To preface, I am a borderline passenger of size. On other airlines, I typically will fit fine on an Airbus aircraft, and on a 737, I can angle my body in a window seat, with my shoulder up against the window, to fit into the seat. albeit uncomfortably. Because of this, I usually book and fly in First Class on airlines that offer it, whenever possible, when the fare is not outrageous.

Having read about Southwest's Passenger of Size policy, I found a decent fare, and booked an extra seat followng the instructions to put XS as the middle name for the second seat. My itinerary is BOS-MDW-ATL.

So, I followed the directions and checked in at the airport counter. At the counter, the agent was flustered, and went to go speak to his supervisor who was watching the self-service kiosks. The agent said that "we have no ability to sell extra seats" and then cancelled my second seat and gave me a receipt that said it was cancelled for a credit. I asked to speak to the supervisor, and the agent declined saying that she was "busy."

I went to the gate, and told the gate agent that the check-in agent cancelled my second seat, and that I may need a second seat. The gate agent said "don't worry, there's 20 open seats on this flight" instead of looking at the PNR. I called Southwest to get a refund for the second seat. The phone agent told me that the second seat shows as voluntarily cancelled, so receiving a credit is correct. I pleaded my case to the agent, and told her that the check-in agent cancelled my second seat, not me. The phone agent then said that she would request a refund, but that it's not guaranteed that they'd honor it.

Why does no one at Southwest know their own policies? Thankfully, I did end up with the middle seat empty on the first leg, but I'm not looking forward to my next flight where it may or may not be sold out. And if I don't actually receive a refund for that second ticket (No only do I not want a credit, as the extra seat would have been fully refundable if the agents followed their own policy, but I also don't think the credit is usable because the name would be mismatched with the middle name being XS), I'll probably dispute it with Amex and file a DOT complaint.

And to the person browsing FlyerTalk who boarded in front of me who is sitting in 4C, hello!