'Large' man removed from flight to see dying aunt

Jesus. wrote:

Also, were there no other flights available to Canada or could he just not afford another airline?/

the article wrote:

He was told he could travel on the next available flight from Gatwick but would have to pay for two seats.

WD40 wrote:

Jesus. wrote:

Also, were there no other flights available to Canada or could he just not afford another airline?/

the article wrote:

He was told he could travel on the next available flight from Gatwick but would have to pay for two seats.

I quite literally missed that entirely. I'm not doing well in this, am I?

Malganis wrote:

What exactly do they do for people in wheelchairs or hoveraround-type motorized things? I know that buses (or at least the ones I've ridden on) have broad upfront seating that's turned inward, facing the walkway, so that wheelchairs can be attached to them. I've never ridden on a plane, though, and don't know what they have in place.

For most planes I've been on, wheelchair riders have to transfer to a chair specifically designed for airplane use--their personal chair is gate-checked, and the rider gets wheeled to their seat, where they slide over and buckle up. Reverse the process for deplaning.

Rabid Badger's absolutely right. It's all about how many butts you can put in seats, so they're not likely to cut the number of seats in favor of making them bigger. Flying is a little slice of hell unless you're not proportioned *exactly* right; too large in any dimension, and you're fucked. I hate flying because my legs are juuust too long to be comfortable in most planes.

Of course, I also hate flying because I'm on crutches, and, as Cyberwulf pointed out, condescension is always present. I had one flight where the attendants were openly rude to me, and another where the passengers were assholes; one man shot me dirty looks and bitched at every opportunity to everyone around him about my crutches taking up space in the overhead bin (an hour-long flight and he just wouldn't shut up about it). So I can understand a little how this guy feels embarrassed by how the situation played out. The airline does need to ensure the other customers' comfort, but I don't think they handled this particularly well, all things considered.

Yeah, that was customer service fail on the stewardess' part. I also hope he got refunded for the flight if he ended up not taking the next one.