Getting the best seat on Southwest Airlines is an exercise in game theory. Couples even catfish to get the best seats, flirting with passengers who are already seated to get a welcome into empty seats… for their significant other.
When Southwest moves to assigned seating next year, it will end seat saving and wheelchair faking. Until then, we still have
- Seat saving
Woman saving an entire row of plane seats behind her with donut bags.
byu/Hog_Fan inmildlyinfuriating - Defending open seats to keep an empty middle seat
- Strategizing whom you want to welcome and whom you want to keep away as your seat mate as various passengers file down the aisle
@mikewdavis How to keep seats open next to you on a flight 😂
- Requesting that wheelchair when you don’t really need it, just to board first
A friend shares a not-uncommon sight from Puerto Rico:
55 "handicapped" during pre-boarding, including 25 wheel chairs
On his return flight, 15 used wheelchairs to board, only 1 to deboard pic.twitter.com/gHgIsnzsq7
— Bachman (@ElonBachman) February 19, 2023
While I’ve talked about getting the best seat and trying to keep that empty seat beside you open on a non-full flight (placing crumpled up tissues on the seat beside you is my personal favorite!), I’ve never really talked about choosing the least-bad seat when you’re one of the last to board.
If you buy a Business Select fare or have status you’ll be among the first to board. You may be in a decent boarding spot if you buy ‘Early Bird’ check-in. But if you’re relying on checking in 24 hours in advance, or simply forget to do so, or change your flight within 24 hours of travel and don’t have Rapid Rewards status you’re going to be among the last to board and choose your seat. You pick from what’s left – but there’s still a strategy here.
When you’re stuck with being one of the last to board, on a generally full flight, there are four basic approaches.
- Sit as close to the front as possible. You might as well end this scenario as fast as possible, getting off the plane as soon as you can. The downside is that overhead bin space may fill up closer to the front.
- Sit between small people. This is the dominant strategy. You’re stuck in a middle seat, at least you want to sit between passengers who are small and in particular who aren’t wide. So scout out the smallest ones as you walk down the aisle to pick your spot.
- Approach friendly-looking people. You’re going to be uncomfortable anyway. You’re going to get closer to strangers than you’d planned. Might as well see it as an opportunity to make friends, or at least find people likely to be nice about the whole thing and recognize that the middle seat passenger gets both arm rests. Do they smile? Do they have kind eyes?
Size them up quickly and make your bet. But you need a certain self-awareness about what kind of judge you are of these things – you want to be right!
- Go for spite. This is honestly one I hadn’t considered before. You’re uncomfortable no matter what. So what can be accomplished with your seat choice probably won’t make much difference there. You might as well comfort your soul. I’ll explain.
In the spite play, you target passengers you believe are violating social norms and punish them by sitting next to them.
I had a funny thought on last night’s [Denver – Jacksonville] flight. I was the second to last to board at B59, so obviously not full, but someone is going to sit in the middle. I pass a guy in row 8 sitting on the window. He’s got a small duffle bag in the middle seat and is so obviously leaning over it, while texting on his phone. Not making eye contact with anyone. The Larry David part of me wanted to take the middle seat for pure spite. Ergo “The Spite Seat”.
You can sit next to the one putting crumpled tissues on the middle seat, or avoiding eye contact hoping you won’t sit there – and reward the passengers who don’t do that. What do you think? What is your strategy when boarding almost last on Southwest Airlines?
My strategy is to never fly this airline.
As a very large semi fit man I have sometimes done this when I see 2 wormy younger men with crap on the middle seat, man spread and their headphones on- enjoy the free heating unit as my shoulders bump into your heads. I only play that card when I suspect the case.
It’s no worse than airline assigned seating. Recently I was in a row of approximately a half ton in 3 seats. I was surprised the seats were load tested that high. The FAs just giggled and we all said what do you expect AI?
