Seatmates of Size Archives - Stuck at the Airport

Southwest changing its ‘passengers of size’ policy

08/26/25

Southwest Airlines is changing its policy for those who may need an extra seat Southwest Airlines’ new assigned seating policy goes into effect on January 27, 2026 and on that date, the carrier will also be changing its policy for travelers who don’t fit within the armrest of their seat. Right now, plus-size passengers have →

Seatmates of Size

Seats for seatmates of size

04/26/15

The SANTO airline seat – it stands for ‘Special Accommodation Needs for Toddlers and Oversized Passengers’- has been getting quite a bit of attention. The seat, by SII Deutschland, won an award at the recent Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg and is designed to be placed in the back of the airline cabin, where there →

Flying tips for plus-size passengers

03/30/12

Flying tips for plus-size travelers. →

Seatmates of Size

AirTran adopting Southwest’s “passenger of size” policy

10/13/11

AirTran will adopt Southwest's "customers of size" policy beginning on March 1, 2012. →

Air New Zealand: pay what you weigh

03/31/11

Air New Zealand to begin charging passengers by weight. →

Tidbits for travelers: Free Wi-Fi, Olympic travel tips, and in-flight body-mass tax

01/20/10

We want Wi-Fi Slowly but surely airports large and small are getting with the program and making free wireless Internet access available in the terminals. The latest major airport to join the party: Boston Logan International Airport (BOS). Hooray! Packing tips from Olympic athletes Curious about what some Olympic athletes do when they’re traveling – →

Clip ‘n save guide to airline policies on seatmates of size

04/24/09

No matter your weight or your width, the next time you fly make sure you know your airline’s policy on “seatmates of size.” Better yet, if you can find your airline’s customer of size policy, print it out and carry it with you. It may help you avoid a pain in the butt and it →

Portly passengers may pay twice on United

04/18/09

This week United Airlines joined Southwest and several other airlines in formalizing and posting a “seatmates of size” policy on its website. (From a 2007 Well-Mannered Traveler column on this topic, courtesy MSNBC.com) Although the policy was quietly posted on the airline’s Web site some time ago, it went into effect just this past Wednesday, →

Ryanair asks: would you pay for toilet paper?

04/14/09

After alarming travelers with the ‘joke’ about on-board pay-toilets (don’t be surprised…), Ryanair officials asked travelers to send in their own ideas for other discretionary fees that could be charged. They did. As of today (April 14th) close to 45,000 votes have been cast. And sadly, so far more than 20,000 people have voted in →

One person – two seats – in two rows?

02/06/09

One of my recent Well Mannered Traveler columns on MSNBC.com discussed the “tush test” Canadian airlines are asking travelers to undergo in order to take advantage of that country’s One Person/One Fare laws. So Gregg at FlightsfromHell sent along a link to a story about a woman forced to purchase two airplane seats “for other →

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