Southwest Airlines had to take a delay on a flight from Las Vegas to San Jose on Thursday because of the sheer number of passengers in wheelchairs. At Southwest, customers asking for wheelchair assistance get better seats for free – and then usually walk off the plane and all the way out the terminal themselves on the other end of the journey. They don’t all need a wheelchair. They’ve just cracked the code.
This was flight 2783 at 3:05 p.m. and a reader shares that the 10 minute delay “was annoying for the staff and customers.”
Southwest lets passengers pick their seats on a first-come, first-served basis. You board earlier if you buy the most expensive tickets, if you’re a frequent traveler, or if you pay for early boarding. Or if you fake the need for a wheelchair.
- That’s why Southwest Airlines has more wheelchair passengers than any other airline.
- It drives up the airline’s costs (they pay for the wheelchair service!) and cheats other customers out of better seats. Those higher costs also mean higher average airfares.
- And it makes a tremendous spectacle: the “Jetbridge Jesus” flight where passengers come on with a wheelchair to get the best seats, and miraculously walk without any assistance when the flight is over.
- This is terrible passengers who really need wheelchairs, with people who don’t need them taking up the scarce service. Those with a real need are forced to wait longer.
- Plus, a 10 minute delay can affect passengers with connections and delay downline flights operated by the same aircraft or with the same crew – the effect cascades.
Typical @SouthwestAir flight to Florida! I counted 30 pre-boards needing wheelchair assistance. When we get off the plane 28 of them walk off! @FAANews @FlyTPA @FoxNews @cnnbrk @MarkWilsonTV pic.twitter.com/YHprcho55Z
— Brian Hudson (@BocaHudson) December 29, 2024
Of course, this will all change in the first half of 2026, because Southwest is moving to assigned seating. Wheelchair passengers may board earlier but it won’t get them better seats any longer. Magically solved!
This is also going to mean the end of seat saving. No more claiming 13 seats for your group or using a bag of donuts to claim a whole row of seats, and the ensuing conflict that comes from taking more space than your ticket allows.
With one simple change – assigned seating – Southwest will solve many of the problems that turn boarding a Southwest Airlines flight into an exercise in game theory. While I’m one of the few that actually likes part of how Southwest does seating today (but not lining up at the start of boarding), I don’t see the change as all good.
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
Another flight on @SouthwestAir, and I’m happy to report being witness to more miracles. These poor souls came seeking a flight, and instead were healed. 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Always grateful for witnessing the miraculous healing power of flight. pic.twitter.com/7TCYn2T6BB
— Dave Ruminates (@dave_ruminates) April 5, 2023
It’ll help Southwest’s bottom line, and not just on the revenue side selling premium and assigned seats. Wheelchair services are costly. This is going to save Southwest at least $30 per wheelchair passenger. Multiply that out across every flight and it’s the unexpected reason that Elliott Capital turns out to be right in pushing Southwest Airlines to assign seats.
@Brad Whitford — Oh, come now, it’s only Gary’s fifth time, specifically:
Southwest Flight Delayed By Preboarding Miracle: ‘They Needed Wheelchairs To Board—But Walked Off Just Fine’ (published June 4, 2025)
Southwest’s First-Come, First-Served Boarding Was Perfect For Savvy Flyers—Now They’re About To Destroy It (published September 14, 2024)
Game-Changer At Southwest Airlines: One Simple Policy Shift Ends Seat Savers And Wheelchair Cheaters (published September 20, 2024)
‘Only in Florida’ 30 Wheelchair Passengers Preboard Southwest Airlines Flight, 28 Walk Off Freely After Landing (published December 30, 2024)
The Dark Side of Pre-Boarding: How Scammers Get the Best Seats on Southwest Airlines (published October 20, 2023)
This will continue as long as we continue to allow it. All airlines must take the necessary steps to stop this abuse of the system.
@ ege
always tip your pusher.
LOL Southwest. What kind of moron flies this abomination? You get what you pay for.
hesitated to mention this … but it seems to describe the sentiment: recalling the late 70’s, a bumper sticker from a joke making the rounds about wheelchairs: “WHY WALK … WHEN YOU CAN ROLL!”
