Look, we cover a lot of ground here. Park eats, resort reviews, the occasional hot take on whether the Dole Whip is actually worth the line (it is, stop arguing). But every so often something lands in our inbox that is squarely about the Disney vacation experience in a way we cannot ignore, and Southwest Airlines’ ongoing seat policy saga is one of them. If you are flying Southwest to Orlando this year — or honestly anytime soon — there are some things you need to know before you get to the airport.
We are not here to bash Southwest. But we are here to make sure your trip actually happens the way you planned it.
Southwest Changed the Policy. Then Changed It Again.
Southwest updated its Customer of Size policy on January 27, 2026, requiring passengers who may not fit within a single seat to purchase a second seat before travel. The airline gave itself the right to make that determination “in its sole discretion,” with no posted measurements or defined criteria beyond whether a passenger might encroach on the seat next to them.
Passengers were not happy. The backlash was fast and loud, and Southwest revised the policy shortly after. The new version encourages gate agents to offer available open seats to passengers who need more room at no charge, instead of requiring an upfront purchase every time. That is genuinely better than the original. The problem is the word “available.” If the flight is full, there are no open seats to give, and in that case Southwest says they will try to rebook the passenger on a later flight.
A later flight. When your park tickets are date-specific. When your dining reservation at Be Our Guest took three refreshes to snag. When your kids have been counting down on a paper chain for six weeks.
Southwest still recommends that passengers who might need extra space book a second seat ahead of time. If a gate agent ends up offering you a complimentary seat on the day of travel, you can get a refund on the pre-purchased one within 90 days. In a statement, the airline said the policy was designed “to create a more consistent and seamless travel experience for customers who require an additional seat.” Whether it is achieving that is a different conversation entirely.
Two Real Passengers. Two Very Different Experiences on the Same Airline.
This is where it gets real. In February, two women went public with their Southwest experiences through PEOPLE, and both stories spread fast — because they showed exactly the kind of inconsistency the new policy was supposed to fix.
Erika DeBoer, 38, was flying from Omaha to Las Vegas on February 6 when a Southwest employee at bag check told her she needed to buy a second seat. The reason, repeated over and over: “safety and comfort” of other passengers. “The part that lingers the most is the words used,” DeBoer told PEOPLE. “They just kept repeating it like robots without any care for the actual situation.”
She paid for an upgraded window seat to avoid missing her flight. On the return trip to Omaha? No one said anything. Southwest later refunded the extra ticket and the upgraded seat and threw in a $150 voucher. DeBoer told PEOPLE she was still waiting for an actual explanation of what the policy requires.
“It feels powerless to be given two options — either buy an extra seat or not be allowed on the flight,” she said. “I was not humiliated or embarrassed or on the verge of tears. I was angry. I have zero shame in my size.”
Grace Simpson’s story hit just days later and might be the one that really makes you think. She had already flown a Southwest leg from Norfolk, Virginia to Baltimore on February 10 with zero issues — boarded, sat down, no problem. Then at the gate for her connecting flight to San Diego, a supervisor pulled her aside. A gate agent had flagged her as a potential customer of size. She would need to buy a second seat.
“I told him that I had already flown from Norfolk to Baltimore without issue, so I was not going to buy another ticket,” Simpson recalled to PEOPLE. The supervisor moved her to an open seat in the back row at no charge. But the experience followed her.
“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I could go through ticketing, security, boarding and take my seat — with multiple employees seeing me — and yet if one person decided I didn’t fit the policy, I could be publicly deboarded,” Simpson told PEOPLE. “Even if nine people before thought I was fine, the 10th person could override that. That level of discretion feels less about safety and more about personal judgment and discrimination.”
The timing made it sting even more. “I had just hit the 100-pound milestone less than a week before this incident,” she said. “Instead, the experience felt like a slap in the face.”
Neither woman was calling for the policy to disappear. Both were asking for something a lot more basic: clear, objective criteria and advance notice that actually reaches people before they are standing at a gate.
“It’s completely unfair to get to the airport and be told you have to purchase an extra seat with no actual parameters or guidelines,” DeBoer said. “It was all up to the discretion of the Southwest employee by looking at me.”
Simpson put it plainly to PEOPLE: “If a policy could require someone to purchase an additional seat or potentially deplane, it should be clearly communicated at the point of purchase. There should be a prompt, a checkbox or a clearly visible notice — something that ensures customers are aware before they finalize their ticket.”
Southwest, for its part, told PEOPLE the policy is “well defined” on its website and “is in line with airline industry standards.”
DeBoer’s take on the language Southwest keeps using: “When people say this is about ‘comfort and safety for all passengers,’ I think what’s often missing is that people of size are also part of ‘all passengers.'”
Simpson added: “Fat passengers deserve dignity, predictability, and respect in public spaces too. The conversation often centers on how other passengers feel sitting next to someone larger, but it rarely considers how it feels to be the person being evaluated, flagged or potentially removed.”
Here Is Why This Matters Specifically for a Disney Trip
Disney tickets are tied to a date. Advance dining reservations — your Cinderella’s Royal Table breakfast, your Space 220 dinner, whatever took you four alarms to book — those do not reschedule themselves. Your resort room is not going to check you in early because your flight was pushed. The entire Disney vacation model runs on a schedule that starts the moment you leave home, and a gate situation that delays or prevents boarding can break the whole thing downstream.
What makes DeBoer and Simpson’s stories particularly tricky for trip planning is the inconsistency. Both were handled differently on different legs of the same journey. There is no objective measurement you can do at home to know how a specific gate agent on a specific day is going to read the policy. That is the part that makes advance preparation so important right now.
If you are a larger traveler flying Southwest to Disney World, the safest move is to read the full Customer of Size policy on Southwest’s website before you book anything, consider purchasing a second seat in advance if there is any doubt, and reach out to Southwest directly with questions before travel day. Getting an answer at home is a lot better than getting one at the gate with a boarding time on the clock.
Disney’s Approach Inside the Parks Is Worth Knowing
Here is the thing about Walt Disney World: once you get past the flight, the parks have genuinely put work into making sure as many guests as possible can experience everything on offer.
Attractions like it’s a small world and Pirates of the Caribbean use open boat-style seating with no individual fixed dimensions. Omnimover rides — The Haunted Mansion, Journey Into Imagination — run continuous bench-style vehicles rather than molded bucket seats. Disney has made quiet but deliberate updates to attraction seating over the years, trending toward flatter and more open configurations that reduce the chance of a guest being turned away at the boarding platform after a long wait.
Several attractions have test seats available outside the queue so guests can check compatibility before committing to the line. Cast Members at those entrances are trained to handle those conversations privately and with care. The whole approach is designed to minimize the moment of discovery and maximize the number of guests who can actually ride.
The gap between that philosophy and what DeBoer and Simpson experienced at Southwest is hard to miss. Disney designed the accommodation into the product. Southwest is currently relying on individual judgment calls with no objective standard, and February made clear that is not working consistently for everyone.
If Southwest is your ride to the World this year, go in prepared. Read the policy, ask your questions early, and give yourself breathing room on travel day. The trip you planned deserves to actually happen — and a little homework now is the easiest way to make sure nothing gets in the way of it.
Have a Southwest experience of your own? Or just want to talk Disney trip logistics before you head out? We want to hear it. Hit us in the comments.
