Humiliated by flight attendant on return flight TG weekend

[harrietvane]

As someone who spent her weekend in a branding class, I agree with the ladies above. There are people who care a lot about your complaints, and they're the people whose job it is to prevent stuff like this going viral and tanking their brand. Use social media early and often!

 

[Munchkin]

My sister worked for airlines for decades and guess what, seatbelts get shorter over time and there is a logical reason why one seatbelt fits and another one does not. They start out really long. The wear and tear is always around the buckles or at the point where they attach to the seat. Each time they repair the belt, it gets shorter!

 

[Larra]

@Munchkin 's info also explains why you could randomly get a shorter or longer seatbelt on the same plane. And I bet they don't swap them out for new ones until they fall apart.

 

[writegirl]

I can complain on review sites like Yelp, but I am reluctant to use Facebook. That ties the complaint to me and I would die if anyone I know finds out what happened. It was humiliating enough to go through it in person. To relive it on social media sounds like torture. Facebook is not private enough for me to trust with something like this. I know that once I get surgery and life changes for me, it will seem silly that I was worried that people would find out about me being fat shamed by an flight attendant or a doctor or a nurse, but I can't handle that right now. It was hard enough to live with it in the moment it happened. If I could have jumped out of that plane, it would have seemed better than flying in it with everyone looking at me.

 

[DianaCox]

Create a separate FB account for the complaint. You'll need a separate email address, but gmail addresses are free.

 

[DSRIGGS]

I am sorry that jerk was such a jerk to you. It is embarrassing enough to have to ask for a seat belt and anybody who isn't a self absorbed asshole would have discretely given you the extender and or quietly explained to you that for the exit row you need to have the seat belt buckle without an extender...that being said I used to travel a lot for business and I have never heard of that. Sure to sit in the exit row you have to be wiling and able to help out if need be, but I think to scum ball is full of it.

All of this said, some flights seat belts without extender worked and other times not, but it sure is nice now not to have to every worry about it again.

 

[Spiky Bugger]

1--It was Allegiant. May be a case of You Get What You Pay For.

2--If you can, quietly ask as you board, "After safety announcements, may I have an extender?" (The extenders are often what they use to demo the FAA -required announcements.)

3--Not all airlines/airplanes use identical extenders. Play it safe and ask.

4--Blame some of the attitude on previous MO passengers. I cannot believe how many try to fake that their belts are fastened. It IS about keeping several hundred pounds of human from going airborne and killing others as well as themselves...and the MO passenger is focused on not being embarassed and just lies. My sister used to do it all the time.

 

[k9ophile]

I still have the extender. Thank you for the idea. I think I will keep it after I have surgery. It's a good reminder of the way the world shames fat people. Do they need to make the extender bright red? Do they need to make it so people have to ask for them? Why not make a bin at the entrance point of the plane so people can just grab one, if they need it? Why not advertise the size of the seatbelts when you're booking a flight so you can choose seats that are more comfortable or request an extender at booking? Everything about the way this airline treats overweight passengers makes me sick. I really do not want to fly ever again.

Oh, I agree with you 100%. I was "only" morbidly obese when I was a consultant and on planes every week for three years. I was never shamed by a flight attendant, but I did have a few fellow passengers who tried to make me uncomfortable. I usually had the armrest up and some would ask me if I'd put it down. I'd tell them I'd try but my fat ass would probably just pop it up again. I was never shy and probably a bit sassy if not outright obnoxious. I never had them bother me again after that.

I also second the notion to put it on public places. I have complained on Facebook with immediate and satisfactory responses.

You can come here and scream all you want. Don't punch a skinny bitch; it's not worth jail time. (I told you I have a mouth!) The wait is sometimes unbearable, but it is worth it. You are respected and supported here.

