Customers of Size

Saying they are responding to an increase in "valid complaints," AirTran revealed yesterday that it will begin asking "customers of size" to buy tickets for two seats.

The airline will begin enforcing the policy March 1. Any coach passenger who, "in the carrier's sole discretion, encroaches on an adjacent seat and/or is unable to sit in a single seat with the armrest lowered" will be told they must pay for an additional seat, AirTran's contract of carriage states. Southwest Airlines, which completed its takeover of AirTran in May, says on its website that it has followed the "customers of size" policy for 30 of its 39 years of operation.

Customers asked to buy an additional ticket will be given the option of a full refund.