In today’s diverse society, it is crucial to ensure that every individual, regardless of their size or body shape, feels included and supported. With plus size people, this can be a hard task to accomplish, especially when thinking about several factors such as costs, availability and feelings of stigmatization. However, companies such as Southwest Airlines have put policies in place to help with the struggle for accommodations for plus size people.

Airplanes can be extremely crowded, however for larger people it can be difficult. Plus size passengers may have to book several seats to get enough room for themselves but that ends up costing several hundred dollars. To help accommodate these types of passengers, Southwest Airlines has a policy where passengers can buy two seats and they will refund them for the seat they bought. According to the company, it ensures they can make the right arrangements beforehand.

In December, Southwest Airlines experienced controversy after solo travelist Kimmy Garris highlighted the policy saying it was a “fair and humane way of flying fat passengers with dignity”. She also highlighted how airlines should make bigger seats to make room for plus size people. Several people responded, most saying that it is not the airline’s fault that they cannot accommodate every passenger and that they should not be expected to do so.

Providing accommodation for people in general can be difficult, especially plus sized people. It is important to be able to equally help all people but making seats bigger on airplanes is not that easy. The entire plane would have to be reconstructed and that would not only take a lot of effort but a lot of money as well. People also have to keep in mind that planes only have so much room and even if bigger seats are installed, fewer passengers would be able to board those planes, putting more work on several airlines and their workers. 

What the plus size community does not realize is that certain things cannot be made for them just because they feel they are entitled to them. What restaurants, cars and airplanes have in common is that in their manufacturing they were built for people within a certain size. The purpose was not to discriminate but to build a safe environment for whatever they built. Sometimes in certain areas plus size people cannot be accommodated the way that they probably should. 

They are also putting more of a stigmatization against themselves because of these special adjustments. For example, a mother created at TikTok about the Southwest policy kicking her, her daughter and her friend out of their seats to accommodate a “person of size”. However, she paid for their tickets and was not issued a refund, apology or outright reason as to why. She only figured it out when she asked after the plane took off. This was not the fault of the plus size person or the mother but the policy. It looks great on the surface but people have to realize that someone is going to be singled out negatively. On a full flight of people, if the plus size person did not book their two seats beforehand, they will just have to be on their own instead of flight attendants rushing to find last-minute accommodations.

The accommodations not only stop at airlines but in restaurants, cars, elevators and more. In the plus size community, people have suggested for doorways in restaurants and hotels to be wider, tables and booths to be wider and car seats leaning back more or being made larger. All of these things could be done but not executed properly. Without the finances and tools, these requests are simply impossible.