Emery Orto Is Too Fat To Fly Southwest Airlines

That is Emery Orto and his wife, Clara, holding their Southwest Airlines tickets.

Emery and Clara had flown to Las Vegas from Chicago's Midway Airport, 4 days prior to this picture being taken.

Emery and Clara had no problem on the flight to Las Vegas, but after 4 days of Vegas buffets, when Emery tried to return home, Southwest Airlines would not let him leave because he had become too fat to fly.

Emery is about 6 feet tall and weighs around 350. So, he is a big guy. But too fat to fly? I know women who are way fatter than Emery and they are allowed to fly. However, I do not know if they buy extra seats to hold their girth, or not. Or if they try to fly on Southwest Airlines.

Emery says, "I was halfway down the ramp to my airplane when the woman who took my boarding pass grabbed me and asked if I could sit in an airplane seat with the arms folded down."

Southwest Airlines customer size policy says, "The armrest is the definitive gauge, as it serves as the boundary between seats."

Emery said, "I told her, yes, I could sit with the arms down and that I had flown many times and never had a problem. The airline employee then told me, 'You're not going to fly on this plane today.' I said, 'What did you just say?' and she said, 'You're not flying on this plane today.'

"I asked the woman why she was embarrassing me and humiliating me in front of all these people waiting to get on the plane. I admit that I was upset. I didn't threaten anyone, but I raised my voice so that I could be heard."

Emery was told he was being belligerent, "And that's when the airline employee called her female supervisor, who arrived with four male employees. She told me that if I didn't leave I would be arrested. I shut up right away when I heard that, except that I asked if we could get our baggage that was on the plane, and we were told not until we found our way back to Chicago."

Emery and Clara asked if they could at least get their medications out of their baggage. They were told, no.

A spokeswoman for Southwest Airlines claims Emery was given the option of buying an additional seat, next to his seat, for half price. Clara said that this was not true, that no such offer was made.

Emery and Clara walked the terminal, not knowing where to go, when they stopped another Southwest Airlines employee and asked him for help.

"I explained the situation to him and he told me I didn't look too large to fly. This was a really nice man, and he basically took us by the hand and brought us through the airport to a United Airlines reservations desk."

According to Emery, the reservations agent at United took one look at him and said he wasn't too large to fly.

"They had two seats available for $400 each, and I said, 'Praise the Lord.'"

The United plane took the pair of beleaguered Southwest Airlines victims to O'hare International Airport where they had to find ground transport to get them to Midway Airport where their car and baggage was.

In a parting shot, Emery said, "We're 62 years old, and I couldn't help thinking how even older people would deal with this problem. I've flown to New Orleans, Miami, Los Angeles and never had a problem. I never even had to use seat-belt extensions. And if they have a policy, why not follow it and let me try to sit in the seat with the armrests down? They never let me do that."

Well, it seems to me Southwest Airlines has some explaining and apologizing to do. Along with offering the Ortos a free trip, or two.