‘She was really rude about it’: Southwest’s new plus-size policy is already causing issues for passengers, report says – UK Times

Southwest Airlines customers are pushing back in response to the airline’s new policy that forces overweight customers to purchase additional seats.

Critics are calling Southwest Airlines’ new “Customer of Size” policy a “fat tax.” The policy requires overweight travelers to “proactively” buy an additional seat and states that it can decide “in its sole discretion” to force the issue, citing customer safety and comfort concerns as justification.

The policy does not include any criteria for who might need to purchase an additional seat.

One customer, Erika DeBoer, 38, posted a TikTok video explaining how she ran into the issue during a recent flight with Southwest.

In her video, she explains that when she arrived at the airport to check in for a flight, a Southwest gate worker told her that she’d have to purchase an additional seat for the “safety and comfort” of other passengers, even though she would only be sitting between a window and her best friend, who she said had no issue sitting next to her.

“The part that lingers the most is the words used. ‘Safety and comfort’ of other passengers. They just kept repeating it like robots without any care for the actual situation,” she told PEOPLE.

After talking to a supervisor, she was forced to spend $176 on another seat or be barred from the flight.

She told the outlet that after her flight, she contacted Southwest, which gave her a refund for the extra ticket and a $150 voucher.

On March 6, Jessica Skinner was flying from Tampa to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport when she was stopped by a Southwest agent who told her she was too big for her seat. The delay caused her to miss the deadline for checking a bag, forcing her to rebook.

She told SFGATE that she’d recently lost 200 pounds and didn’t extend beyond her seat, but was told she had to buy another regardless.

Skinner said she spoke to a supervisor about her situation and added that the experience wasn’t pleasant.

“She walks to me, and she’s just like, ‘You’re going to need an extra seat because you’re wide at the bottom and you’re going to spill into the other seat, and it’s for the comfort of our other customers, and you won’t be able to fit.’ She was really rude about it,” she told SFGATE.

In another video posted to TikTok, Grace Simpson shared a similar experience. On February 10, she took a Southwest flight from Norfolk to Baltimore without issue but was flagged by a gate agent before her connecting flight in San Diego.

Simpson said that a Southwest supervisor had flagged her as a “customer of size” and decided she needed to buy an additional seat.

“I told him that I had already flown from Norfolk to Baltimore without issue, so I was not going to buy another ticket,” she says in the video.

She added that not only was she made to feel “embarrassed” by the experience, but she suspects the supervisor who spoke to her was also uncomfortable.

“The supervisor who approached me was clearly uncomfortable and embarrassed to single me out and discuss my body,” she said. “In many ways, it felt unfair to both of us. While I do believe he had some discretion in how he handled the situation, it was evident that he was put in a difficult position enforcing a policy he did not create.”

She said the encounter ended with the supervisor moving her to a seat in the back of the plane adjacent to an empty seat.

Simpson told PEOPLE that she thinks Southwest’s lack of clarification on who, exactly, might need to purchase an additional seat makes it virtually impossible for travelers to prepare for the policy and will lead to more frustrating encounters at the airport.

“When enforcement is based on ‘sole discretion’ instead of defined guidelines, it feels subjective — and that directly impacts fairness,” she told the outlet. “If there are no clear, objective standards, then employees are left to make real-time judgments based on what they see. That naturally raises concerns about bias.”

An airline spokesperson told The Independent that travelers who think they may need to purchase an extra ticket should contact the airline before they travel to discuss the issue.

“We ask Customers who may need an extra seat to let us know in advance of their day of travel so we can do our best to accommodate their needs,” the spokesperson said. “Our goal is always to provide a comfortable experience for everyone on board; however, with assigned seating, adjacent seats may sometimes already be occupied. In this case, we have reached out directly to the Customers involved to better understand their experience and ensure we address any concerns with the appropriate discretion.”

Southwest does offer some limited guidance, noting that a passenger whose size lifts or extends beyond an armrest will likely need to purchase an additional seat but adds that even if a customer doesn’t move the armrest, the airline can subject them to the policy.

“The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats,” the airline says on its website. “In addition, Southwest may determine, in its sole discretion, that an additional seat is necessary for safety purposes.”

The Independent has requested comment from Southwest.