A female airline passenger has hit out at Alaska Airlines after suffering “physical discomfort” due to a “very large seatmate” during a two-hour flight.
The anonymous woman took to Reddit to vent about her “complaint” that arose on a recent trip from Juneau to Anchorage, alleging that she was forced to sit with “T-rex arms” for the entire trip and insisting that even the flight attendant sat down. I felt “repentant.” ‘about the situation she found herself in.
His furious tirade was just the latest in the ongoing debate over air travel, with some passengers accusing each other of invading their privacy and others now terrified, too. boarding Boeing planes due to a series of safety concerns.
In a thread titled Alaska AirlinesThe frequent flyer revealed that she had been upgraded to first class, but had been placed in a middle seat next to a “very large” passenger, adding that she could feel his “body heat” and ran out of room.
Airline passenger hits out at Alaska Airlines after suffering “physical discomfort” due to “very large seatmate” during two-hour flight (file image)
At the beginning of the post, he said: ‘Last week I had a flight from Juneau to Anchorage for work. My company bought me a seat in the main cabin, and due to my Gold status, I moved my seat to a premium middle seat, 9E (I was already in a middle seat in the main cabin due to the flight being full).
“When I got on the plane and approached my seat, I saw a woman in the window seat, 9F, who was very large, had our adjacent armrest up and was hanging off my seat a good third of the way.”
She then paused her story to assure people online that she was not “rude” and that she “very rarely” complains.
The passenger added that she also feels bad for older people and knows that many already feel “self-conscious” in situations like this.
‘I didn’t make anyone feel uncomfortable or embarrass anyone. I simply slid my backpack under the seat in front of me and sat sulkily in my seat. To fit in, I was physically touching and pushing this person along my entire left side.
‘I felt the heat of his body. My left arm couldn’t go down and rest casually because it would be on his stomach.
‘Instead, I was forced to extend my left arm over the headrest in front of me for the entire flight. I didn’t ask to be moved, I didn’t complain, it was useless since there were no empty seats and I didn’t need to draw more attention to someone who should obviously feel bad about the situation.
“I toughed it out, put on my best face, and focused on what I had downloaded to my phone for the flight,” she said in the post.
The anonymous woman took to Reddit to vent about her ‘complaint’ that arose on a recent trip from Juneau to Anchorage.
She explained that because of her large seatmate, she was sitting with “T-Rex arms” throughout the flight and was even pushed towards the other passenger on her right.
Even the flight attendant noticed the frequent traveler’s discomfort, but did nothing to rectify the situation.
The woman added: “Beverage services arrived and the flight attendant said, ‘I’m sorry,’ as she could obviously see my physical discomfort. I grabbed a drink and awkwardly put down my tray, requiring my left seatmate to move. a little to let her rest.
‘Due to my awkward position, my hand hit my right seatmate with my drink. I apologized and she was obviously very understanding of the situation we were both in.
“We landed in Anchorage and I still didn’t say anything because ultimately I didn’t want to embarrass anyone directly, but internally I was furious at that moment.”
After landing, the anonymous traveler was determined to speak to someone about her experience, however, “there were no customer service employees within airport security.”
She explained: ‘I went out and waited in the premium row at the ticket counter. I spoke to an agent, explained my flight situation and although she was very apologetic, she couldn’t do anything other than give me the customer service number.’
The traveler decided to call customer service after returning home to express her anger.
After waiting 30 minutes, she was finally able to reach a customer service representative.
In a thread titled Alaska Airlines, the frequent traveler revealed that she had been upgraded to first class but was placed in a middle seat next to a “very large” passenger (file image)
He added: ‘Finally, I spoke to a representative and explained my situation. He told me that people that size are supposed to buy two seats and that an agent is supposed to intervene if he sees them boarding a plane with only one seat. Obviously, that didn’t happen.
‘She apologized and the offer they made me was $50 compensation. I was quite upset because he seemed very short for what was forced physical contact in a premium seat.
‘Yes, they promoted me, but I would be even angrier if I had paid for that upgrade. In the end she said all she could give me was 3,500 miles, which still bothers me because I’m still venting about this.
At the end of the post, she noted that she had no “point” in her post and added that she was simply “extremely upset.”
‘I don’t blame the seatmate. I blame Alaska Air for not fully rectifying it or helping make me feel like they were truly apologetic for their shortcomings in preventing the situation from occurring. The $50 or 3,500 miles feels like a slap in the face,’ she said while asking strangers on the web how they would have handled the situation.
People flooded the comments section and shared their thoughts on the incident.
One person said: ‘I’m a bigger man. If I don’t fly with my family, I will pay to upgrade to business class so I can have a larger seat and not take the seat you paid for. It’s not your fault that I’m fat and you shouldn’t suffer because of it.
“If I’m with my family I don’t care because normally we have three seats.”
Someone else added: “Even if they buy two seats, they don’t always get them.” Guess which seats go when a flight is overbooked.
“You sound like a really nice human being.” Your parents should be proud. People today wouldn’t be so kind about this during the flight. As an overweight person I thank you for having empathy and respect for the person sitting next to you,’ someone else added.
People across the web flooded the comments section and shared their thoughts on the incident.
Another user added: ‘I had a huge muscular man sitting next to me and taking up my space… People who are taller, muscular or just over 5ft 5in and 160lbs are too big for the seats. Part of the problem is also the size of the seat. I’m just not sure how often airlines enforce the second seat policy.
‘In that situation, if it were me, I would have just gone back to the economy. Maybe they sat her/she chose that row because there would have been an empty seat next to her if you didn’t get up. “It’s something to keep in mind,” someone else wrote.
“I’m so sorry you had to go over this,” another user wrote.
One person added: ‘I would discreetly communicate this to the flight attendant at that time. Alaska has a “passenger size” policy for that reason. It is not intended to embarrass anyone and they will generally be happy to assist you and the other passenger. They are as uncomfortable as you are. They can move seats. From JNU to the ANC, I imagine there are quite a few available.
“If you can’t fit in a regular coach seat, you should be asked to buy a larger seat instead of taking someone else’s seat,” one user added.
DailyMail.com has contacted Alaska Airlines for comment.
In the past, many passengers also wondered if they should change seats while traveling if someone asked them to.
In December, a frequent flyer issued a public service announcement to his fellow travelers about swapping seats after finding himself in a nightmarish experience that forced him to move five times when he reluctantly gave up his initial spot.
The unknown man took to Reddit to tell his seat-swapping story that “permanently changed his mind about being nice and swapping seats with someone.”
Another frequent flyer previously revealed he refused to swap his window seat with an “entitled” passenger who wanted to sit next to his wife.
The anonymous woman took to Reddit to share how she refused to move to the middle seat during an 11-hour flight from New York to Cairo, Egypt, so the man sitting next to her could sit next to his wife.
The anonymous woman shared her story on the social media platform as a way to rant about the man in the Titled people subreddit, leading others on the web to criticize the man for asking someone else to upgrade to a lower quality seat so he could be happy.
The denial comes months after a man sparked furious debate when he refused to give up his first-class seat to his boss, despite using his own credit card points to do so.
In the past, DailyMail.com’s Jaci Stephen has even offered her point of view, confessing that she “absolutely refuses” to change seats, no matter how angry the passenger requesting the change may be.