Open Letter to the Guy in 3C on My Southwest Flight

I have chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, neuropathy, Asperger’s Syndrome, and an anxiety disorder. I had to run 10 gates in the Tampa Airport to get from my first plane, which was late because of the Southwest computer failure, to my connecting flight to Albany that was scheduled to depart 15 minutes after my first plane landed. I was one of the last passengers to board (even though I’d snagged boarding position B4 by checking in the previous day) and I was leaning against the side of the plane and breathing so hard that the flight attendant asked me if I was okay. As in “do you need medical attention?”

Even if none of this were true, this guy would still be an ass for replying to my, “Is this seat taken?” with, “Yeah. Actually, it is.” Because I ended up in the middle seat of the row behind him, and there was no third passenger. Despite the pile of stuff in the middle seat that could have belonged to someone who was in the bathroom when I boarded.

That’s not how Southwest works. When they say it’s a full flight, you don’t lie and hope you get some extra space when someone inquires about seat availability. Because there are names for people like that, names that I don’t use in my vocabulary.

I made several attempts to get a picture of him, but I decided to stick with the one that didn’t show his whole face because I didn’t want to accidentally send the entire Internet after him with pitchforks for being that guy on Southwest. But if you do happen to know a guy who looks like that from the back who was flying from Tampa to Albany on Southwest yesterday in a blue tie-dye shirt that had some sort of music logo on the back, you should tell him that’s he’s a bad person and should feel bad.

I wonder if he would’ve been less of an ass if I hadn’t forgotten to bring my cane to the conference with me. You know, if I actually looked as broken as I really am.

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.