Hi friend,
Last week, I talked about a
big negative of the trip I just took. This week, though, I want to share a big positive: Southwest Airlines' customer of size policy.
Southwest is the only American airline that makes an actual effort to be good to fat people. They weren't always this way; in fact, they used to be the most cruel about it, and would toss passengers off of flights because they were too fat (according to the whims of crews and staff).
After it happened to filmmaker Kevin Smith, who pitched a
very public fit about it, Southwest turned it around and has since become the best airline to fly on while fat.
I'd been hearing about the customer of size policy for a number of years, but Southwest is a (somewhat) smaller airline that doesn't fly direct to where I'm usually headed, so I'd always skipped it. For this trip, though, I decided having layovers was worth it to try out the policy.
Here's what I experienced.
Southwest's
page for the policy is really well done, and covers everything a traveler needs to know. Here's the short version:
» Fat people get an extra seat for free, plus pre-boarding
» You can buy an extra seat and get refunded for the extra later, or ask for an extra seat at the airport
» You must check in at the counter at the airport to use the policy
Since I have the privilege of being able to afford two seats if I can get a refund for one later, that's the path I took. I struggle with anxiety, so I didn't want to show up and ask for the extra seat, even knowing that they'll bump someone off a full flight if necessary to accommodate it.
(I've also heard a couple of horror stories about people trying to use the policy on the spot, only to have an airline employee decide they weren't fat enough to qualify.)
Using the policy was a breeze. I booked two seats for the round-trip flight, checked in at the counter and mentioned that I was using the customer of size policy. All the airline employees were really nice about it.
When I checked in, they gave me my boarding passes for both legs of the trip, along with two extra pages that said SEAT RESERVED for me to put in my seat.
For the first couple of flights, I sought out an employee at each gate and let them know I planned to pre-board using the policy until I was comfortable just doing it.
Southwest doesn't have pre-assigned seating, so I didn't need to choose seats in advance. When the call was made for pre-boarders, I joined the line, boarded the plane and was able to choose my seats and get nice and (relatively) comfy before everyone else boarded.
I piled all my belongings into the second seat (I always chose a window and middle seat together) and put the reserved sign on top of it. I got a number of odd looks – the sign isn't large, so people don't see it and were clearly wondering what was up – but I just put my headphones on and pulled out my book and no one hassled me about it.
Flying still wasn't comfortable, per se, but it was so, so much easier. The significantly longer days due to added layovers were worth it, and I highly recommend trying this for fat folks who need to fly.
(I haven't yet called to request the refund for the second seat. If I run into any problems there, I'll let you know.)