Southwest has exacerbated the problem all by themselves. And it did not take very long for people to figure out that all you needed was the WCHR designation on the Boarding Pass. You do not need the actual wheelchair since they decided to board ambulatory people first. The people actually in the wheelchairs, those who do need them, are forced to wait until the those who can trot down the jet bridge get comfortably settled. This sometimes presents a real hardship to those in the wheelchairs who need to sit in the bulkhead seats due to a disability. The whole process is humiliating as they actually ask the Customers seated in wheelchairs if they would like to walk down.
I have COPD and it’s worsening as is usual for that disease. I walked the concourse to my gate leaving and it was really hard, but I want to try. I have portable oxygen but even with that my oxygen dropped to 79 and my heart rate was 100. I was “normal” when boarding came. I requested a wheel chair in Vegas. Southwest is the furthest airline out. Coming home I requested a wheel chair. I had my boarding pass early bird that I PAID for and had A58 and that’s where I was. I didn’t get the chair at my home airport and wish I had. I was exhausted.
People see me wheeled up and then get up and walk and may think I’m a fake and that’s their problem. Right now I can walk myself to board the plane and will do so as along as I can. As my condition worsens, I probably will stop flying. With all the crap I have to haul it’s a PITA. Just saying do NOT ALWAYS assume someone who gets up out of the chair is a cheat. My SIL for example has terrible arthritis in her knees and walking those distances is just NOT possible for her. She can get herself on board and never takes early boarding.
Sadly, any benefit ( on-time departure & wchr vendor fees ) will be more than elimantedc by the delay$ caused by the appearance of a plethora of gate checked bags & extra fussing about accommodating the increased carry-ons in overstuffed bins.
So much for any financial hope or any semblance of increased ’10 minute turn’ efficiency !
At least some satisfaction can be gained from eliminating a few scofflaws but I’m afraid there’s still a lot of Americans who are too self righteous & selfish. As @1990 rightly refrains; ‘the fish rots from the head’ as exemplified by our current political state… And ironically, the same goes for the corporate world including airlines as they’re just as pathetic !
Though I’m certain people take advantage of Southwest’s pre-board policy by claiming need of a wheelchair when they are actually ambulatory, my experience has mainly been the failure of Southwest to tend to arriving passengers at the other end of the journey. Once they’ve gotten you to your destination airport, they are done with you.
I have somewhat limited mobility, and need to request a wheelchair to get me to and from the Southwest boarding areas. It isn’t difficult–at any airport I’ve been to–to get a wheelchair to board. The problem is at the destination. Frequently, there are few or no wheelchairs at arrival. There have been times where I’ve had to wait quite awhile after landing for someone to come with a wheelchair, even once the pilot of the plane tried calling to get someone to pick me up. Sometimes I have to walk the long corridors because no one shows up, and it is painful for me. One time a guy brought a wheelchair for me, pushed me in it about halfway from the plane to baggage claim, then left me in the middle of the corridor to go chat with other wheelchair attendants who were all, ironically, sitting in wheelchairs lined against a wall at an empty gate. I finally got out of the chair and made my way to baggage claim myself. I paid for that the following day with painful knees. The thing is, technically I can walk, so it could seem that I was taking advantage, but it’s at a cost to my health and well-being. Just saying that there’s more to this story, and more than a little blame goes to Southwest itself.
simple answer anyone using a wheelchair has to pay $100, if at the destination airport they remained seated and used the wheelchair on that end also then their $100 is refunded, you will see real fast tons of pushers out of a job as no one is gonna pay $100 just to skirt the lines at the Outbound airport
the worst part is I cant you how many times when I drove my mother to the airport she had to sit and wait close to 30 mins for a wheelchair to arrive, reason they were all at the gates awaiting the Inbounding flights where most folks who ordered a wheelchair got cured on their Inbound flight and walked right past the wheelchairs on the jetway
@Sean…”What kind of moron flies this abomination?…” Thats a bit harsh but I still fly them because I get 2 for1 using the CP.
