Gay couple forced to give up seats to a straight couple on flight
What Alaska Airlines refered to as “an unfortunate seating mix-up” lit up social media over the weekend. David Cooley, owner of an upscale gay bar in West Hollywood, and his traveling companion were seated in their premium seats on an Alaska Airlines flight from New York’s JFK airport to Los Angeles. They were there a while before a flight attendant (some reports say a gate agent) approached them and said that the companion would need to give up his premium seat and move to coach, in order to accommodate a heterosexual couple who wanted to sit together. Or, they could get off the plane.
Cooley said in a Facebook post, “I have never been so discriminated against while traveling before…. 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.”
Cooley and his companion elected to leave the flight and were able to get help from Delta Airlines to complete their travel. In his post, he said, “Thank you to Delta Airlines for getting us home safe. If you are an #LGBT person, please spend your travel dollars with an LGBT friendly airline like Delta.”
Alaska Airlines posted on Twitter a statement about the event, extending their apologies to Cooley and his companion, refunding their tickets and that they intend to “make this right”.
“Alaska airlines has a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind. All of us at Alaska value inclusion for our guests and each other,” the tweet said.
“Full LGBTQ equality is part of the fabric of Alska Airlines.”
In fact, Alaska Airlines has a score of 100 (the highest possible) on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. As does Delta, the airline that helped the couple out. But unfortunately for Alaska that didn’t work out so well this weekend.
“Although Cooley said he protested that the two men were also a couple and wanted to sit together, he said the agent insisted that his traveling companion had to either move to coach or get off the plane,” wrote the Seattle Times.
“Cooley ended his post by thanking rival airline Delta for getting the couple home to L.A. afterward and calling for a boycott of Alaska Airlines by the LGBT community.
“The social-media posts quickly stirred a strong reaction as some celebrities weighed in, spreading news of the incident.
“James Corden, popular host of The Late Late Show with James Corden on CBS who has more than 10 million followers, tweeted: ‘Dear @AlaskaAir This is no way to behave. X’
“Many online commenters were more strident, saying they will never fly Alaska again," the Times continued.
Cooley in a later Facebook post said, “Thank you to everyone for all the support. Alaska Airlines has reached out, apologized, and we are discussing making things right. I accept Alaska Airlines apology and appreciate it addressing the situation."
Copyright The Gayly – August 1, 2018 @ 3:45 p.m. CDT.