Plus-size TikTokers are praising Southwest Airlines for its new ‘customer of size’ policy, which gifts overweight passengers a complimentary seat to accomodate their hefty frames – even if that means kicking others with tickets off of the flight.
Size 20 travel influencer Caroline told her 200,000 followers: “If you’re fat, you know the anxiety of flying and this alleviates it a lot. I had a very comfortable flight just feeling like I was allowed to take up the space I needed.”
Under the airline’s policy, customers whose bodies “encroach” past the armrest are entitled to an extra seat at no additional cost. It says that passengers “have the option of purchasing just one seat and then discussing your seating needs with the Customer Service Agent at the departure gate.”
“If it’s determined that a second (or third) seat is needed you’ll be accommodated with a complimentary additional seat,” the policy states.
Which I guess is a win-win (unless you’re one of the passengers that gets shafted from the flight to accommodate a plus-size person). The overweight passenger gets to sit comfortably without feeling like they’re ruining the experience of the person sat next to them, and the person sat next to them gets to fly without the overweight passenger’s arm flab encroaching in their space.
It makes you wonder why they can’t do the same with tall people, though. Shouldn’t tall people (who can’t actually control their size) be given more leg room since they don’t fit in standard seating? Why should plus-size flyers be gifted two seats for the price of one, while tall people have to fork out for extra leg room?
What’s most surprising thought is that Southwest Airlines are happy to take a loss on offering a complimentary seat to passengers of size (of which there are many in America). It’s already a budget airline, so fair play to them for taking another hit for the sake of bettering the experience of their passengers.
After all, we all know air travel in 2023 has been an absolute nightmare already. Whether it’s some crazy woman screaming about invisible reptilian passengers or young ladies getting their noses broken for calling fellow passengers ‘fat c****.’ It’s about time an airline did something to at least spare some of our sanity.
