one of his seats. So he was uncomfortable on the trip and most likely got a refund for the second seat. I dont think its really cause for panic here, I could be wrong though.

 

As happens, there is a lot of assumption going on, pro- and con-airline. But kicked off or not, even refunded, it does seem the guy was wronged. He seems to have taken the steps to make himself and those around him comfortable. He did not get the product for which he paid.

When you order a Mirror Pond and they bring you a Lucky Lager, you might have recieved a beverage but you really didn't get a tasty beer.

 

http://fox17online.com/2017/06/25/colorado-man-says-he-was-kicked-off-flight-for-being-overweight/

This interview/article says he was kicked off the flight - the news anchor says he was, but he does not mention getting kicked off - so I'm not sure which one is accurate - but either way what happened was wrong. You think with everything that has happened any airline would be more cautious than to kick a paying customer off or take an extra seat that has been paid for due to a person's weight or a small child.

You would think with all the bad ratings Spirit gets their flights would never be overbooked.

 

Sadly, in the current media wars - statement A quickly becomes statement B

A) ... man was kicked out of his seat

B)... man was kicked off the flight

Once upon a time, reporters worked hard to keep facts straight. Now they work hard to make a little story into a big story.

 

As to the issue - the airline did him wrong. Really wrong. Then again, it assumes he purchased the seat through whatever SPECIAL process they have and just did not book a seat under another name and another boarding pass without notifying the airline. That would be wrong and the airline would be within their rights, since the "second" person never checked in and boarded - at least legally.

 

I recently heard this term. "Manspreading". Men spreading legs wide on public transportation. This happened to me on a flight to Vegas. My husband being one of the culprits I was in the middle seat. Both of them like women In Stirrups at their gynecologist.

 

What a way to ruin a vacation...

 

He probably would have been better off purchasing the big seat up front. Hopefully that's where they moved him to.

 

Oh I can't stand this! I was a victim of this at Absinthe. On the bus the other day i saw a new variant - each butt cheek got its own seat! Wth are these people just rude or oblivious?!

 

I always assume rude unless there is some evidence otherwise.

 

Totally agree. If it happened this way, where they let him stay on, I personally think they realized they could "take/refund" a paid for seat yet not have to offer up the "x amount of money if someone gives up their seat" that many airlines do when over booked. (Since technically, he'd "still be allowed to fly")

I'm usually not one to get riled up over the occasional inconvenience (unless its,delivered with some snark), but I feel really badly for this guy, as I think they preferred taking one of his seats to having to offer up the x amount for volunteers (again, if that's how it unfolded)

 

We still do not know for sure "how" he purchased that extra seat. Did he buy it through the airline letting them know what he was doing, or did he just buy two tickets, but only one person actually checked in (or two checked in, but only one boarded). Sort of like the recent UA deal where they tried to use a seat for their son that was no longer flying that day.

 

The increasingly unpleasant nature of flying is one of the reasons (among many) that we canceled our Vegas trip this year. It takes a five and a half hour flight for us to reach Vegas and over the past decade it's become a form of torture. I'm a very healthy, thin person and I still feel cramped and uncomfortable in tiny airline seats and now they nickel and dime you for absolutely everything on the flight that could possibly make it more tolerable. It's just not worth it.