“ Southwest instituted our Customer of Size policy more than 25 years ago. The policy requires passengers that can not fit safely and comfortably in one seat to purchase an additional seat while traveling. This policy is not unique to Southwest Airlines and it is not a revenue generator. Most, if not all, carriers have similar policies, but unique to Southwest is the refunding of the second seat purchased (if the flight does not oversell) which is greater than any revenue made (full policy can be found here). The spirit of this policy is based solely on Customer comfort and Safety. As a Company committed to serving our Customers in Safety and comfort, we feel the definitive boundary between seats is the armrest. If a Customer cannot comfortably lower the armrest and infringes on a portion of another seat, a Customer seated adjacent would be very uncomfortable and a timely exit from the aircraft in the event of an emergency might be compromised if we allow a cramped, restricted seating arrangement.
Not So Silent Bob | Nuts About Southwest
My thoughts:
- I love the term “Customer of Size”.
- The Southwest policy sounds reasonable to me. It is not Southwest’s fault that Kevin Smith is a Customer of Size, that Smith decided to board an earlier flight, and that two seats were not available for Smith on the earlier flight.
- Bravo to Southwest for using social media to manage this situation more effectively than most companies/brands would have done.
(via marc)
2 years ago
