Southwest’s plus-sized passenger policy debated on social media

(KTLA) — Southwest Airlines is being praised by some TikTok influencers for its “customer of size” seating policy. But some others are not so fond of it.

People who feel that they are unable to comfortably fit in one seat can notify a gate agent who will put them next to an empty seat. The customer can also purchase two tickets in advance, and then get a refund once they get to the airport.

As for who qualifies for the extra seat — it’s not about weight or body mass index. It is available to someone if any part of their body extends past the armrest.

For their part, Southwest says it’s had a policy like this for 30 years, but it only went viral recently when an influencer shared it on TikTok.

Of course, some don’t love it, and say it’s pandering to overweight people, or that it’s unfair to tall people.

Critics also worry that it will be abused since anybody could just buy two tickets, call up the airline later, and get refunded for the extra seats.

In its Customer of size policy page, Southwest Airlines explains that those who wish to utilize the policy should consider preboarding with their Extra Seat Boarding document (given by an airline employee), since Southwest can’t guarantee that no customers take an empty second seat that a customer has secured for themselves.

“We encourage you to preboard to locate adequate seating and place the Seat Reserved Document in the adjacent seat. Our Ground Operations and Inflight Employees communicate about Customers’ needs, and if you need seating assistance, you should ask an Employee for help,” Southwest explains.