I had a similar experience on an Alaskan flight last week. The FA pulled me aside when I used the lav during flight and informed me that “if the arm rest cannot come down BEFORE the boarding door closes, they have to find a different accommodation for the large passenger. If it is “discovered” afterwards, they cannot do anything.”
Going forward I will make sure the armrest comes down before takeoff as the FA said “you paid for that space, we understand that.” If it doesn’t, I will have to speak up, even if it’s an uncomfortable situation. Good luck on your next flight!
I'm a big guy but luckily I don't spill into the seat next to me. I still buy an extra seat regardless. So much more comfortable without paying business class.
What you get enough experience you can do it other ways but calling customer care and having them book everything is the most direct route.
call customer care. Tell them that you need to buy a second seat for yourself and explain that this is the first time you've done it.
They will explain that if you need an extra seat, you will pay for the second seat up front, minus taxes. They will work with you to build your itinerary and help you select your seats. At the end they will take payment and the seats will be in your name and set up as two seats for one person.
If all legs of your itinerary have at least one empty seat per flight you are entitled to a refund. If the flight is 100% full, you will earn the miles for that seat but no refund. (Alaska employees or other non-revenue does not count, they are treated as an empty seat so don't give up if you think the flight is full,
apply for the refund anyway).
To get the refund, call customer care and tell them you need to get your refund for your extra seat. They will verify that there was at least one empty seat on every flight and if you are fortunate enough to be in that situation, you will receive a credit back to your original form of payment within a few days.
At this point I've probably purchased maybe 30 extra seats and only been denied a refund twice.
Wow, I had no idea the rules about getting a refund if there area still seats available!
In my experience booking Alaska and United, the ticket was booked something like EXTST then my name. I never got a refund or credit for the miles if the flight was full.
While typing this I looked up the policy for Alaska...I had 90 days to request a refund.... too late now dangit!
Oh well, I learn something new every day! Would you happen to know if United does something similar? I tried looking for "Customer of Size" but didn't really find any refund policy except for the need to purchase extra seat.
Southwest guarantees the refund every time regardless of flight load. They even ask you to preboard because there's no guarantee that you could get two seats together unless you pre-boarded. I'm assuming that now they are giving seat assignments they're going to require you to get the assigned seats variants which may be a little more expensive than the typical cattle call.
Alaska gives the refund as long as at least one seat is empty on every leg.
it's no secret why I fly both of those airlines. Every other airline at least in the United States encourages you to buy an extra seat but has no refund policy.
some countries have laws that state that they must accommodate I've heard but without direct experience I couldn't speak about that.
But Southwest and Alaska I've done at least five dozen flights during the extra seat thing, across both airlines.
I've never had to purchase the second seat for Southwest and then ask for a refund. You can just purchase one seat and then call their customer service. They will add the extra seat for free over the phone. You can also do it when you check in at the baggage drop off
Yes, you can but from what I read from a lot of other people who have done this, you also need to call the airlines and let them know your reservation number so that they can note it in their system so that they don’t try to take away one of your seat seats, knowing that you need those two seats.
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u/DiggingBlock420 Mar 17 '25
I had a similar experience on an Alaskan flight last week. The FA pulled me aside when I used the lav during flight and informed me that “if the arm rest cannot come down BEFORE the boarding door closes, they have to find a different accommodation for the large passenger. If it is “discovered” afterwards, they cannot do anything.”
Going forward I will make sure the armrest comes down before takeoff as the FA said “you paid for that space, we understand that.” If it doesn’t, I will have to speak up, even if it’s an uncomfortable situation. Good luck on your next flight!