According to reports, a thin female passenger claims that Southwest Airlines removed her from a flight in order for an overweight teenager to use her seat. This incident is alleged to have happened last week for a flight from Las Vegas to Sacramento.

The 5 foot, 4 inch, 110 pound woman, who wants to remain anonymous, says that she paid to upgrade to full fare so that she could fly standby. After being given the last seat and getting settled on the plane, she was told to immediately depart. She claims that this was so that the airline could carry a heavier passenger that needed two seats. The woman then says that she was scolded after she asked the Southwest Airlines staff about their decision.

Marilee McInnis, a spokeswoman for the carrier, has acknowledged that they could have handled the situation more carefully. They know this was awkward and should have done better dealing with it, she says. Another spokesperson, Paul Flannigan, explained that there were extenuating circumstances involved. He says that the overweight passenger was a minor traveling alone. If the passenger had been an adult, they would have been required to buy an extra ticket, he continued, but they didn’t want to leave the 14-year-old girl stranded. McInnis added that the airline staff may have been trying to avoid putting the girl in an embarrassing situation.

Apparently the thinner passenger still got to where she needed to go, just on a later flight. Southwest Airlines officials say that they will apologize to her and offer her a credit to use on a future flight.