Someone with extensive personal experience pointed out on this board that the net result for a large passenger who books a second seat on their flights is that said passenger (1) always has an empty seat next to them, and (2) almost never has to pay for it. Supposedly standbys don't count toward deciding whether the plane was "full" for purposes of the refund.

I do think the airline will have to move toward some sort of objective standard. Perhaps passengers will be asked to slide through a template of the kind that blocked oversize carryons from the xray machines at some airports for a time.

And I can't help but suspect that when they're in Southwest-only gatherings, airline management snicker to each other about the incidental benefits of driving large passengers away with this kind of publicity. I'm sure every time this kind of article is printed, many hundreds of 'borderline' passengers of size, some of whom would easily pass any variant of Southwest's policy, nevertheless stay away, out of fear of being selected for this kind of humilation either at the gate or on the plane.

Customers of size! Buy the extra ticket. And then PREBOARD. If Southwest thinks you're too big for a seat, then you darn well think you need assistance getting up the jetway. Why? Because you're unsteady on your feet and may need support (look out below). Wave to the folks in the "A" line on your way in to pick out the best two seats on the plane.