 

[Psychomom]

Unfortunately, in our society, there are individuals who feel that anyone who is overweight is worthy of ridicule, disgust, and public humiliation. My best friend once attended a church where the Sunday School teacher asked her to come to the front of the class so they could pray that "demon" of obesity out of her. It was the last time she ever tried to go to that church. Don't let one negative person determine where you go, what you do, or where you sit, or your worth. Stand up for yourself! Do whatever you need to do to ensure this individual NEVER treats you that way again. You are worthy of dignity and respect. How dare that horrid flight attendant do this to you! He is a representative of the company he works for--so in effect, this company treated you with extreme callousness and publicly humiliated you in front of the entire group of passengers. This company deserves negative reviews for what you endured. This company should be bending over backwards to make this right to you. That flight attendant deserves to be reprimanded, retrained, and/or fired. No one deserves what you went through.

 

[aaa]

I'm so sorry you had to go through that.

Consider tweeting the airline. (You can set up a twitter account with another email address for anonymity). A hashtag will ensure many will see it.

 

[writegirl]

1--It was Allegiant. May be a case of You Get What You Pay For.

2--If you can, quietly ask as you board, "After safety announcements, may I have an extender?" (The extenders are often what they use to demo the FAA -required announcements.)

3--Not all airlines/airplanes use identical extenders. Play it safe and ask.

4--Blame some of the attitude on previous MO passengers. I cannot believe how many try to fake that their belts are fastened. It IS about keeping several hundred pounds of human from going airborne and killing others as well as themselves...and the MO passenger is focused on not being embarassed and just lies. My sister used to do it all the time.

Thank you! Allegiant is the only airline that has nonstop flights to my destination from where I live, so we fly it a lot and I have never had any problem before, other than we did have a snappy female flight attendant a few years ago but she was pissed at everyone. Then, we heard that the flight before ours there was a man who was drunk and belligerent and apparently got into an altercation with her, so everyone understood that she was just stressed out to the breaking point. She chilled out as the flight went forward and even started joking with some passengers about the asshole on the previous flight. She turned out to be very nice. And, as for getting what we pay for--Allegiant flights are no longer inexpensive. They are as much, if not more, than some of the more posh airlines. It's just that in our market, we are stuck with them and they know it.

I would never fly without my seatbelt fastened. Had this man not accosted me the second I sat down, I would have wound up asking for an extender or to be moved on my own. I've been on a flight with bad turbulence before and we fly over mountains in our market; they have their own weather system that I never take for granted. I just wish he would have been kinder and not tried to deliberately shame me. He was mean and rude and this was in front of my daughter. He never had to go there.

Since I unintentionally swiped the extender, I guess I have one for future flights. I've just never needed one before. Usually, we get the same kind of plane for this trip (an MD 80). I will assume this extender will work on all MD 80s from Allegiant. But, if we got another kind of plane and it did not work, I would ask for an extender if I need one.

 

[writegirl]

Unfortunately, in our society, there are individuals who feel that anyone who is overweight is worthy of ridicule, disgust, and public humiliation. My best friend once attended a church where the Sunday School teacher asked her to come to the front of the class so they could pray that "demon" of obesity out of her. It was the last time she ever tried to go to that church. Don't let one negative person determine where you go, what you do, or where you sit, or your worth. Stand up for yourself! Do whatever you need to do to ensure this individual NEVER treats you that way again. You are worthy of dignity and respect. How dare that horrid flight attendant do this to you! He is a representative of the company he works for--so in effect, this company treated you with extreme callousness and publicly humiliated you in front of the entire group of passengers. This company deserves negative reviews for what you endured. This company should be bending over backwards to make this right to you. That flight attendant deserves to be reprimanded, retrained, and/or fired. No one deserves what you went through.

I think you hit the nail on the head. This flight attendant is just that guy who treats fat people like shit. I doubt I was the first victim and I am sure I won't be his last. That story about the Sunday school teacher is terrifying. I will take everyone's advice and relate what happened to me to Allegiant. I don't want the flight attendant fired because that seems extreme to me and he is young and probably retrainable. But, I don't think it could hurt for him to be confronted with being an asshole. That might save someone else the humiliation he subjected me to on this flight.