Overview

• Customers who do not fit within one seat must purchase the needed adjacent seats at booking to ensure availability.
• Refunds for the extra seat are limited to flights that depart with at least one open seat, with both seats in the same fare class, and only if requested within 90 days.
• Southwest defines the armrest as the seat boundary and publishes Boeing 737 seat widths of about 15.5 to 17.8 inches to guide travelers.
• For trips involving partner airlines, additional seats must be bought directly from the partner and may be nonrefundable.
• Advocates for larger travelers criticize the reversal of a previously flexible policy, while Southwest frames it as part of an operational reset that also ends open seating and adds checked-bag fees.