A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight fsnapped a photo of an entire row of seats blocked off using a neck pillow and two bags. The passenger who did it wasn’t even seated in the row but nearby, saving those seats for family.
On Southwest Airlines, which has ‘open seating’, there’s no rule one way or another about seat saving. You line up by boarding group and number, which is assigned based on the fare you pay, your elite status with the airline, and the time you check in. People who request wheelchairs get better seats, whether they need the wheelchairs or not.
For Southwest’s passengers, it’s a free for all, everyone for themselves when it comes to the ‘cattle car’ rush for seats. And everyone has their own technique for securing the most space on flights that aren’t completely full and will have an empty seat somewhere (so it might as well be next to them) or to ensure their group sits together – even though only one person paid for earlier boarding
- People place crumpled tissues on the seat and act sick.
- They act like they’re fighting with the other person in the row.
- They spread themselves or their stuff into the seat beside them signaling that it’ll be uncomfortable to sit there.
- Or they place their stuff in the empty seat to make it look like someone is seated there.
- Sometimes Southwest Airlines passengers look intentionally creepy to scare off potential seatmates.
But I guess placing bags on a seat ‘saves’ them, although anyone walking by could just… move the bags. Southwest doesn’t have a policy against seat saving. They also don’t have a policy for it, either. The Southwest Airlines boarding process is a true “war of all against all” (bellum omnium contra omnes).
Imagine paying for earlier boarding and finding that the seats are already taken by passengers who aren’t even on board yet, with a lower boarding position, who did not pay? Then the plane fills up, only middle seats are ‘left’ though a whole row is empty? I guess my thought is shouldn’t ‘unattended bags’ be reported to security?
I actually do like the way Southwest Airlines seats are divvied out first-come, first-served as someone who books last minute and as someone who sometimes changes flights on the day of travel. Good seats may not be available anymore on other airlines!
They also offer an inch or two more legroom than other airlines in their standard seats. And I like that you can help control your own destiny over whether someone sits next to you or not – when the flight isn’t full. Just pick your strategy.
This is why I do not fly WN If I see this on any transit modes I pick up and move it. If some says anything then say for security reasons your bags are to be with you at all times if not the police need to be called
This is not your living room get your feet off the seat
Tomri- The issue is not security of unattended bags, they have have already gone through a security. checkpoint. The problem is the low life’s that attempt this AND the SW flight attendants that do not want to intervene.
I’ve encounter the above shenanigans on my last two WN flights. Passengers are tired of paying for early boarding; yet, get bumped to the rear or middle seat. Also, the WN fares are no better than the Big Three. Only advantage is non-stop to more locations.
Not worth the headache!!!!
Specifically because Southwest sells early boarding for earlier seat selection, those who attempt to save seats, should be discouraged. At the ticket point of sale, during check-in, prior to and during boarding. Problem is that Southwest has allowed this for so long and people don’t like change, especially one perceived as negative.
Since Southwest is bleeding cash and there are security issues with unassigned seating, start selling assigned seats. Problem solved.
Two things can be true at once:
1. There is no rule against saving a seat.
2. You are free to sit in any seat that is not occupied.
Never happens to me as I move it, whatever it is. I have already had the a-hole pick up and try another row.
I’ll just move their stuff. Onto the floor, if necessary.
I think all the early boarders in wheelchairs should only be seated in the last rows of the plane. That will thin out some of the fake wheelchair users. Also only one other person should be allowed to board with the person in the wheelchair, not their entire family.
Southwest seating policy is an absolute joke need to go back to assign seating immediately
There’re few instances in each flight that people may save excessive number of seats. However, for most part, people are polite and friendly. SWA’s boarding method with boarding numbers is the most orderly and civilized boarding of any airlines. We just hate the rushing & jostling positions at gate during boarding because lack of overhead bin space due to people don’t want to pay checked bags with big 3. Even though I am small in statures, I still appreciate the slight extra leg room the configuration on SWA afford the passengers. Lastly, the ease to navigate on SWA website for making reservations and changes without any fees like the big 3 charge, influenced us flying with SWA since the mid 90’s. We’ve even pay slightly higher price to fly with SWA just so we don’t have to play the big 3’s game if gotcha in all the different hidden fees and challenging website.
Toss it to the floor or to a seat in another row. Uh oh, the seat saver must have forgotten which row he left his stuff in.
The problem is SW and their ridiculous boarding process! Let us buy the seats we want and suddenly ALL issues are resolved! People resort to holding seats because SW is 100% the WORST airline when it comes to boarding!
I refuse to fly Southwest. I immensely dislike the way they don’t enforce their first-come first-serve seating policy which really doesn’t exist, considering that they sell first-come, and look the other way for first-serve by allowing all this nonsense seat saving. I also don’t like their extremely haphazard dress code enforcement.
If a spouse saved a seat for their spouse to sit next to them, then okay. Similarly, if a parent saved the two seats next to them for their spouse and child, okay, but Southwest passengers who are friends have seen single family members, on more flights than they care to think about, who paid to board early then save multiple rows of seats for extended family and friends.