Gary, you forgot to mention Unite the Couple, a game as old as open seating. When you suspect that the window and aisle passengers are traveling together, select that row and see if they offer you the aisle or window.
It usually involves rethinking several life decisions.
Three weeks ago out of BNA I sat in the aisle by the guy in the window who was waving a Bible around. I figured nobody wanted part of that crazy. I was right. Empty middle seat, and the Bible went away when the door closed. Well played.
Personally I haven’t flown Southwest since 2003 when they used to have uber cheap flights from ISP to BWI where I could drive from Manhattan to Islip to get a $29 flight to go see family in Maryland. I’d go during the week where middle seats were always empty.
Today I guess the advantage is that you might have some control over your seat mate particularly if you get early boarding, even after the mostly fakers have been wheeled down the jetbridge. On a convention airline you can’t cure who you sit next to if traveling alone.
My strategy is to not be last. Check-in on time and you’re fine
@nsx my wife likes the aisle. I like the window. Whoever takes the middle is stuck between us. LOL .
Dhammer53
As people who really need wheelchair assistance we really resent the fakers. In addition to trying to get first seating, they tie up the sometimes scarce wheelchairs and, worse yet tie up the staff that operates the chairs. We couldn’t get from the car to the gate without them but sometimes have to wait quite some time for them to be available. We’ve used this service all over the US and Europe, and I must say that most of the time such staff are very helpful, courteous and friendly, and fully deserve the generous tips we are always prepared to give them.
I don’t shower for a week… bring two egg salad sandwiches and encourage people to sit with me and chat about politics or current events… The middle seat is always open!! 🙂
Looking forward to them doing assigned seating which has kept me from flying with them. I need a wheelchair chair assistance to the plane and won’t have to worry about people think that I’m faking my disability.
What is your strategy when boarding almost last on Southwest Airlines?
Ritualistic disembowelment .
One time I was flew DFW to PHX and chose a middle seat next to a friendly-looking elderly man.
As I sat down, elderly man said (and NOT in hushed tones) “oh darn, I was hoping it would be that one” and pointed at an attractive young blonde still making her way down the isle behind me.
Lost on me. In all my years of flying in general and Southwest in particular I cannot remember a single person, other than my wife, on occasion, who happened to share my row. I did, recently, have a guy from the row behind me ask, as we readied to deplane, what the name of the movie “we” had been watching on my tablet. By “we” he meant me and him.
If our family is flying wereally doesn’t care if we sit together or not as we see each other all the time. I fly alone mostly and if needed opt for the 1st middle seat. I am small, under 5′ and 120 lbs. The best is when my row has a vacant middle on a full flight and a “delta” or “seal” type sees the vacancy. Expression goes from frustrated to pure joy…
Funny we even have to go through these “strategies” in the first place.
I ended up with the choice of sitting between two men who were already drunk, and a couple with Bibles in their laps Loudly talking about JAYsus.
I have a Master’s in Comparative Religion. I’ve literally worn out two Bibles with my notes and references to other, older, religions. They started out loud, irritating everyone, but about fifteen minutes into the flight they were quietly reading their Bibles, but not the passages I recommended. Cowards.
The steward upgraded my meal to the first class version. He was gay and took great delight in visiting with me over the head of Mr Holy, who turned red at each visit.
It was a great flight.
Be kind. Kindness begets kindness. If you practice this in your daily life you won’t have to worry about forthcoming problems because you diverted them with all the kindness you’ve shown.
I’ve had top loyalty status for Southwest for over a decade, primarily fly them wherever my travels take me. Most of the time, I’m able to upgrade and get exit row, typically window if available. I can’t even begin to recall how often, on a flight with less than a handful of empty seats, the middle seat in my row remains vacant.
Maybe I look unfriendly, not for me to decide, but it always surprises me. One would think if somebody is stuck in the middle, atleast some extra leg room makes things a little more comfortable.
