Southwest Airlines Community

If the airline starts charging those customers of size for the 2nd seat they won’t purchase it and you will in turn be uncomfortable because they would be next to you encroaching on your space    Alaska has a policy (or did when I looked in to it several years back) where as long as there was an open seat when the aircraft took off they would refund a COS extra seat    if a plane has open seats why not make everyone comfortable? Full flight try to get the COS on a flight where they can be comfortable without upsetting someone by bumping them    everyone should be able to fly comfortably and the airlines are making Seats smaller even if we were all fit and healthy we will soon all expand to the seat next to us with the smaller seats by day  ... View more

Unfortunately this is an old post, but I do hope that you’re able to see this response, or that others may come across my answer to your dilemma. The cost of the second seat is refunded to you upon arrival at your destination. Purchasing a second seat in advance allows Southwest to properly seat their flights accordingly. If a person of size only purchases one seat, and the flight is completely full, and the plus sized flyer is of such a size that the second seat is actually needed for them, then it is probable that the person that purchased their own ticket and would have been sitting in that seat will instead be moved to a different flight, causing them to possibly miss whatever event they are attending. Since the second ticket is refunded, it is common courtesy to purchase it in advance so that every customer can be served  ... View more