‘Libs of TikTok’ founder slams Southwest Airlines for letting ‘massive obese guy’ take up half her seat
The founder of the popular conservative social media account “Libs of TikTok” lashed out at Southwest Airlines for allegedly allowing a “massive obese guy” to encroach on her seat during a flight.
Chaya Raichik took to her personal X account, which boasts more than half a million followers, to vent about her travel experience Sunday.
“I’m sitting on a flight squished into the corner because this massive obese guy is taking up half my seat,” she complained. “I paid for a full seat, not 1/2 a seat.”
Raichik supplemented her post with a photo showing her seatmate’s right leg seemingly invading her personal space.
“He is violating @SouthwestAir’s own policies,” Raichik’s rant continued. “This isn’t normal or fair. If you don’t fit in 1 seat you need to buy two seats.”
Raichik was referring to Southwest Airline’s “customers of size” policy introduced last year, which 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, raking in 2.8 million views as of Monday, asking what it can do about this situation.
She followed up with 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 fat slob,” Raichik seethed, sharing a photo of an empty Burger King soda cup resting on the floor between her and her fellow flyer.
She later revealed that the carrier contacted her in response to her online laments, offering her a $150 voucher toward a future Southwest flight, but Raichik was not impressed with the company’s largesse, which she dismissed as “worthless.”
“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,” Raichik declared.
The conservative advocate later further explained why she won’t be using 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, only ever flown it a handful of times- all under extreme circumstances. In this case- option was a normal airline with a long stopover or direct 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.
