Message from the BAF board

Ain't this messed up? Back from Vegas-Ya'll will NOT BELIEVE THIS!-Long Original Post by Denise McGill at 8:02 PM PST on 08/07/2004 Stone Mountain, GA - RNY (08/12/2004) Hi BAF I have missed you all-Thanks to those of you who sent emails to see if I was ok? I have just been back reading all the missed posts- Nito Mike, glad you are ok- How Scary! Ms. NaNa- so glad you made out ok...All the ATL pics were wonderful, and Sexy Scorpio, relieved to see Grandma is on the mend! Now to the matter at hand- I apologize this is LONG but needs to be shared.. My DH and I went to VEGAS for our 19th wedding anniversary on Wednesday and flew DELTA AIRLINES...which we always fly- Guess I am anal, but the "Delta gets you there" slogan always comes into play... My DH Craig is 6'7- 400lbs and built like a linebacker- and of course, I am a BBW... We have always sat in the exit row for the additional leg room for Craig. Now we are folks who travel.We have been to Sweden, Germany, Mexico, and within the US- so its not like we are Novices... As always, we got exit row seats 19E & F. We boarded in with Zone 1/First class which made us first on the plane. The lady collecting the boarding pass told us we would not be able to sit in those seats that there would be a problem...but lets us on the plane. As we are sitting down getting comfy, and asking for seat belt extenders, this woman came from out in th boarding area to tell us loud as you please... :"YOU ARE TOO BIG AND CAN NOT SIT IN THESE SEATS"...she finds a stewardess and tells her, "THEY ARE TOO BIG AN CAN NOT SIT IN THESE SEATS!" The stewardess is like what? and she says again..."THEY ARE TOO BIG AN CAN NOT SIT IN THESE SEATS!" Meanwhile, the plane is filling up with passengers who are hearing this. the lady says loud as you please.."BIG PEOPLE REQUIRING SEAT BELT EXTENDERS CAN NOT SIT IN EXIT ROWS"... I will not get into the mundane detail ya'll..but apparently in March 2004, the FAA changed rulings for exit rows, including the fact that folks requiring extenders could not sit there as it is a HAZARD to safety in case of an emergency. (Is that some Discriminatory BS or what?) Now, I am not going to argue with the FAA- However, before they could pull out a rule book, in which this old lady made sure they did, they had us surrounded by two flight attendants, that captain of the DAMN plane, and an attendant supervisor- who treated us like we were hijackers... To top it off, the overbooked the flight by 20 people. There were NO OPEN SEATS except for First class. My husband was like, you are inconveniecing me, and so move us to first class, and they refused. As a matter of fact,they were not polite- they continued to tell us how "BIG WE WERE". When I politely told them that they were discriminating against us- the supervisor started Yelling saing they were not, we were wrong, and even told us that if we did not like the rule we could get off the plane. I KID YOU NOT... The Captain leaves and comes back with another attendant, with a total of 6 people captain included standing around us in the front of the plane talking to us as though we were criminals. After 20 mins, we were moved from seats 19 E & F to row 40....as we were moved to the new seats we got dirty looks and snide comments from other passengers..which was even more humiliating. also due to the delay we took off late. I was SEETHING, and I asked for names of all parties. We were in air 2 hours when I had to ask AGAIN for all names. I was then addressed by the last attendant who came to the situation to learn she was the head attendant. She also happened to be African American... She apologized profusely, and she said she was appalled with what happened....She said she had several relatives that were plus sized, and all she could think of is what if this had happened to one of them. she also shared with me that the Captain went to get her and told her to "HANDLE" us because we were "BLACK"... She was so , that she was going to file a complaint. I don't know ya'll. I was so appalled that I almost cried. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO EMBARESSED IN MY LIFE. When I called Delta Customer Service the next day- they could care less about the way we were treated as customers. They just kept quoting the FAA policy. My husband told them he could give a flying Flip about the FAA policy- What about the customer service or lack there of? I have names of directors, and the president of Delta...But Craig (my DH) says I needed to share this with the OH boards and let them know about this form of discrimination.... Other than that, VEGAS is fun to visit, and the rest of the trip was fine... Sorry this is so long....

I am appalled!! Delta is on my 'do not use' list. Maybe a well written letter to customer service of Delta is in order, along with a copy to the better business bureau. Beckey

OMG! That just makes me sick that people can get away with that. I have never flown before but I kinda know how the poor lady felt. My hubby, mother-in-law and daughter went to a Denny's restraunt in Roswell quite a few yrs back and specificly asked for a table, not a booth, but a table......They were not very busy and had plenty but the waitress purposely took us to a booth. My hubby told her politley "We asked for a table" , she looked at me and then said "Ok...." Then she proceded to take everyone's order BUT mine.......my mother-in-law spoke up and said "Aren't you going to take her order?" The waitress looked at her and said, "Oh, I didn't think she wanted anything".......then she turned around and asked me what I wanted (without even looking at me) .........I was so embarrassed I didn't order anything but a small salad and felt like all eyes were upon me as I ate it....I hate to admit it but I let what that woman did to me keep me from ever wanting to go out again.......I would like to try flying because my younger sister lives in England, but I sure won't do it until I am blessed to have this surgery and lose the weight and never be publicly humiliated again. I feel for that poor couple and I hope they get their say!!!!!!!!! People can be and are so rude to large people and those airline people handled that situation so poorly (except for the poor attendant they pushed it off on) Folks that have never dealt with our problems should have to walk a mile in our shoes and see how it feels.. Anyways, thanks for posting this......just shows how ignorant people are to "Us"....... Donna E.

I am from Roswell, I am so sorry that you were treated badly. There is no excuse for bad manners or is it ignorance? All I can hope is what goes around truly does come around. Poo poo on Delta Airlines as well, I have heard this happen on Southwest Airlines as well.

HI Sandra, That was quite a long time ago with that incident.....For the most part, Roswell has some very nice people there. My hubby just got back from there after taking an exam he needed for his work. He used to go to an ear doctor over there and I have been over several times myself to a dentist. It doesn't really matter where any of us are, people are going to be rude one way or another..How sad is that??? I was always taught to be kind to people no matter what they looked like, or what color, religion or whatever......too bad companies can't be that way....or better yet.....have better training for their employees.....And like you said..it's not just one airline either..... These folks just need to wake up and realize that everyone is different but still deserve the same courtesy and respect as the "average" person... Take care Donna E.