Hi Folks! I'm a big guy at 6' tall and 360 pounds... plenty of muscle... lots of fat... and NOT the person you want asking if that middle seat is taken late in the boarding process. I'm also a nice guy that likes to be comfortable, so I take advantage of Southwest's fantastic Customer Of Size program. This lets me proactively purchase 2 seats and the extra seat is always refunded. I get to be comfortable and my neighbors are spared the trauma of forced cuddling with a sweaty fat guy. Of course... since SWA is so awesome, they find a way to accommodate fat people (oops... "Customers of Size") that are too inconsiderate to book their seats in advance. However, this is most likely going to result in someone getting bumped. Indeed, it even says on the SWA website: Why would a Customer of size purchase a second seat knowing they can get a complimentary second seat at the airport? Having a second seat purchased in advance allows us to account for the inventory need and greatly helps reduce the likelihood of an oversale situation (having more confirmed Customers waiting to board than seats on the aircraft). [....]These Customers of size prefer to know they have the number of seats they require, and we wanted to give them that choice. We will also refund all extra seat purchases, even if the flight oversells. So... can anyone explain why SWA counter and gate staff have begun to tell me that I should stop purchasing the extra seat in advance? On 10 of my last 12 flights, I've been told that I'm doing it wrong by purchasing the extra seat in advance. In response, I explain their own **bleep** policy to them. However, it would be great if one little corner of my life could contain people that actually care enough to know how to do their job.
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