News and notes from around the interweb:
- I never would have guessed two years ago that Southwest Airlines would become less customer-friendly than Delta, but there you go. They won’t let you spread out into less expensive seats than what you paid for even when an oversized passenger is taking up half of yours.
Hey @SouthwestAir – Flight WN2991 Tucson > Vegas tonight has abt 50 passengers. Please explain why I’m required to stay in a window seat in a full row when there are completely empty rows behind me? Please tell me why a flight attendant called me rude for asking? #RapidRewards
— Lori Delaney Johnson (@LoriDelaneyJ) March 15, 2026
- Those of us living in the United States too often take it for granted. A passenger can walk around with a Tumi backpack open in back – and cash sticking out from one of the pockets – and nobody takes it and he’s just fine.
- I will never understand how the ceiling of an aircraft can get so scuffed. This seems to be the condition of American Airlines planes more than many of the other carriers I fly. This should have them questioning use of the specific material, and also addressing it in overnight maintenance. The cabin condition of a $50m+ aircraft should be kept up appropriately. Have some respect!
- Southwest used to be special.
This was a Very Real Thing for those of us over six feet and 250+; it was a temporary salve for the male loneliness epidemic. Look what they’ve taken from us. pic.twitter.com/O34MCKgDaU
— Clue Heywood (@ClueHeywood) March 15, 2026
- Delta Air Lines shrinkflation. Reminds me of when United started giving out smaller packages of Biscoff cookies because they were cheaper, and when American started doing it blaming pandemic supply chain.
American shows the Cheez-It bag she was given on her Delta Airlines flight
The bag is unopened. She opens it on camera so you can see this is actually what came in the bag
There seems to be no limit in America to how much corporations can cut back on giving us pic.twitter.com/vdqHqwaw6z
— Wall Street Apes (@WallStreetApes) March 15, 2026
- The Amex Platinum ‘Uber VIP’ benefit of top-rated drivers in certain cities is being dropped in favor of ‘signature support’ for issues and problems.
- When everyone’s priority, nobody is. (There ought to be a high priority queue, I suppose.)
AUS No Priority in the Priority Line
by
u/TallBlondBeauty in
americanairlines
Better savor each and every one of those premium Cheez-Its.
A lot of airlines does not allow you to change seats – before take off – on a half-empty flight, due to “weight-and-balance”…..but it should not be a problem once you’re in the air.
On the ceilings, you forgot: “Clean. Your. Planes.” Though, yeah, what’s going on there? Odd.
As for the last item, one of the downsides of relying on Reddit for your content, Gary, is that inevitably, the mods over there do tend to remove content, occasionally… whoopsie.
Per Clausen is correct. Some flights are “payload optimized”. With assigned seating, cargo must be placed in specific locations. Since the aircraft has swept wings, weight and balance is calculated differently. It must be in balance for takeoff, cruise. landing. I have been on optimized flights out of Johannesburg and Heathrow where only paid passengers are in first class and yet 16 seats open. No upgrades are allowed as the cargo is loaded into the cargo “cans” and those “cans” are loaded in a specific order for the weight and balance reasons. As a Part 121 flight instructor, this is a subject I teach.
The ceiling scuffing is clearly from people throwing their carry-on bags up wheels first to get in the overhead and hitting the ceiling on the way up (or down). But agree it ought to be getting cleaned sooner or later.
“Cash” sticking out like that is almost always a disguised religious or political tract.
All the other airlines do the exact same thing. Why let folks move to a higher class/fare seat for free? Then folks will play the game of waiting to see if seats are empty instead of paying for the upgrade. As for the “weight and balance” issue, unless there is “for fee” cargo is in the hold or or some other extra ordinary circumstance, a couple hundred lbs moving a few feet shouldn’t affect w&b enough to matter. I flew in the military for 20+ years and now as a civilian contractor. Weight & balance is just the excuse they give to keep you quiet.
@ Airbus CFI. I thought they are called igloos…did those-in-the-know decide that term was racist? “Cans” doesn’t seem to adequately describe them and Unit Load Device (ULD) seems a bit cumbersome, even for those speaking the King’s English.
Jax Dawg…the military has different sets of “rules”. If you don’t believe that, when I was in the USAF, there were videos of various military cargo aircraft flying with civilians jammed in to escape the “enemy”. I doubt that a W&B was calculated. I’m not sure what “for fee cargo” is but cargo is cargo. These “igloos” (in my 28 years, that’s a new term I’ve not heard) or “cans” are loaded in the cargo/baggage areas of the airport long before they arrive at the jet. They are weighed and that information is sent to load control. Some aircraft can only carry these “cans” in one baggage compartment. I can’t speak for other companies but the passenger weights at my company are “winter/summer” averaged weights. Cargo and fuel is actual weight. Each one of our aircraft is unique. The empty weight is different but the center of gravity is absolute. While I am not a dispatcher/load planner, I have sat next to them and watched one try to work a W&B on a non stop flight from the west coast to the east coast. On one day with the current OAT, there was no way to carry the passengers and cargo from Seattle to JFK without dumping passengers (not a good idea), dumping must fly cargo (also not good) and still have fuel in balance for taxi, takeoff, enroute and landing. The ONLY way was to make a technical stop in Kansas City for fuel…also not a good idea. When asked my advice, I suggested that we still had time to route some of the cargo on an earlier flight but it was tight. After much juggling, we got the W&B right on the line! Granted, the “line” might have a fudge factor built in but the numbers are absolute and cannot be exceeded fore or aft for all three phases of flight.
Airlines have gone from respecting all passengers, with special treatment for some who would pay 50% more, to purposely making life miserable for those in the cattle-car “coach” section, so they will pay four times as much for a seat in front with a plastic enclosure.
Anyone complaining about drinks and snacks in the USA has never experienced a domestic flight on BA, ITA, or SwissAir.
I’m less concerned about the scuffs than what appears to be mold growing on an air vent.