[drmom]

Remember the Seinfeld soup nazi?? well jetBLUE seems to have taken his view of what service is.

I went to Vegas for a convention - got there Thursday night late, had meetings all day friday, a relaxing dinner then off to the airport for my red eye home to Boston. I knew I had a middle seat from check in - of course. But I bought a pillow, had my headset and ipod and planned to pop a sleeping pill when I got on.

As I boarded I took said pill. I walked down the aisle and there was this ENORMOUS guy - taking up his aisle seat and half of the seat next to him - armrest raised. Doom set in - yes of course it was my seat he was poaching. So I get to the row, point to my seat and say that I am next to him. He looks up at me like I am an invader and states that he has a bum leg. And I reply "whatever, you paid for one seat, I paid for a seat and mine is there". He finally gets up, I sit, putting the armrest down and proceed to get out my headphones....He takes a minute to talk to the flight attendant and then sits - spilling over and under the arm rest. That is when I am overwhelmed with the stench from him - I almost hurled my dinner - what, did his bum leg mean that he cannot shower either? Aren't there laws that you have to have SOME personal hygiene to fly? When the window seat occupant arrives and we stand, I walk over to the flight attendant and say that I am going to throw up if I am next to this person - he really stinks! She tells me to sit where I am assigned for now.

So I sit down, move as far away from gynormous smelly guy as I can - even with me making myself as small as possible, his enormous thighs are touching mine - half my seat is occupied by him. And I pull my sweatshirt over my mouth so that I can breathe without the urge to vomit.

Eventually there is a tap on my shoulder that seat 3E is available - fantastic - I get my stuff and walk forward - 3E is occupied. The flight attendant asks if I am looking for a space for my carryon - I reply no, I was told 3E was where I was to move to but it is taken - turns out it was 13E - ok. I go over, put my stuff in, and proceed to open the overheads - fairly full but I see space for my duffle. The flight attendant tells me snootily that the bins are full - I point and say there is space, and proceed to fit my bag and close the overhead - it is full so I have to use the usual force to get them closed.

The JetBlue ground guy (the one who tapped my shoulder to tell me of my new seat) asks if I am ok - and I say yeah - and then say that the guy just really smelled awful (health hazard bad). He then tells me he needs to speak to me off the plane. I am like what???? He says just for a minute, I can leave my stuff. So I go with him. He then starts berating me, telling me I cannot speak like that - accuses me of yelling....I stand there, agape, tired, and just take it in. He then tells me he needs to speak to the crew and makes me stay on the ramp.

He then tells me I AM NOT FLYING HOME!!!! WHAAAAT????? I am accused of slamming the overhead shut, and making a scene. WHAAAT??? and that the crew is uncomfortable with me being on board - me who is dying to go to sleep. I have kids at home, who expect me in the morning. now what??

I ended up sleeping in the airport and getting a United flight home via Denver, getting me to Boston at 4PM - I would have been home at 7:30AM


I was kicked off for complaining!!!!

On the ground when I told the guy that this horribly smelling guy was half way in my seat he responded that JetBlue does not have a policy of making people buy 2 seats - so I said instead you punish the person who is affected?

He used as defense the fact that no one else said anything - well DUH they were not next to him!

I did NOT make a scene, simply was trying to not get physically ill!

I am disturbed by all this. Do I have ANY rights??? Do we now have to just board planes, look down and not talk lest we are kicked off???


Their OWN contract of carriage states that they can refuse to transport someone with an offensive body odor!!!

But I was kicked off!!!!

Unsolicited, I heard from another passenger (a patient of mine who was on the flight) who as it turns out was right across the aisle from gynormous smelly guy and me. She asked me what happened? She thought the jetBlue FAs were horribly rude to me - she said she heard me ask to move and they told me to sit then turned around and rolled their eyes. Smelly guy did reek to everyone - the guy next to her was complaining to her!

She said I seemed a bit annoyed when I was told to sit down. She saw me close my eyes and put my headphones on clearly trying to zone out.

The next thing she said was - "my friend and I saw them take your bags and we were like huh????"

NO SCENE!!!

She laughed when I told her what they said to me. She said the only spectacle was when they took my bags off the plane and everyone wondered what was going on. She said that everyone was complaining to each other about the stench from this man.


JetBlue, after I pressed them, did refund that portion of my ticket but stands that the flight crew have final say period. They will not acknowledge any wrong doing, nor any misjudgment on their part. Gee I guess flight attendants never make mistakes.

If this is how the FAA rules work, then something needs to change. At WORST you could say I was snarky or rude - now that makes me a safety risk???? are you kidding me???