Southwest Airlines is going viral for their company-wide “Customer of Size” policy, which allows overweight travelers to potentially get extra seats for free if they don’t fit.
The policy states that customers who “encroach upon any part of the neighboring seat(s)” may purchase however many extra seats they need. Those passengers can then request a refund after travel, according to their website.
Southwest says the policy isn’t focused on just weight, but applies to anyone who doesn’t fit in the seat because of their body type. The space is determined by the placement of armrests.
“The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats,” the policy says. “If you’re unable to lower both armrests and/or encroach upon any portion of a seat next to you, you need a second seat. Our policy does not focus on weight.”
“The purchase of additional seats serves as a notification of a special seating need and allows us to adequately plan for the number of occupied seats onboard,” the policy continues. “It also helps us ensure we can accommodate all customers on the flight for which they purchased a ticket and avoid asking customers to relinquish their seats for unplanned accommodation.”
A TikTok influencer named Kimmy Garris, who calls herself a “fat solo traveler,” posted a video of herself boarding a Southwest plane in October and asking about their policy for overweight passengers. The customer service agent can be seen giving Garris an extra ticket, which the TikTok user said “should be the industry norm.”
But unlike Garris, many social media users were annoyed by the policy.
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“Rewarding bad behavior. Society is regressing,” one person wrote.
“Fat supremacy in action,” another commenter agreed.
Many comments questioned whether tall travelers would get extra perks as well.
“I presume this means that tall people will be upgraded to Business Select class for free, then, [SouthwestAir]?” another person asked.
Most social media users worried that the airline giving away free seats to certain passengers would result in ticket prices going up for everyone else.