0 min left

Airline Forces Gay Couple to Separate So Straight Couple Can Sit Together

ORG XMIT: WADZ201 In this photo made Thursday, June 11, 2009, an Alaska Airlines airliner is pushed away from a gate at SeaTac Airport in SeaTac, Wash. Alaska Air Group Inc., operator of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, said Thursday. July 23, its second-quarter profit plunged 53.9 percent to $29.1 million as sales slipped 9.3 percent.(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Airlines are increasingly overbooking seats, reserving the right to ask passengers to volunteer to take a later flight or to bump them from a flight entirely. Recently, a gay couple was asked by Alaska to sit separately in order to accommodate a straight couple’s reservation that included the same seat, leaving the men stating that they were discriminated against.

David Cooley and his partner were settling into their assigned seats for Alaska Airlines flight 1407 from JFK to LAX when the unexpected happened. They were approached by another couple and a flight attendant, who asked Cooley’s partner to switch from his premium seat to a seat in coach so that the other couple could sit together.

Cooley wrote in a Facebook post about the incident: “I explained that we were a couple and wanted to sit together. He was given a choice to either give up the premium seat and move to coach or get off the plane. We could not bear the feeling of humiliation for an entire cross-country flight and left the plane.”

Cooley, who owns the West Hollywood club The Abbey, is calling for a boycott, adding, “I cannot believe that an airline in this day and age would give a straight couple preferential treatment over a gay couple and go so far as to ask us to leave. We will never be flying Alaska Airlines or their recently purchased Virgin Airlines Group ever again. Thank you to Delta Air Lines for getting us home safe. If you are an #LGBT person, please spend your travel dollars with an LGBT friendly airline like Delta.”

When reached for comment, a representative from Alaska acknowledged that this incident involving Cooley and his partner did occur. The airline released the following statement: “When boarding flight 1407 from JFK to LAX, a couple was mistakenly assigned the same seats as another couple in Premium Class. We reseated one of the guests from Premium Class in the Main Cabin. We are deeply sorry for the situation, and are investigating the details while communicating directly with the guests involved to try and make this right. Alaska Airlines has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind, and our employees value inclusion for our guests and each other.”

[Photo: Shutterstock]

Comments are Closed.
17 Comments
G
gsalem94122 August 2, 2018

I had something similar happen on United. United swapped out the planes (one less row of 1st Class) and it had to kick two people with seat assignments back to Economy. One was my (yes, same-sex) husband. Paid tickets, but his was (I guess) a lower status or fare than others. United was very cagey about the whole thing when we tried to check in on-line and saw his seat assignment disappear. Finally at the airport, the folks at check-in let us know what had happened and sent us the the gate agents. At the gate, the agent said they were holding the exit rows. And then proceeded to ask me to voluntarily give up my 1st class seat so that "a married couple" could be seated together in 1st. When I told her that Gary and I were a married couple, I also asked why she would consider breaking up our seats! I got some lame response that it was something she was told she had to do. Now if I took her at her word, I'd believe that United has a policy to separate gay couples to the benefit of straight ones. Instead, I choose to believe that United has a wide range of employees and that the gate agent was a witch. In the end, everyone showed up for the flight and Gary was going to Economy. One of the finer gals that was at check-in came to work the gate. She pulled us aside and "involuntarily" moved us both to the exit row so that at least we both got compensation. (And the "married couple" got to stay together in 1st).

C
Crzn33k August 1, 2018

OK so he got what he wanted, I think AS made the wrong call on this one. I heard that the guy who was asked to move actually didn't have the seat next to Mr Cooley but took it on himself to move. Guess we will never know the whole story.

N
nearlysober August 1, 2018

Apparently, Mr. Cooley has since deleted his post and posted an update indicating Alaska has reached out and is working with him. My initial reaction to his post, particularly the digs with Delta & the call for boycott... I thought it was odd or over the top. But I really cannot put myself in his situation, so I cannot say how he should feel. But I do like that he's engaging with them in discussion. I hope he gets a satisfactory result that lets him know Alaska is taking it seriously and posts a followup to his followers... although that won't get 1/10th the media coverage as his initial post did unfortunately.

G
Global321 July 31, 2018

The real story... 1. There were duplicate seat assignments. The airline followed the procedure of who gets moved. (You can disagree with the 'pecking order', but it was not discriminatory. 2. The airline would have had no idea the two were gay. 3. I agree it totally sucks to be told to move. (Personally, I would have stood my ground until the police arrived. They had bp's to prove their seat assignment.) 4. Shame on Cooley for playing the gay card. Shame. It takes away from real discrimination of gay people.

D
dhuey July 31, 2018

Do either of the two guys involved in the re-seating have any connection to Delta or Delta employees? I have no idea, but if so, that would be a much more interesting story.