Southwest Airlines has had assigned seating for about four weeks, and what’s most shocking about it isn’t the fees it’s how strict the airline is about not letting customers move around in the cabin when flights are nearly empty.
- Passengers used to choose their seat when they boarded. There was a rush for the best seats. On flights that weren’t full, everyone just spread out.
- On most airlines you have an assigned seat, but when there are plenty of empty seats it’s ok to still spread out (but not to take an extra legroom seat if you haven’t paid for it). Delta’s rules are explicit about allowing this.
- Southwest is an outlier. Southwest Airlines doesn’t just assign seats and sell seats, they’ve been enforcing seat assignments like nobody else. Here’s 26 passengers on a flight with six people in the same row and “3 specific announcements not to move seats.”
Customers on Southwest report that if they’re in a middle seat and the window next to them is empty, they’re scolded not to move into it. They can’t leave that middle seat empty between the passenger in the window and aisle. You must take your originally-assigned seats. They’ve been told they couldn’t use an empty seat next to them for their lap infant.
And there’s a real problem. When you buy your seat assignment, you don’t know whom you’re sitting next to. Now, you may get stuck next to a passenger of size. They’re spilling into your seat. There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to move into another seat. Here you aren’t even getting the seat you paid for – because part of it is being forcefully taken by someone else!
@SouthwestAir Buy better AI. I paid for a seat. My row is full. Empty rows in front. Attendant says "We must follow the rules". Can you call FLT129 Phx-Stl And give permission for the fat guy in the back row to not go to SWA jail for moving up a row? pic.twitter.com/PLU1goK5e5
— Ken Dobson (@kdobson99) February 24, 2026
Some readers have reacted to this and says ‘that’s how assigned seats work’ but it isn’t. Here’s Delta’s rule allowing moving to an empty seat in the same cabin subject to crewmember discretion.
If you and another customer agree to swap seats, please try to do so before departure whenever possible.
Any swap between cabins/seat products must be completed before in-flight service begins. After service starts, moving between classes is not permitted.
If you’d like to move to an unoccupied seat within your ticketed cabin/seat product during the flight, please ask a flight attendant — changes are at the crew’s discretion and depend on safety considerations.
Southwest’s assigned seating is punitive. They went from most flexible to most draconian overnight. They want to enforce revenue protection – afraid that passengers might somehow get more value than they’ve paid for, and skip ponying up if there’s a chance they can do better on board.
They ‘solved for the equilibrium’ of an activist investor threatening their jobs. But with that investor paring down their stake and losing board seats, it’s time to pivot towards regaining some of their soul.
This is just another in a long list of reasons why I will not be flying Greedwest in the future. From Best to Worst in less than a year.
I don’t know, Gary…..either this is a terrible workplace with draconian rules and co-workers who would inform on you if you allowed passengers to move, or perhaps its the FA’s being passive/aggressive and being overly stringent because they don’t like the new assigned seating model.
I blame other passengers unless Southwest is faking most seats as sold when I am setting up my assigned seats. I have noticed that some passengers seem to like to clump together. Solutions are to go online and reset your assigned seat to one that doesn’t have other passengers in the same row on the same side at the last time to do it. Then when checking in, attempt to move to a seat that is not crowded against another passenger. Checking in at the end of the check in period may help on this. Further, recheck with the gate agent before boarding starts.
I have never regretted not choosing a Southwest flight, even though it cost more.
This looks exactly like malicious compliance by disgruntled flight attendants. When Southwest gets around to issuing an official policy on switching seats, it won’t completely ban switching.
Based on that pic from Twitter, it looks like they are all in the last row. Southwest’s system (and most) tend to put their Basic passengers in the back and fill forward.
If you want more space, pay for it. America’s public wasn’t paying the real value of Southwest Airlines, so now they’re more in line with the pricing model. Sadly the American public blew it, not Southwest. People want cheap fares, then you get cheap service. Same reason we saw Midwest Express go under.
SegementQueen – you are full of crap.
The most important thing is that Elliott Management made lots and lots and lots and lots of money on their investment. If the aftermath is a destroyed company and disgruntled customers, oh well – it’s not anything they have to deal with.
