Monday, May 12, 2008

JetBlue Overflow Seating

It's hard not to be bowled over by this story, but JetBlue is in hot water over its toilet seat.

Gokhan Mutlu is suing the airline for making him sit in the toilet on his flight from San Diego to New York City.

Mr. Mutlu was traveling on a standby pass and got the last seat on the flight. He was told earlier that an off-duty airline attendant had the last seat, but she gave up the seat to sit in a jump seat for the flight instead.

About 1 1/2 hours into the flight, the pilot came to him and told him that he'd have to give up his seat to the off-duty airline attendant as she found her jump seat too uncomfortable. He was told to go hang out in the toilet. Mr. Mutlu asked if he could take the jump seat but was told that only airline employees could sit in jump seats.

Mr. Mutlu was reluctant to sit on the toilet for the remainder of the flight. The pilot told him he should feel lucky to have been allowed on the flight.

Mr. Mutlu was forced to sit in the toilet for over three hours. When turbulence hit and passengers were instructed to return to their seats, Mr. Mutlu had to remain in the toilet without a seatbelt or other safety devices in violation of federal law.

A male flight attendant eventually knocked on the door and told Mr. Mutlu that he could return to his original seat.

Perhaps Clorox is missing a marketing opportunity here in sponsoring overflow seating on JetBlue's flights.

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