Gary Kelly, CEO of Dallas-based Southwest Airlines, is standing behind an SWA flight crew’s decision to remove lesbian actress Leisha Hailey and her partner from a plane on Monday after they were observed kissing.
After Hailey, who starred in The L-Word and is a member of the band Uh Huh Her, called for a boycott of the airline on Twitter, SWA released a statement describing the kissing as “excessive.”
Hailey responded with a statement saying it was “one, modest kiss,” before the airline issued a follow-up saying the couple was removed from the flight during a stop in El Paso due to their “aggressive reaction,” including loud use of “profane language.”
Hailey’s publicist tells Instant Tea that the actress isn’t doing interviews about the incident, but Kelly (pictured) discussed it with The Houston Chronicle on Wednesday.
“We’re not trying to dictate social norms,” Kelly told the Chronicle. “Any of us have boundaries that we think people should behave within. …
“I think our people try very hard to accommodate the needs and the wishes of our customers, and they make judgments of what is appropriate and what is not appropriate,” Kelly said. “In all cases, we do the best we can to take care of our customers and if we can’t get them where they need to go, obviously we’re apologetic for that. …
“It’s very difficult to script out exactly how one should deal with any particular circumstance.”
Apparently they ARE trying to dictate social norms, but only to homosexuals, whenever heterosexuals, whose “boundaries that [they] think people should behave within” exclude ANY public kiss between a same sex couple. You can’t selectively humiliate a same sex couple for what Leisha Hailey insists was a single “modest kiss” and say you’re not trying to dictate to people, especially if your own flight attendant tells the couple their kiss is unsuitable for “a family oriented airline.” Are gay couples not families? What if they have kids and a marriage license? Do straight passengers STILL get to have them told off by snotty flight attendants? And by the way, where’s the proof that any other passengers complained anyway? How do we know this wasn’t just one horrendous flight attendant? Southwest obviously has plenty of them. They’ve thrown people off their planes for short skirts, baggy pants, and being too fat. The way Southwest, instead apologizing, is doubling down on the suggestion that the women did something “excessive” (letting readers fill in the blank with whatever their own idea of “obsessive” is) is repugnant — especially when Hailey and her partner have been extremely specific about what they did and did not do. This is an airline that doesn’t like to admit it makes mistakes, but really doesn’t care that much about ANY of its passengers, even the more privileged straight one. It has no reserved seat locations.
I actually understand why they got kicked off b/c they probably got ghetto. But I would have gotten ghetto too if they told me that I was being inappropriate. OH HELL NAW!!! Bad situation. Just suck it up, move on, and don’t fly with them again (and whoever else wants to follow her lead).
“We’re not trying to dictate social norms”. You just can’t kiss your partner if he/she is of the same sex. To me, that’s sort of like saying “I’m not prejudiced, I just don’t like Mexicans.”
I was on a southwest flight a year ago when a young gay couple were sitting in front of me, they leaned over and kissed each other, just a small kiss, very cute I thought, but the guy next to them complained and the flight attendant told them not to do it again or they would be removed. There was a young straight couple three rows ahead kissing like mad, and so I said something to the attendant and she said that no one is bothered by that. I said “I am”, and she said well no one else is bothered.
I didn’t go to the media, I didn’t raise a stink, I just stopped flying southwest. They are a RIGHT WING company and I urge every gay flier to send a message with their pocket book.
Good idea in principle, nathanb. But in reality, it is difficult to implement in Dallas. Problem is, there is only one discount carrier serving DFW: AirTran. After November 22, 2011 they are gone. That’s when you’ll see Delta, American and United raising their fares out of DFW. And once AirTran pulls out of DFW, the only discount airline serving Dallas will be Southwest. The last time I tried to book a pleasure trip, the fare on Southwest was considerably less than it was on Delta or United. (I don’t fly American so I didn’t price them). I like your idea, but the good old boys at Southwest would probably just tune us out. And they can, because these days, there are just not that many choices when it comes to air travel.