It’s almost as if a country voted for a leader, believing his promises to improve the economy for everyone. But then turned around and implement illegal tariffs which actually made everything significantly more expensive (except eggs and gas), while falsely saying it would be foreign countries that paid the tariffs – not consumers. On top of that, he cozied up to foreign governments to enrich his own family, and then signed legislation that reduced the tax burden on millionaires and billionaires.
Kinda sounds like what Elliott Management did with Southwest – the death and destruction of a beloved organization in their wake, but lots and lots and lots and lots more money for them!! If they go after Costco next, we’re truly screwed!!
I think WN has gone too far, to the point where it’s a competitive disadvantage. I detect Elliot’s hand behind this. Given the same fare, I’d buy from another carrier. My family has to drive two hours and pay to remote park to get to the nearest airport that WN serves. That more than wipes out the faree difference from my local airport.
If you’re changing in the same row or a seat in the same cabin, what difference does it make? It’s not theft, because once the cabin for is closed the seat is no longer available for sale.
At least give passengers on board an option to buy up for a small fee.
The main reason Southwest has lost me as a customer is because of assigned seating AND paying for bags. It’s Delta Airlines every time for me from here on out.
Never thought this could happen, but Southwest is making Spirit look good…
Passengers changing seats could be a problem on many flights since Southwest still has “see and airport and land” flights. If the flight is a “terminator” when landing, then the flight attendants will know that and no big deal. Otherwise even more chaos will ensue when boarding pax find their “perfect” seat occupied for the next four legs from Manchester to St. Louis to Las Vegas to San Jose to Honolulu.
The problem is it can be cheaper to fly first class on some short haul flying then pay for a coach ticket on southworst,80 dollars for 2 bags and 50:dollars for a seat assignment
I have never flown more than 2 hours on a Southwest flight and typically I kept it to a one
hour flight
I’m not certain how they will stay in business long term with poor comfort seats and no amenities and a poisoned culture that was once fun and pleasant
They have noticeably restricted their lowest fare bucket for sale (claiming unavailable)
forcing folks to pay more for tickets in a higher fare bucket.Even now
the lowest fare bucket is typically overpriced shockingly so
It’s as bad as Delta pricing with an even worse inferior hard product than Delta
Yes even Spirit looks better with its big front seat
What on earth were they thinking?
Southwest is a shell of its former self.I feel so sorry for the hardworking passionate folks working the flights.They too must feel gutted what the company has done to itself
@ nsx at FlyerTalk
Absolutely correct, malicious compliance is the reason. The crews are obviously not happy with the current incompetents in the front office and are having their say.
This is no longer the policy. You can move after takeoff.
How about Gary does something new and tells the truth?
Customers are asked to keep their assigned seat until after takeoff, AND (in compliance with federal law) AFTER the seatbelt sign is off. Then, seat changes in the SAME FARE CLASS can be accommodated.
People aren’t complaining about moving to an equal row. Most complaints are because they want to move to an ELR or Preferred seat that they didn’t pay for. And we FA’s are saying NO, because they didn’t pay for it.
No one is disgruntled.
It’s nice to see SW give Frontier some competition.
Pretty sure we should blame activist investors pushing anti-consumer policies and management for being their mercenaries, not flight attendants, but this is View from the (Right) Wing, so… bash the union, I guess. *sigh*
Never buy any airfare on any airline labeled “Basic” if you have expectations of being treated well.
Basically, to make this work Southwest needs to condition it’s passengers to pay for a seat ahead of time. If the airline lets people move around then the “stick” part of that equation is taken away. It will be I won’t buy a seat, take what is given for free and if possible move to another seat once onboard.
Flight attendants are probably being told no seat switching whatsoever.
This wasn’t the case in my SW flight last week. I had an aisle seat and the entire row. The row directly in front of me was full but across their aisle that row was not full. The FA told the folks in the row ahead of me they could move across the aisle to spread out if they wanted after the flight was airborne and they did. The flight was reasonably but not entirely full.
