Originally Posted by
dcpatti
On a sold-out flight over the weekend, there was a COS who had purchased a second seat but I guess all the FA's didn't know she'd done that, because the extra seat came up as "empty" on the final head count and one FA told the GA to bring down a stand-by passenger. So even when the COS plans in advance for their needs, they're not guaranteed a hassle-free flight, which may discourage that passenger from buying the extra seat on future flights.
All the obese passenger needed to do was speak to the GA before boarding to remind the GA that an extra seat had been purchased. That way, if an FA believes that there is an extra seat, the GA will know not to add a standby passenger into the cabin.
Of course, what would make the most sense is for US's computers to have some kind of tag on seats purchased as "extra seats" so that the GA's can easily know the difference. But that might be asking too much!