A man got in line to board his flight from Las Vegas to Dallas on Southwest Airlines, but the agent stopped him. He made a PSA to airline workers about mental health after he claimed the agent told him he’s too big to fly.
TikToker Ryan Velazquez (@ryanvelazquez13) sits in his car and recounts the frustrating experiences with Southwest at both the Las Vegas and Dallas airports. He says he was first pulled aside by a Southwest gate agent in Dallas and asked if he can fit in a seat with the armrests down.
“I told her, ‘Yes, I fly all the time. I don’t spill over the armrest,'” he explains.
However, he says the worker “wasn’t satisfied” with his answer.
“She called over a supervisor, so now I’m standing at gate 7 with two people visually judging me,” he says, tearing up. Eventually, the agent let him board, and he says he tried to brush off the experience as a “fluke.”
Then he tries to check in for his flight from Las Vegas back to Dallas.
Did The Southwest Agent Stop Him From Boarding?
As Velazquez tried to check in his bags for his flight home, he says another Southwest agent told him he needed to pay a $355 additional fee in order to fly home. The fee would cover an additional seat next to him.
He says he tried to argue with the agents that he can fly comfortably in one seat. But he feared he would be “banned for life,” so he just paid the fee.
“So the ticket went from manageable to over $800 for one way at this point,” he says. “I have taken over 50 flights on Southwest. I’ve never been made to feel the way I felt in Las Vegas.”
Velazquez continues with a PSA to agents who are in charge of handling the situation in which a passenger of size may need additional accommodations.
“You never know what someone is going through. The emotional damage from something like this is real,” he warns. “It doesn’t go away when you land.”
He suggests to airlines that having workers “visually judge passengers” in front of others is inappropriate.
“Southwest, do better,” he says at the end of the clip. Velazquez turned off comments on his now-viral video with over 143,000 views.
Do Passengers Of Size Have To Buy An Additional Seat?
Velazquez isn’t the only recent Southwest passenger of size to share their upsetting experience with the airline.
Comedian Asia Chardonay made a TikTok claiming that Southwest made her pay an additional $406 to board her flight. When she didn’t pay the fee, the airline reportedly cancelled her reservation entirely and offered a travel credit instead of a refund.
Travelers’ recent experiences with Southwest may be due to the airline’s recent passenger of size policy update.
Previously, passengers who thought they needed two seats to travel comfortably could request an additional seat upon boarding. Passengers could also book an extra seat in advance, and Southwest would refund them, even on a full flight. Purchasing an extra seat was not required for passengers of size.
Now, Southwest requires passengers to pay for seats based on a worker’s assessment of their appearance. This additional cost may also include a booking fee, according to Southwest’s website. Passengers are still able to request a refund for the extra seat after their flight as long as there’s at least one additional seat on the plane.
Passengers on Reddit shared how the new policy impacts their travel experience. One woman said her friend was told she needed an additional seat, even though they would be sitting next to each other in the middle and window seat.
“My friend standing there crying, in front of a lot of people, at the beginning of our trip. We ended up standing there at the desk for 45min and still never really got assigned seats until at the gate,” she shared on the r/SouthwestAirlines subreddit.
Commenters agreed that the enforcement of the new policy should be handled differently. One suggested, “Whether she needed the extra seat or not, the approach was all wrong. And southwest needs to make a set standard for this, because it seems very random right now.”
@ryanvelazquez13 This is not about being overweight. This is not about being unhealthy. This is about mental health. This is about treating people with basic human respect and dignity. I’ve flown 300,000+ miles across this country. Over 50 flights on Southwest alone. And I’ve never been humiliated the way I was in that Las Vegas airport. Their employee told me it was “his job to judge passengers.” You never know what someone is going through. You never know how close to the edge someone already is. Be kind. It costs nothing. @Southwest Airlines do better. #mentalhealthawareness #southwestairlines #emotionaldamage #fyp customerofsize
BroBible reached out to Velazquez via TikTok direct message and to Southwest Airlines via email for further comment. We will update the story when they reply.