I don’t think WN has realized just how badly the scumbag venture capital creeps at Elliott has backed them into a corner. I’ll just use myself as an example: I usually fly UA, but WN is an option and at times I would fly them instead because I’m taking the kids and – while the fares were the same as the majors – free checked baggage saves a lot of $$. Adding early bird meant getting decent seats. And it was always dependable – and comfortable enough. I’m 6’5″ and they had decent legroom for no upcharge. So, they had a niche that was worth doinig sometimes.
Now what have they got? They aren’t cheaper in any way. Their seating is no better than the big 3; in fact, worse bc they now have cattle class, yet no domestic first. They aren’t cheaper. Why fly them? I just took UA in the back of the plane between ORD-PBI (last year was a bad travel year and I lost status). It was fine. Pleasant, in fact. Again, why fly WN? There’s no reason to any more.
From A List Preferred / Companion status, we are spending down our points and accruing new points elsewhere. We used to LUV Southwest, but the LUV from Southwest seems to have largely disappeared.
We flew 3 times in the 10 days ending 2/8. I can’t say they didn’t allow ANY seat swapping, but certainly (and understandably for a couple of reasons) they made the guy move out of the wing exit row ahead of us after he moved into that seat during the flight)
More reasons to skip SW. It was used to be our go-to domestic airline.
It was great while it lasted.
The tragedy is that the “Activist Investor” hedge fund that forced all this BS on SWA has cashed out and moved to some other lucky target.
If SWA was smart they’d do a “New Coke” and dump all this stuff before it ruins their business completely. As things stand at the moment their future is likely to be decline followed by a takeover. Lose/lose for everyone except the financial sharks.
Some of the changes will be sustainably profitable. The destructive ones are funds expiration and gouge fares. Reverse those two and this could work out well.
My bf flew southwest direct from Albuquerque to San Diego last night. He paid for a better but not best seat. The flight was not full and they asked five people from last rows to move up to the front ahead of him for weight distribution instead of having people who had paid some amount to move first to better seats and then the cheap seats to move forward. He had a row to himself but thought it was interesting.
I flew Southwest last night, mostly empty flight. Flight attendant told me you CAN change seats, but only after flight is in the air, and not to a higher value (like extra legroom) seat than your assigned seat. But some flyers don’t know that; it seems like Southwest is trying to punish Basic fare customers who aren’t A-list or credit card holders by assigning them all together, 6 to a row, all bunched together one row after another.. I’m A-list so can change my seat assignment up til check-in.
“…bash the union, I guess. *sigh*”
This individual is delusional. He now sees things that don’t exist. No where in the article did Gary bash the union. What a fool!
Lucky Larry: You won’t be surprised to learn that the head of Elliott Management is one of Trump’s mega-donors.
Does Southwest still have the “Miracle Flights” where long lines of wheelchairs get the seats up front and their companions get great seats, then when deplaning, all those “handicapped” folks stand up and walk off?
Literally on a Southwest plane last week and the flight attendant offered people to move to an empty row, I was in a row with my kids and my wife was in another row and the guy in the middle didn’t want to move when the flight attendant offered him a more comfortable seat.
Always some scumbag – Mark. R – who has to make everything negative ivolve President Trump. TDS on display from an obvious DemocRAT.
Passengers should be allowed to move to a same class seat provided they paid for a selected seat and there is no objection from any new neighbor.
Flew SWA about a week ago, FA made announcement that it is “against federal law to change seats.” Ummm….. no, not exactly – the passenger manifest has to match who’s on the plane, but you had NO seat assignments for 50+ years. So were you violating fed law that whole time? I think not.
“You won’t be surprised to learn that the head of Elliott Management is one of Trump’s mega-donors.”
What does this have to do with anything? Are we to believe the Democrats don’t have any fat cat donors who aren’t out to make a buck or influence policy?
I flew earlier this month and paid for extra legroom in the second row. I was probably the 12th person on the plane. Overhead space above my seat was already taken and there was a big guy next to me who tried as hard as he could but definitely took up more space than his seat provided. I used to love Southwest! I’m done now though
My daughter had this same thing happen on an Untied flight last year. After waiting four hours for a connection from Europe, the flight attendant would not let her move to an occupied row, so she had to sit next to a noisy family with young children for no good reason.