Am I the only person who likes the boarding process and probably won’t fly Southwest when they become just like every other shitty, greedy airline? It’s simple, check in 24h ahead of time, pick a seat and be done with it. None of the tons of “boarding zones”, no rewarding people who paid a bit more with earlier boarding, and the overhead bins usually have space since people take advantage of the 2 bags fly free thing.
I had a SW gate agent give me a hard time because my mother used her cane to go the restroom in the airport but needed wheelchair assistance to the plane. She is loosing her vision and was ok with the flat floor and bright lights of the airport terminal but not the dark uneven moving ramp to the plane. One of the other “wheelchair assists” had a miraculous recovery at the other end of the flight and shoved her way past my slow moving mother so I see both sides of it. Will be happy with assigned seating in the future.
Passengers shouldn’t have to play these games. Airfare has increased significantly in the last few years. Airlines can afford to offer passengers more room.
My wife is confined to a wheelchair. Those who feign disability are despicable.
I’m not poor, would never fly sw
As a regular southwest flyer I can say for a fact most of the crap you write isn’t true.
There’s a special place in hell for those that fake wheelchair needs or use handicapped parking as their personal procrastination parking. I report these people on an app that keeps a database and sends the info to the state it happened in. I’ve also been known to confront people head on.
You see, my son has a fatal physical disease and I will outlive him. It boils my blood when people insult handicapped people by stealing the very services that help make them feel a but normal.
I would GLADLY give anyone my son’s placards, IF they will also take his disease. Yeah, didn’t think so!!
My strategy is to sit in a seat. They all arrive at my destination. It’s not really difficult.
A lot of you seem really hung up on a bunch of stuff that doesn’t matter at all.
Simple strategy is avoid Southwest at all costs until assigned seating starts.
On a recent SW flight had 6 wheelchair occupants slowly loading, it was clear 3 were friends. At destination end these ladies beat everyone to baggage claim and man handled 3 suitcases and multiple boxes off the conveyor loading luggage cart to at least 5 ft then racing out of terminal. SW should hire for luggage handlers. This always upset me as I dealt with my Mom with partial amputations on both feet who hated to use a wheelchair chair and slow others down.
It seems courtesy and civility is a rarity these days
My solution after being scammed by a couple of women faking seats…I refuse to fly Southwest ever again.
If I middle I always tried to sit between two women. Nothing worse than being groped by a nasty man sitting next to you. It’s happened more than once and I scream like they stabbed me with knife
The horror of southwest is a thing I will never take part in. I cannot explain why anyone puts of with the level of strategy required just to get a seat. I’ll pay whatever to be able to choose my seat and not have to play these ridiculous games.
SW should identify fakers who make miraculous recoveries at the other end of the flight, and put them on a lifetime disability assistance blacklist.
The flight attendants are out of control acting like gestapo agents evicting already seated passengers for any reason they can think of . Passengers have no rights or innocence,only the flight attendant opinion counts s not witnesses or passengers get off plane or be arrested lose a day being rerouted.This was to done me and wife on fl 3650 Oct 18 on return flight 1228 Oct 23 we saw 5 removed from the people after we left terminal and returned to it delaying flight for 2 hours . flyers beware they seem to pick you out at random
I just make sure I stay on the A list. And I upgrade as needed. Works perfectly
As a long time Southwest fan, I am sorry to see the changes in seating come about
I pull out my CPAP Mask, put it on…
&
SIT IN THE AISLE SEAT.
Hopefully the people coming on will expect you have serious health problems and would find it an unsuitable seating decision to go past you.
In an emergency you OBVIOUSLY will be the cause of Thier demise.
>:-)
My strategy has been to never give money to this glorified city bus until they change their open seating policy. Seems to have worked.
Flown Southwest for years and never experienced these issues. I’ve always enjoyed their seating arrangement and will be sad to see it leave. On the occasion I have to fly Delta or others, I’m reminded what “regular” boarding is like and why I chose Southwest.