Came across the news last night that Southwest Airlines has a policy regarding people who don't fit in one seat. Turns out that they want folks to buy a second seat if the first isn't enough.

I'll admit to being of two minds on this. One the one hand, people who clearly need a second seat (like this guy) probably should pay for it, at least on fully booked flights.

Where I would have trouble with this policy is in one of two cases:

1. The flight's not full. One hopes that the gate attendants, knowing that the flight only has 50 people, wouldn't force the issue. Given Southwest's sky train approach, though, they might have to check the 4 or 5 stops to a destination if the person is on one of the milk runs. It's a workable situation, though.

The page I link to above suggests that the person has to buy the seat first and then get reimbursed if the flight isn't full. That's stupid. It's not commuter rail; the odds of walk up traffic filling a plane that has more than five empty seats on it are infintessimal.

2. People who are big,but not so big that they clearly need a second seat. I'll use myself as an example here. Having flown Southwest, I can vouch for the fact that the 18 3/4 inches they have per seat doesn't quite do it for me. My desk chair has somewhere between 20 and 21 inches between the arm rests, and that's OK.

(As an aside, is it me, or do veal cattle get more than 18 3/4 inches? The next time I go to Fenway I'll have to measure my seat there to see how big they are. Just hope the usher doesn't force me to pony up more dough.)

So do I have to buy a second seat or not?

Also, is this solely a weight issue, or do other body shapes come into play? Most of my weight is, in true Irish fashion, front-loaded. But I have big shoulders and long arms, which more often than not invade my neighbor's airspace. If I'm on the aisle, I'm probably going to have a foot or a knee in the aisle.

Does this merit a second seat? The Southwest page mentions girth, which I don't think covers long arms or big feet. From our friends at dictionary.com:

1. The distance around something; the circumference
2. Size, bulk

Perhaps I should ask my boss's Magic 8 Ball again. But she's in a meeting.

I've never been asked to buy a second seat, and for some reason I don't think I'm quite big enough for Southwest's fatty profiling.

At least I hope not.

The airlines are doing one thing to help in this regard- they don't serve food anymore. Nothing like spending half the day in a plane trying to make do with two ounces of honey roasted peanuts and half a Coke. I'm almost surprised Ensure or Slim-Fast or someone isn't trying to get their shakes on board as a meal equivalent.

In sum, it appears that Southwest doesn't LUV everybody. Still better than flying US Air, though.