The elderly should be able to board early, in my opinion. We always told my Mom we’d find a wheelchair for her, as she was 80+. The airports are confusing and crowded, so it helped her. My sister is developmentally challenged, but insists on flying alone. Having a service that makes sure she gets where she’s going is priceless. With all that being said, if you’re using a wheelchair to get a better seat, shame on you. Sit down and wait your turn.
I once saw a young lady board first with a knee sleeve. wearing shorts, she removed the sleeve
sat down in no distress. remarkable that she had no issue using the toilette w/o the sleeve
perhaps these abusive customers should be placed on a six month no fly list since others pay for the privilege of early boarding
This is just like the people who will pass off their little yappers as service dogs. Too many fake people faking disabilities are overshadowing the ones who really do have disabilities, who do need the wheelchairs and who do need the service animals. These fakes have no shame at all.
Another in your face testamony to the condition of the depraved human heart.
My wife and I were boarding a flight to Florida. We were by a lady in a wheelchair and her daughter. I overheard hew daughter ask her how long she was going to stay in the wheelchair and her mother told her to shush and not to mention it again.
As a formal airline employee for a major carrier, I can tell you this is a huge problem.
We often joked about how many inflight miracles we had as wheelchair passengers ran off of the airplane. They are the first to board and are supposed to be the last to deplane. The wheelchairs staff waiting outside for the passengers are often left empty. Between this, bad passenger behavior and fake therapy dogs, it is a good time to be retired!
The continued slide in overall morality makes everyday life harder and harder because we just can’t have nice things because the abusers are exponentially increasing. In this “it’s all about me and screw everyone else” world, people are just out for themselves and how often they can get over on someone else. It’s gross. In my dad’s world, a man’s word was his bond. People did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. I don’t much like this current world.
@KBH, to me, it seems it’s not so much people think it is OK to do bad things. They all think this is just a life hack. It’s the “don’t hate the player, hate the game” logic. They’re beating the system and are blind to its cost to others. And, if they think there is a cost to others, that’s OK if the others are businesses.
@KBH @Dave W. — Fellas, it’s cyclical. We’re letting the bullies win these days. We should fight back. And I think we will, soon enough. There’ll be a renewed sense of ‘decency’ once there are enough consequences for the alternative. Until then, be kind to those you care about (and to yourselves).
More of the entitled, selfish antics of the 13 percent.
Assigned seats were the way to go. Boarding had become something of an Oklahoma Land Rush.
《Boarding had become something of an Oklahoma Land Rush.》Yet, Oklahomans celebrate the cheaters (at least name a college team after them).
you’re racist. This blog is racist. You’re anti-semitic too. I’m jewish. And you’re not inclusive. I self-identify as a BlackSouthwestWheelchairJew. How dare you!
This is a great reason why it should be a crime to lie about a disability. (Such a law would also have done a lot during Covid when many people falsely claimed disabilities to avoid wearing masks – to the detriment of the small but non-zero amount of people who actually couldn’t wear masks.)
As a wheelchair user who travels around the world, and lives in Canada – each country has their own challenges with this issue. In Canada we do not get assistance from curb to plane door and visa versa where in the USA you do along with all other places I have flown (over 60 countries now). Try going to India on ANY carrier, however Air India was the worst – when I arrived in Delhi on Air Canada there were 59 wheelchair requests for the 4am arrival of the flight, where they only had 30 available. Luckily the flight attendants know the challenge and how they will take ANY wheelchair including people’s personal ones so the flight attendant went and sat in mine until I could be brought off the plane. At that time there was this HUGE line of more people wanting wheelchairs than had been requested! So the reverse miracle in effect – 1st time I have seen that.
I do find travelling these days most air carriers are more respectful of people who truly have disabilities – such as those with their own medical equipment/wheelchairs and often they are boarded first and then along comes the chain of wheelchair want to be people who as the article indicates, have no issues on the plane and most get off without assistance.
I no longer fly Southwest due to their boarding policies when being transferred to an aisle chair which they often do in front of a line of people in wheelchairs instead of affording me the privacy for the transfer that I deserve.