There have been various news reports concerning airlines and airplanes in the United States of America. This time around, one North Carolina customer went to TikTok to explain that he was a “victim” of Southwest Airlines’ newest Customer of Size policy.
Unfortunately, this has been an ongoing conversation among travelers who have also felt that the airline discriminated against them in the name of this new policy. However, even after doing his due diligence of purchasing additional seats, he was still approached by employees at the gate of his flight during a layover.
The shocking video was posted to the social media platform TikTok by user @dearisaacsmith, a user named Isaac who frequently travels and attends concerts. As a frequent flyer and a member of TikTok, he was well aware of Southwest Airlines’ latest Customer of Size policy that asks people of a larger size to purchase two seats for both their comfort and the comfort of their neighbors.
According to the Southwest website, these extra seat tickets can be refunded after travel if there was at least one available seat on the flight, if both seats were purchased in the same fare class, and if the refund was made within 90 days of travel.
Isaac had gladly purchased two tickets, one for the middle seat and one for the window seat, for a flight headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota. He explains that he did this intentionally because he is aware of his size and didn’t want anyone to have to shuffle around him if they needed to get up. When he left Charlotte Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, he didn’t have an issue with his seating. However, things started to go awry as he was waiting for his layover flight in Nashville, Tennessee.
The tickets that he had purchased were apparently not sufficient enough for the gate agents for Isaac’s flight to Minneapolis. Despite having already called ahead and gotten the additional seat, the seats had allegedly needed to be purchased at the same time in order to be valid, so the gate agents changed his boarding pass. However, after doing so, and Isaac realizing that the seating arrangement wouldn’t work, the agents said that there was nothing they could do.
Southwest Airlines Discriminates Against Plus-Sized North Carolina Man
It seems that this same situation has been reported across social media by different plus-sized people for a little while now, with one of the comments under this particular video even saying, “I have never seen a company that wanted to go out of business SO BAD! I’m sorry this happened to you!” Another comment a bit more serious action, saying, “It’s time for a class action lawsuit for discrimination.”
It’s absolutely terrible that Isaac was treated this way, and Southwest Airlines could have likely avoided being put in the media for this had they left him alone. The airline company needs to do better for its customers.
