A plane passenger has slammed Alaska Airlines after she was left in ‘physical discomfort’ due to a ‘very large seatmate’ during a two-hour flight.
The unnamed woman took to Reddit to vent about her ‘complaint’ which arose on a recent trip from Juneau to Anchorage – claiming she was forced to sit with ‘T-rex arms’ the entire journey and insisting that even the flight attendant felt ‘sorry’ about the situation she was in.
Her furious tirade was just the latest in the ongoing debate about air travel – with some passengers accusing each other of invading privacy with others also now terrified to board Boeing planes due to a slew of safety issues.
In a thread titled Alaska Airlines, the frequent flyer revealed that she had been upgraded to first class but was placed in a middle seat next to a ‘very large’ passenger – adding that she could feel their ‘body heat’ and was left with no room.
A plane passenger has slammed Alaska Airlines after she was left in ‘physical discomfort’ due to a ‘very large seatmate’ during a two-hour flight (stock image)
At the beginning of the post, she said: ‘Last week I had a flight from Juneau to Anchorage for work. My company purchased me a seat in the main cabin, and because of 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).
‘As I boarded the plane and approached my seat, I saw a woman in the window seat, 9F, who was very large, had our adjoining armrest up, and was overhanging into my seat by a good third of the way.’
She then paused telling her story to assure people on the web that she was not ‘rude’ and ‘very seldom’ complains.
The passenger added that she also feels bad for larger people and knows that many are already ‘self-conscious’ in situations such as this.
‘I did not make anyone feel uncomfortable or embarrass anyone. I simply slid my backpack under the seat in front and sulked into my seat. To fit, I was physically touching and pushing into this person along the full left side of me.
‘I felt their body heat. My left arm could not come down and casually rest because it would be on their stomach.
‘Instead, I was forced to extend my left arm out onto the headrest in front of me for the duration of the flight. I did not request to be moved, I did not complain, it was futile as there were no empty seats and I didn’t need to draw any more attention to someone who must obviously feel bad about the situation.
‘I sucked it up, put on my best face, and focused on whatever I’d downloaded on my phone for the flight,’ she said in the post.
The unnamed woman took to Reddit to vent about her ‘complaint’ which arose on a recent trip from Juneau to Anchorage
She explained that because of her large seatmate, she was sitting with ‘T-Rex arms’ for the duration of the flight and had even been pushed onto the other passenger on her right.
Even the flight attendant noticed the frequent flyer’s discomfort, but she didn’t do anything to amend the situation.
The woman added: ‘Drink services came by and the flight attendant mouthed to me, “I’m sorry,” as he could obviously see my physical discomfort. I got a drink and awkwardly put down my tray, which required some shifting of my left seatmate to rest it down.
‘Due to my uncomfortable position, my hand slapped my drink over into my right seatmate. I apologized, and she was obviously very understanding of the situation we were both in.
‘We landed in Anchorage, and I still said nothing as I ultimately didn’t want to embarrass anyone directly, but internally I was fuming at this point.’
After landing, the anonymous flyer was determined to speak to someone about her experience, however there were ‘no employees at customer service within airport security.’
She explained: ‘I went outside and waited at ticketing in the premium line. I spoke to an agent, explaining my flight situation, and although she was very apologetic, there was nothing she could do except give me the customer service number.’
The traveler decided to give customer service a call after she had gone home to express her fury.
After waiting on hold for 30 minutes, she was finally able to reach a customer service representative.
In a thread titled Alaska Airlines, the frequent flyer revealed that she had been upgraded to first class but was placed in a middle seat next to a ‘very large’ passenger (stock image)
She added: ‘Finally, I spoke to a representative and explained my situation. She told me that people of that size are supposed to purchase two seats and that an agent is supposed to interject if they see them boarding a plane with only one seat. Obviously, that didn’t happen.
‘She apologized, and the offer made to me was a $50 compensation. I was pretty upset as that seemed very low for what was forced physical contact in a premium seat.
‘Yes, I was upgraded, but I’d be even more upset if I had paid for that upgrade. In the end, she said all she could give me was 3,500 miles, which still rubs me the wrong way since I’m still venting about this.’
At the end of the post, she noted that she didn’t have a ‘point’ to her post – adding that she was just ‘extremely displeased.’
‘I don’t blame the seatmate. I blame Alaska Air for not fully rectifying it or helping to make me feel like they were genuinely apologetic for their shortcomings in preventing the situation from happening. The $50 or 3,500 miles feels like a slap in the face,’ she said as she asked strangers on the web how they would have handled the situation.
People flooded the comments section and shared their thoughts about the incident.
One person said: ‘I am a larger 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 spill into a seat you paid for. It’s not your fault I am fat and you shouldn’t have to suffer for it.
‘If I am with my family I don’t care because we usually have the three seats.’
Someone else added: ‘Even if they buy two seats, they don’t always get them. Guess which seats go when they overbook a flight.’
‘You sound like a really nice human being. Your parents should be proud. People nowadays wouldn’t be as nice about this during the flight. As an overweight person I say thank you for having empathy and respect for the person sitting next to you,’ added someone else.
People on the web flooded the comments section and shared their thoughts about the incident
Another user added: ‘I’ve had a huge muscle man sit next to me and take up my space… People who are taller, muscular, or just over 5ft5in and 160lbs are too big for the seats. Part of the issue is the seat size, too. I’m just not sure how often any airlines force the second seat policy.’
‘In that situation, if it was me, I would have just moved back into economy. Maybe they seated her in/she picked that row because there would have been an empty seat next to her if you didn’t move up. Just something to consider,’ someone else wrote.
‘I’m so sorry you had to go over this,’ wrote another user.
One person added: ‘I would discreetly communicate this with the flight attendant at the time. Alaska has “passenger-of-size” policy for that reason. It’s not meant to shame anyone and generally they are happy to accommodate you and the other passenger. They are just as uncomfortable as you were. They can move seats. From JNU to ANC, I’d imagine there’s a few available.’
‘If you can’t fit into a regular coach seat, you should be required to purchase a larger seat vs taking part of another persons’ seat,’ added one user.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment.
In the past, many passengers have also questioned whether you should switch seats while traveling if someone asks you to.
In December, a frequent flier issued a PSA to fellow travelers about seat swapping after he found himself in a nightmare experience that saw him forced to move five times when he begrudgingly gave up his initial spot.
The unknown man took to Reddit to recount his seat swap story that ‘permanently changed [his] mind on ever being nice and trading seats with someone.’
Another frequent flier previously revealed she refused to switch her window seat with an ‘entitled’ passenger who wanted to sit next to his wife.
The unnamed woman took to Reddit to share how she declined to move to a middle seat during an 11-hour flight from New York to Cairo, Egypt, so the man sitting next to her could sit beside his wife.
The anonymous woman shared her story on the social media platform as a way to rant about the man on the Entitled People subreddit, prompting others on the web to slam the man for asking someone else to switch to a lower-quality seat so he could be happy.
The denial comes months after one man sparked furious debate when he refused to give up his first-class seat for his boss, despite using his own credit card points to do so.
In the past, DailyMail.com’s Jaci Stephen even offered up her view, and confessed that she ‘absolutely refuses’ to swap seats, no matter how angry the passenger requesting to switch may get.