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‘He's violating your policies’, Libs of TikTok founder rants against Southwest Airlines over an overweight co-passenger
Libs of TikTok founder, Chaya Raichik, criticised Southwest Airlines over an overweight passenger sitting next to her.
Chaya Raichik, the founder of the popular conservative social media account Libs of TikTok, has criticised Southwest Airlines for allegedly allowing an "obese guy" to take up half of her seat during a flight.
Raichik, who has over half a million followers on her personal X account, shared her frustration about the experience on Sunday.
"I'm sitting on a flight squished into the corner because this massive guy is taking up half my seat," she wrote. "I paid for a full seat, not half a seat."
She accompanied her post with a photo showing her seat mate’s right leg seemingly invading her personal space.
"He is violating @SouthwestAir’s own policies," Raichik continued. “This isn’t normal or fair. If you don’t fit in 1 seat, you need to buy two seats.”
Raichik referred to Southwest Airlines' "customers of size" policy introduced last year. This policy allows overweight customers whose bodies "encroach" past the armrest of their seat to request a second or even third seat free of charge.
The firebrand anti-LGBTQ+ activist tagged the airline in her post, which quickly went viral, garnering 2.8 million views as of Monday, asking what the airline could do about the situation.
She later shared more photos and posts documenting her in-flight ordeal.
"Dude was also stuffing cheeseburgers and fries down his throat and threw his trash on the floor. Disgusting," Raichik wrote, sharing a photo of an empty Burger King soda cup on the floor between her and her fellow flyer.
After the incident, the airline reached out to Raichik, offering her a $150 voucher for a future Southwest flight. However, Raichik was not impressed with the compensation.
"I’m never flying @SouthwestAir again. And even if I would — that’s not nearly enough compensation for this. I’ve flown Southwest like 3x in my life as a last resort. Never again," she declared.
Raichik further explained her decision to avoid Southwest in the future.
"The reason I hope never to fly Southwest again isn’t specifically because of this incident," Raichik wrote. "It’s because I think it’s a terrible airline. Like I said, I've only flown it a handful of times - all under extreme circumstances. In this case, the option was a normal airline with a long stopover or a direct flight with Southwest."
"I’m starting to lean towards flying a normal airline even if it has a stopover over flying Southwest if a scenario like this comes up again," she concluded.
