(NEXSTAR) – Southwest Airlines is putting stricter rules on a longstanding policy for plus-size passengers.
Beginning on Jan. 27, 2026, larger passengers who cannot be accommodated in a single plane seat will be required to purchase a second seat ahead of time, and then request a refund after the flight. Eligibility for a refund also depends on whether a number of specific conditions are met for the flight, including whether there were other unused seats on the plane.
“We are updating many policies as we prepare our operation, Employees, and Customers for assigned seating on January 27, 2026. To ensure space, we are communicating to Customers who have previously used the extra seat policy they should purchase it at booking,” a representative for Southwest wrote in a statement shared with Nexstar.
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Currently, plus-size passengers are not required to purchase a second seat in advance, though it is recommended. (Additional seats for larger customers are provided free of charge “if space is available on the flight,” according to Southwest.) Refunds could be obtained after travel.
As of Jan. 27, however, customers must buy an extra seat and “pay any applicable seat fee” before boarding. Refunds can later be issued, but only if: both seats were in the same fare class; the refund request is made within 90 days; and the plane would have taken off with “at least one” extra open seat, according to Southwest.
Plus-size passengers can also be refunded if the plane was full, but the manifest included passengers who boarded with “space available passes” — e.g., passes given to airline employees or other non-paying passengers who are traveling for leisure.
The changes are part of Southwest’s broader shift to assigned seating, which itself is a departure from the carrier’s longstanding open-seating policy.
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Advocates for plus-size travelers are disappointed by the policy change, with one group — the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance — telling The New York Times that Southwest had been a “beacon of hope for many fat people who otherwise wouldn’t have been flying.” Jeff Jenkins, a travel influencer and the founder of Chubby Diaries, also said in a statement to USA Today that the stipulations of the refund policy (specifically the requirement that the plane must depart with at least one unused seat) would be worrisome for plus-size travelers, as they might not know whether the flight was technically full prior to departure.
“It’s just more anxiety to an already high anxiety experience,” Jenkins told USA Today.
A representative for Southwest, in response to a question about Jenkins’ concern, said Southwest does not publish flight loads prior to departure “for competitive reasons.”
A Southwest Airlines airplane is photographed taxiing from a gate at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on October 11, 2021 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
On social media, many readers appeared to champion the new policy, calling it fair.
“It sucks for the person who has to buy two seats but that’s just not other passengers [sic] problem. It becomes our problem if we have to endure oversized passengers in our space for a full flight,” one Reddit user argued.
Others, meanwhile, said the policy was discriminatory against larger passengers who simply want to travel in relative comfort.
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“As a 6’3 broad shouldered guy that seems too much for something I have 0 control over, especially with airline seat space being made smaller by the majority of airlines,” one traveler wrote. “I’ve never gotten below a 34’ waist even with an eating disorder in my late teens, are you saying I should have to buy 2 seats?”
“As a former Customer of Size … I will be forever grateful for Southwest’s compassionate and kind COS policy of the past,” another said. “It allowed me to travel for business and advance my career without burdening my company with my extra seat needs because [Southwest] would give an extra seat for free.”
“I still have tremendous compassion for customers of size,” the user added. “It sucks.”
