Southwest and person of size

[tigercat]

My ds has a 48" waist. We are booked on Southwest. Does anyone know if his size will require him to buy a second seat? I don't want him embarrased at the airport so want to take care of it before hand. I talked to the airline but they weren't much help. The same with the car seat we are taking. It is new (my dgrdd is 18 months old and it was bought for her) but we are not sure if it will go on the plane. We have reserved a seat for her so she will have her own seat for the car seat. I'm not sure where we have to check on the actual car seat. In the book for it, it does say that it is FAA approved but we are not sure where to look on the actual seat.
tigercat

 

[seashoreCM]

FAA approved car seats should have a sticker on them that indicates FAA approval, although where the sticker is located is not standardized. The instruction book should suffice if you cannot find the sticker, and most of the time the airplane staff don't look closely.

It's hard to say whether any given person will have trouble sitting down without making someone else uncomfortable. Southwest's starting rule is that you ahve to be able to sit down without lifting armrests. I think seats are 18 inches wide. If you try out an ordinary office chair with armrests 18 inches apart, in a store if you don't have one at home, you would have a good idea of how well you could be seated.

You can go right ahead and buy an extra ticket/seat without proof if you wish. If the flight is not sold out, the second ticket will be refunded.

Disney hints: http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/disney.htm

 

[a1tinkfans]

My ds has a 48" waist. We are booked on Southwest. Does anyone know if his size will require him to buy a second seat? I don't want him embarrased at the airport so want to take care of it before hand. I talked to the airline but they weren't much help. The same with the car seat we are taking. It is new (my dgrdd is 18 months old and it was bought for her) but we are not sure if it will go on the plane. We have reserved a seat for her so she will have her own seat for the car seat. I'm not sure where we have to check on the actual car seat. In the book for it, it does say that it is FAA approved but we are not sure where to look on the actual seat.
tigercat

I would be surprised to be told to buy another seat.
Sounds like there are three of you going, so the row would be taken by your own family. Its not like you'll be infringing on anyone else. I would give child middle seat and if ds takes aisle, he'll have a bit more room to stretch.
And as far as a person of size...HELLO, Most/many Americans are large yet airlines have these small seats, CRAZY huh, LOL
My own dh is of a similar size and does fine!
Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[tigercat]

Actually there are 7 of us going. Southwests website says that you should not depend on all sitting together. I'm not sure who will get to preboard. We have one 20 month old, one pregnant Mum, one 8yr old, one with a slight disability (using a can), and then 3 adult men.
tigercat

 

[101DalmFan]

Personally, I think whatever size you are, the seats on Southwest are cramped! My girlfriend and I flew back to Buffalo from Orlando last September using Southwest and I really felt like a sardine

 

[pha1226]

We flew Southwest last year with a 4 yo and were able to preboard so your 20 mo (along with the person with a cane) should allow you to preboard.

Also, we checked in online exactly 24 hrs before our flight time. This got us A boarding passes (first group to board) so we had our choice of seats in case we didn't get to preboard. You should not have any problem sitting together.