O.C. Moves to End Airline Seating Changes Based on Sex

In the article “Gender Discrimination at 30,000 Feet: O.C. Moves to End Airline Seating Changes Based on Sex,” published on October 4, 2016, David Whiting states that tension between Orange County and United Airlines arose after the company compelled a woman, Mary Campos, to sit in a different seat after two men refused to sit near her. In response to the outrage, the public released countless emails supporting Campos and her struggle against sexism. Meanwhile, some of the audience reacted in a different way suggesting that Campos’ only declared and spoke out against gender discrimination for publicity reasons.

However, the author silenced these hypotheses by personally testifying that Mary Campos did not want her name to be published or her photograph to be taken until she realized the potential benefits the media could have on her situation and the importance of having an authoritative voice acknowledging sexist issues. On the other hand, other audience members supported Campos’ controversy but suggested that United Airlines should have moved the two men who made the obscene request rather than move the woman. Nonetheless, rearranging passengers on airlines would have still been hypocritical and promoted gender discrimination. Like many readers shocked to learn that women were experiencing sexist behaviors on airlines at the request of the opposite sex, Nelson Bartlett, a man with a civil rights litigation background, declared, “An air carrier or foreign air carrier may not subject a person in air transportation to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or ancestry.” While the county directs airport function, individual airlines are held responsible for seating regulation.

The airline needs to ensure that all its passengers are satisfied and do not have an unpleasant experience during the flight. Due to jurisdiction and loopholes, the county’s policies on discrimination cannot be satisfied to their fullest extent. On the same day Mary Campos experienced this incident, Dean Bosche wrote to United Airlines regarding his boarding on a flight in Sydney communicating, “I need to inform you that due to my cultural beliefs I cannot sit next to men.” Therefore, United Airlines has yet to determine whether to allow Bosche’s request and discriminate against male passengers or ignore his request, treating males differently than in Campos’ case.

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