Eh. Biased article with few actual facts.

Southwest has a policy that if the passenger can't demonstrate that they can put both armrests down, they have to pay for an additional seat. They can be bumped from the plane only if there aren't any spare seats...and Southwest will refund the money for the ticket.

The policy is well-publicized.

If he made it from Chicago (on a Southwest plane? Unclear) it could just be that the plane was underfilled and the flight attendants just let it go. That doesn't mean he's right now.

Doesn't mean he's wrong either.

They asked him if he could fly with the arms down. He said yes, that should have been enough and gotten him on the plane.
Did he get to demonstrate that he could? According to the article, no, he was simply pulled away.

This may be a biased article, but maybe not.
We have heard other stories of people pulled off planes for the way they are dressed and other such nonsense.

As a large guy, who is about 6' and I've weighed as much as 320, I can tell you that I've never had trouble fitting into an airline seat. I do know, however that different people carry their weight differently, even with people of the same height, so his 350, could have been much more spread out than my 320.

I don't really have any sympathy, unless you are just a frickin' giant, i.e., you are in fact John Coffey. Like the drink, only spelled different.

But let's also not forget Southwest's squirrelly record on kicking people off flights.

They have a serious image/message problem they seem to keep ignoring, no matter how ridiculous the claims might sound. Their video response to Kyla Ebbert may have made for a good internet laugh, for half a day, and I suspect the people in charge of the video all agreed it was "fun," and "edgy," and therefore "on message," but I'm willing to bet it didn't build any semblance of customer loyalty.

As for me, I've never had a good experience flying with them, or any other discount carrier besides Jet Blue. I generally pay the extra money and fly Delta where I can be dealt with as a normal schmuck who just wants to sit down and score my first beer before takeoff.

the article did state that he had flown on Southwest from Chicago to Las Vegas and was trying to fly back home when they refused to fly him. I think he can fit in the seats if he had just flown on there plane a few days prior. No reason why he shouldn't have been allowed to fly.