nineworldseries

So this situation is all my fault, all of my own making, yet WN has a very clear COS policy that is never enforced at the gate and never enforced on the aircraft except when somebody like me delays the flight. 100% my own misery and 0% Southwest's fault? That's the calculus?

Annerk

I have taken six WN flights in the past five weeks. All but one were filled to the gills, including the commuting pilot who took the jump in the cockpit. Fortunately, I had skinny young ladies in the middle seat next to me.

I don't want to head to the back, too many miracles in the sky these days and I don't have the patience for people who can't walk at a reasonable speed or can't manage their bags which can make it take 10 minutes from the back of a WN flight.

Annerk

I feel that WN should require people to check a box stating that they can fit into their space with the armrest down and without encroaching into their neighbors space, or they need to buy a second seat when they book their ticket. They are warned.

Lomapaseo

OK, but they ought to enforce this by making questionable passengers fit in a test seat at the boarding gate before boarding

at the same time they can have two seats in line and if their knees hit the the seat in front they have to pay for extra leg room

LegalTender

The next box to check is "Are you a Hollywood director with 3.1M Twitter followers?"

Annerk

That entirely works for me. The seat should also have sides so if they have shoulders like linebackers they also need to buy the extra seat.

Annerk

Frankly I wouldn't care if he were Steven Spielberg. If he doesn't fit, he should buy a second seat.

nineworldseries

A literal obese millionaire flying Southwest and even he doesn't buy an extra seat.

TheRoadie

Talk about the actual "Throne of Shame". Eek. The pics of test fittings would fill a People of Walmart collection.

mtofell

I dunno - my knees hitting the back of the forward seat is a "me" problem. A person's "saddle bags" spilling over onto me isn't something I signed up for.

Fwiw, I'd LOVE to be at the gate (along with every major news network and the Twitter mob) when they strap the first obese passenger into this glorious "box" Hell, they won't even use the baggage "box". I can't imagine making (overweight) Americans try to pile themselves into one. This whole thing just feeds (no pun intended) the lack of accountability in today's society. "Why should I be held accountable for the fact that my ... won't fit in an airplane seat because I eat Twinkies all day and don't exercise? Someone is violating my rights!!" I'm sure Gloria Allred would be nearby (undoubtedly, rode in on the same bus as the MSNBC crew).

Kevin AA

Put the gate reader behind two walls 17 inches apart. If you can't get through, then buy an extra seat and walk around.

bwallet

Extra seats for COS are free. You can pay in advance, and they will refund the money or you can ask at the airport. They will even oversell a flight to get an extra seat for a COS.

jdn

I haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, so I want to point out to the OP...
Buying BS and getting A1 still does not guarantee you will have your choice of seats. If the flight you are boarding is a continuation from a previous city, passengers stay on the plane and can move to new seats before boarding begins. A WN flight I was on last week had 18 "throughs" (passengers staying on the plane) and every exit row seat was occupied before I boarded the plane as the first passenger on that segment.
I don't do this myself, but I guess if you were going to [waste your money] on business select, you could check the flight number with google or a flight tracker to see if the same flight number has prior cities attached to it.

One thing about the exit row - a passenger requiring a seat belt extender is not qualified (per faa regulations) to sit in an exit row, so there is at least some limiter on how big a waist a pax can have and sit there.

Most of the WN flights I take I get the exit row. I have used the COS policy once or twice before (at my fattest), though I have been "Denied" at the gate on an emergency trip a request for a second seat (me, a 300+ pounder at the time with fresh facial lacerations and bruises from being assaulted and mugged and waking up in the ER... guess that GA didn't like my face). I go of the window and if the middle seat becomes occupied, I lean into the window. I don't generally spill over the sides and the armrests and seatbelt are no problem. However I can not use my try table if I am not in an exit row.

And FWIW, if I saw you at 6'5 walking toward the exit row and there were no other extra legroom seats available, I would most definitely offer my seat to you and find a new spot.

rsteinmetz70112

I'm not sure a lot of people wouldn't try to be COS for the Free empty seat. SOme people would consider it a perk.

nineworldseries

I definitely Flight Awared this flight (as I do all of my flights, especially WN), and it was not a through flight, so one of the reasons I upgraded to BS is because I was confident I'd be one of the first ones on the plane. Of course, that turned into 29C.

Thanks for this point. One of the main reasons I choose exit rows (besides being 6'5") is because I knowthere at least won't be a seatbelt-extender big person next to me. Most WN FFs on here either chide me, claim it's my fault, or make fun of me for "LOL picking the COS rows." But, these are the only rows where COS explicitly aren't allowed to sit. WN fanpeople are beginning to remind me of abused spouses who always blame themselves instead of Good ol' Southwest, who can never be at fault. Doesn't matter if there's an official COS policy, I'm the stupid one for trying to sit in exit rows.

Thank you, seriously, for the sentiment. Nobody has ever offered that to me on 300+ WN segments before except FA's who try to talk me into an exit row seat sometimes (as if that's not where I'm going anyway). If somebody did that on an WN flight, it would really mean the world to me, seriously.