ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A young woman is taking her fight to story to the internet after being told she was too fat to fly in one seat on an airplane.
"I'm here to talk about something that typically makes me uncomfortable, my size and weight," Atria Choudhury says in her YouTube video. More than 7,800 people have watched the video posted by Choudhury, a senior at UCF. She wants the world to know she didn't appreciate getting called up to the Southwest airlines ticket counter and told she'd need to buy a second seat because of her weight.
"They kept reiterating it was for my comfort and safety that I had to purchase a second seat," said Choudhury. "There were a lot of people surrounding us already and this was four minutes before boarding and people had already lined up towards the gate. It was humiliating."
She says this debacle delayed the flight 15 minutes. Then, she felt uncomfortable with the looks she got when she was the last to board the flight. "There were mostly in lieu with fat shaming. There were a lot of aggressive looks," said Choudhury.
After posting her 8 minute video on YouTube and writing a complaint letter to Southwest, the airline replied with a letter. They apologized for her dissatisfaction and explained their "customer of size policy." The letter said "asking for the purchase of a second seat when a customer is unable to sit in a seat with the armrests fully lowered or when a customers body extends into the neighboring seat.
"Can you put the arm rest down between you and the passenger next to you?," asked FOX 35. "Yes," she replied. "And were you in another persons seat at all?" asked FOX 35. "No," she said. "On my flight going to Philadelphia I was able sit in one seat. There was no problem with that."
Southwest admits they didn't follow protocol since Athia was not charged for a second seat on her trip to Philadelphia, just on her way back to Orlando. "This policy is inconsistent and its arbitrarily applied," said Choudhury.
She believes it overweight people shouldn't be the only ones charged for a second seat. "It should also be applied to people with long legs and long arms that also encroaches upon you space. Or people who have children in their laps kicking and screaming," said Choudhury.
Southwest refunded the $100 for the extra ticket plus the price of her original ticket. And, they sent her 150 love bucks for her to use towards the price of her next flight. She says this issue is not about money. "It's about reforming their policy so that people don't face this humiliation again," said Choudhury.
To ad insult to injury, Choudhury says after forcing her to buy a second seat and embarrassing her, they took it back. The flight was full she says the airline needed to get one more passenger on, so took away that second seat to accommodate the other passenger.
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