I have flown WN twice in the past week and both were pleasant experiences with passengers familiar with and adapted to extra legroom seating and assigned seats.
Flight attendants were all more engaged than you will find on legacy carrier flights of the same or less length.
Flight has as many or more business travel looking people than I have seen on recent WN flights.
Southwest will be fine. Social media including here never reflects reality.
Since the USA is the most obese country in the world other than places like Samoa, Tonga and Nauru, you can expect some unpleasant experiences on the new Southwest
Southwest is like Trump. You thought “hey, I”m getting a good deal here” because you’re poor and stupid. But then, when the PE vultures decide to prey on the poor and stupid, you end up.. well just like this.
TDS? Trump Dumbass Slopslurpers get exactly what they deserve, but the rest of middle America is left with the mess too.
The USA is a huge market for the GLP 1 drugs and data shows that average weights in the US and rates of obesity and severe obesity are declining.
Specific to airlines, airlines do have rules and WN is refining its procedures to assigned seating but I also have witnessed flexibility by flight attendants on WN that is not that much different than on other airlines. Remember that there are anecdotal stories of rigidity by FAs on other airlines regarding seat swaps including when flights were very lightly booked.
Customer service is and always will involve judgment. WN has long had a strong customer service culture and I have not seen that change despite the huge changes that company has undertaken over the past year and esp. the last month.
I fly Southwest frequently because they are nonstop to the destinations I want go. I hated open seating and the “pre-boarders” who increased dramatically in numbers after the scam to pretend you needed preboarding became popular. The biggest problem SW is facing now is overhead bin space and the number of group one passengers who place their bag in the first few bins even though their seat is many rows back. FA should not allow this because it slows down both boarding and deplaning when front row passengers have to push through in the opposite direction to place and then retrieve their bags from further back in the plane. Just like the “preboarding” scammers, Southwest does not seem inclined to prevent this type of bottleneck from occurring.
Southwest is the reason I will never ever fly anywhere again. Let me start by saying I am elderly and disabled with many medical issues. I had to fly to Oregon for a family funeral. I paid extra and purchased 3 seats including an extra leg room seat, so I could have plenty of room and not be cramped. I did not get the seats I paid for, Instead I got crammed into a middle seat between two very large men. I demanded the seats I purchased but were told they were not available. I demanded a refund and to move to an empty row. I didn’t get the refund and was not allowed to switch seats.
Perhaps it is time to either re-regulate the airlines or shut down the stock market.
I think @One Trippe may have hit the nail on the head. WN has (and to my knowledge the legacy3 don’t) “through flights” like WN 0477 which flies IND-DAL-ABQ with a 35 minute stop at DAL. Pax don’t (to my knowledge) need to disembark in DAL if they are on 477 to ABQ. If 12C is reserved from DAL-ABQ, but is unassigned IND-DAL, letting 15B, whose flying both legs, move to 12C will likely create a problem at DAL. Maybe that is why it is a hard “no” to moving on some flights (e.g. 477 IND-DAL) but not others, where all are disembark on landing.
This is not the policy of Southwest. As an employee and commuter, I have flown every week, including the very first day of assigned seating, and while small changes have been made since day one of assigned seating (and will most likely still be tweaked), moving to open seats (within fare class) has not been prohibited on any flight that I have been on. I have observed FAs telling passengers that they must wait until the front door has closed, and even until the aircraft is in the air, but never an outright no (so long as it isn’t for a free upgrade to a premium seat). And to the person claiming they were not even allowed to slide over from the middle seat within the same row, I find this hard to believe.
While I preferred the old Southwest, I find it rather confusing listening to people swear off SWA due to a policy to then run to another airline that has been doing the same thing for years. A real head scratcher.
Headline shouldn’t be about Southwest flight attendants not letting folks move. It’s not their fault. It’s the current company policy that needs to change …which is being worked on. Point of fact the policy reads passengers can’t move on ground but passengers can be moved after takeoff when the seat belt sign is off. And yes, there are circumstances where it is due to weight and balance as the aircraft is divided into zones different than other airlines. Thank you.