'Identify as 550 pounds': Southwest Airlines gives free extra seat to 'customers of size'

Southwest Airlines has the internet gobbling up a policy it says has been hiding in plain sight for 30 years: a free extra seat for "Customers of size" who can't fit between the armrests of one seat.

The policy, whose archives go back more than a year, inexplicably drew attention this week in multiple media outlets and across social media, more than a month after self-proclaimed "fat solo traveler" and TikTok influencer Kimmy Garris posted a video showing how to score the free extra seat at the departing gate.

While the airline recommends passengers buy an extra seat ahead of time and then request a refund, it says it will give them a complimentary seat even if they show up at the airport without the second purchase.

They just have to "discuss your seating needs with the Customer Service Agent at the departure gate. If it’s determined that a second (or third) seat is needed, you’ll receive a complimentary additional seat(s)," the policy says.

The policy emphasizes in two places that the refund applies even if the flight oversells.

While some larger customers celebrated the policy, others sneered at the perceived privilege for plus-sized passengers and wondered how far Southwest would take "size."

"Fat supremacy in action," one X user wrote. "Should I get the emergency exit seat that has more legroom because I am tall?" a user who called himself 6 feet, 6 inches tall said. Bodybuilders discussed using the policy on a podcast.

"My proposal: Everyone flying with them should invoke this policy and record it," former congressional candidate Robby Starbuck wrote. "If they question your size, simply say that you identify as 550 pounds."