Action 3 News - Omaha, Nebraska News, Weather, and Sports | Overweight Woman Kicked Off Plane in Omaha
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Omaha, NE - It's part of a Southwest Airlines policy that's grabbing headlines across the country. Now it's happened here. A woman admits she's overweight, but is upset about what happened to her on a flight at Eppley Airfield.
Ramona Bevins packed her bags for Phoenix, and her bags are the only thing that made it.
"I was going to surprise my cousin that I was showing up. Now I got the surprise that I am not going."
Headed for her cousins 80th birthday in Phoenix, Ramona Bevins didn't expect her roundtrip to be from the airport and back. In fact, Bevins says she even boarded the plane
"I was in the seat and it was okay. I didn't think that I was sticking out that much."
Southwest's website says customers who are unable to lower both armrests and/or who compromise any portion of adjacent seating should proactively book the number of seats needed prior to travel.
Southwest Airlines says it identified Bevins in the gate area as a woman of size. The airline says it warned Bevins she may be too large to travel. Bevins says once aboard, she could easily buckle her seatbelt. Southwest says, a supervisor boarded the plane, sat down next to Bevins and said she took up too much space. Bevins wishes the airline said something sooner.
"I was up to the check-in counter, nobody said anything at the check-in counter. I sat, waited from ten thirty to twelve thirty for my plane to take off and there is two hours and they didn't say anything until after I was on the plane."
Southwest offered to re-book Bevins on a later flight if she bought an additional ticket. She could not afford that, so the airline is refunding Bevins money, but too late for her to afford another plane ticket for her cousins birthday on Saturday.
Reported by Dave Roberts, droberts@action3news.com
