Tiggeman, who lives in New Orleans and blogs about weight loss on her
website, AllTheWeigh.com, filed an injunction against Southwest in
district court on April 20, alleging that the Southwest agents "did not
follow their company policy and chose to discriminate, humiliate and
embarrass" her in front of "airport onlookers," and that the airline
uses "discriminatory actions ... toward obese customers."
Southwest currently has a Customers of Size policy, which requires
passengers to buy a second seat if they can't fit between the armrests.
Southwest's seats measure 17 inches across.
Tiggeman said she is not seeking monetary damages from the airline and
filed the injunction application pro se, without legal representation.
She said she wants an industry standard to be put in place for flyers
who have to buy a second seat, including rules so that it is no longer
up to gate attendants to decide whether or not an obese passenger has to
purchase a second seat.
"If you're telling me I have to buy two seats, you should tell me at the
point of purchase, not the day I'm flying when I check in at the
terminal," she said.
Tiggeman said she was horrified last May when a Southwest Airlines gate agent told her to buy a second seat.
"The gate agent came up to me and he asked me how much I weighed, what
size clothes I wore," Tiggeman said. "He said that I was too fat to fly,
that I would need an additional seat, and he was really sort of crass
about the whole thing."
At the time, Tiggeman said she weighed between "240 and 300 pounds."
"There was no privacy," she continued. "He didn't know what the policy
was. So he actually brought in a supervisor as well who didn't know."
After the incident, Tiggeman said a Southwest executive contacted her to
apologize, refunded her ticket and offered her flight vouchers, which
she accepted. But last November, Tiggeman said she was again told by a
Southwest agent that she was too fat too fly.
In a statement to "Nightline," Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said
she was aware of Tiggeman's blog post describing the suit, but hadn't
confirmed the filing with the airline's legal department.
"We realize that it's a sensitive conversation and we train our
Employees to approach the situation as discreetly as possible," King
said in the statement. "The ... best case scenario is for the Customer
to notify us of any special needs ahead of time. If providing the
additional seat does not result in our having to deny another Customer
boarding, we will refund the ticket to the Customer at no charge, which
happens more than 90 percent of the time."
Tiggeman's crusade is just a small part in what feels like a war that
has erupted between the airlines and their passengers. Many charge for
everything from onboard snacks, to blankets and pillows, to excess
baggage and body weight. Just today, Spirit Airlines announced that
passengers may have to pay up to $100 for a carry-on, meaning bags that
have to go in the overhead compartment and are checked in at the gate.
Bags that can fit under the seat are still free.
But if you weigh more, should you pay more? Peter Singer, a bio-ethics
professor at Princeton University, raised this simple, but inflammatory
question.
NEW ORLEANS -- The road to weight loss for Kenlie Tiggeman hasn't been
easy, and now she's in a different battle.
"I understand Southwest wants everyone to be a certain size, but no one
knows, including Southwest, no one knows what that size is," said
Tiggeman.
Tiggeman is taking on Southwest Airlines and its controversial "Customers of Size" policy, which requires passengers to buy a second seat if they can't fit between the armrests, which measure 17 inches across.
"I don't want to encroach on anyone, and I think it's safe to say no obese person wants to encroach on anyone next to them," Tiggeman said. In a petition and application for injunctive relief, she alleges Southwest violated her "constitutional rights" and engages in a practice of "discriminatory actions toward obese customers."
As a consumer, Tiggeman said she has a right to know the rules at the point of purchase. "We need to know what the rules are," Tiggeman said. "We need to know if we need one seat or two, because this eyeballing happening at the gate is incredibly discriminatory, and it's so unnecessary."
Tiggeman is taking on Southwest Airlines and its controversial "Customers of Size" policy, which requires passengers to buy a second seat if they can't fit between the armrests, which measure 17 inches across.
"I don't want to encroach on anyone, and I think it's safe to say no obese person wants to encroach on anyone next to them," Tiggeman said. In a petition and application for injunctive relief, she alleges Southwest violated her "constitutional rights" and engages in a practice of "discriminatory actions toward obese customers."
As a consumer, Tiggeman said she has a right to know the rules at the point of purchase. "We need to know what the rules are," Tiggeman said. "We need to know if we need one seat or two, because this eyeballing happening at the gate is incredibly discriminatory, and it's so unnecessary."