One of my closest friends paid to be in the first group with his wife last month, who got on after the wheelies (The fake wheelchair pax who pre-boarded) and encountered when they were even the third and forth persons in the first group, more than 20 seats saved. He calmly picked up the bag on the seat he wanted and the hat and coat on the seat next to him and moved them to the aisle seat and sat down to the screaming of the man three rows back who ran up to them to try to get them out of those seats that he had saved for family. The flight attendants ignored the commotion like apparently they always do on Southwest.
He said that was his last trip on Southwest. In fact, we just purchased a quick business trip round trip on which we’re flying together. I bought the seats for us on AA. We’re going to Denver. It turns out that the seats were the same per person round trip, compared to Southwest, bottom line, if we paid to be in the first group boarding on Southwest, but we have assigned seats, across from each other on the aisle in main cabin extra on AA and the tix include no baggage fees like Southwest.
Fly Southwest only when it’s direct I also do business select and get on early.
I have no tolerance for this nonsense, and would simply move the bag
This is not nearly the problem as are the miracle flights with the people getting wheelchairs that don’t need them
Recently, I took a friend who has a brain tumor to Chicago for specialized care. He had to change gates and was tired after getting chemo. I could find wheelchairs, but we could not find anyone to push it because they were tied up with these trolls on Southwest . I say trolls kindly as
It is the height of selfishness to tie up a wheelchair and someone to push you only to get up without the wheelchair and someone to push you when you land.
We were told we had to wait for someone to push the wheelchair and when it was clear that there was no one we just said the heck with it took one of the wheelchairs, and I pushed him through the airport myself Balancing his carry-on bag and mine as best we could.
Think about that an actual cancer, patient not able to walk and could not get a person because someone else was using it to get early on a flight..
This is the real nightmare that SW Has caused
People getting on with wheelchairs should be mandatorily, made to sit at the back of the plane. They could be the first ones on, but they’re going to be the last ones off
Enough of the nonsense assign seats .plus anyone who wants to change seats for whatever reason once they’re on the plane charge them $50 by credit card by the flight attendant. None of this I want to sit with my kids nonsense cause you didn’t book it
You want to get someone to leave $50 taken by the flight attendant immediately given to the person in a refund who has to move.
Enough of the entitlement
@john guess you have not been in an airport in the last 20 years. Do not leave bags unattended. They will be taken by airport police to a secure location3
in some places, leaving your bag unattended is against the law. It’s seen as a security hazard, and you could be fined for the commotion caused.
BOSTON MARATHON . 2013 ENOUGH SAID. …
I am a pretty regular SWA passenger, and tho I have occasionally seen “saved seats,” I have not had a problem getting the seat I want. I do fork up $$ for “Early Bird,” so I am always in Group A, therefore pretty early to board. That being said, SWA is no longer any kind of a “bargain,” as I have found that my “legacy” go-to (UAL) is very competitive in pricing when the total “bottom line” price is compared. My UAL credit card gets me a free checked bag should I need it, and the seat assignment is included in the price. That “evens out” to the free checked bags plus the EB fees on SWA. It’s a choice I make by comparing all the details before I book any flight. What I DO think is awful is that SWA FA’s do not intervene at all in defense of paying pax who are being manipulated through the utterly miserable actions of people hijacking the system for selfish reasons.
I stopped flying Southwest a long time ago because of their boarding policy. I have absolutely no regret.
I am a handicapped women 70 years old. I have balance issues sine my stroke. Plus the entire walk from and to plane is very hard on me! People look at me gunny when I use my wheelchair to go to the bathroom or to get something to eat or drink! Some disabilities are not noticeable such as heart conditions, balance etc.
Getting off the plane after landing gets literally dangerous as you will be run over by people in the back who run up the aisle blocking you in your seat or knocking you in the head with their elbow! Do over it with rude people.
HATE SW never fly with them, not worth it.
This seems to be a bi monthly story about SWA. So, Gary, you are either rallying for a low level attack on SWA in hopes that many will rise up against the oppressor airlines and force them to make a policy about seating or get people to click your column about an outrageous behavior. story. I think you should stick your neck out and state your stance on this matter. Every time.
TJM
I stopped flying SWA over 20 years ago. I didn’t like their ” cattle like line up” for boarding” a d people think they’re saving but they are not. I like order when I travel and what you fine is a lot of “infrequent” travelers who apparently do not know ” flying etiquette”. This is not your Greyhound bus travel. I do not give up my seat that I chose because someone doesn’t book early enough to group their travelers together, or who use that old ploy of paying g less for seat and getting g someone to trade. It use to be you didn’t run into problems like these until those who didn’t fly regularly were able to with fare reductions. I wish there were “adults only” flights and fa.iky flights. And SW doesn’t care about how you dress to fly. The Airline that enforces this the most is UA and I applaud them for setting standards.
Gary,
I don’t like how you don’t offer a solution. But I have one – first to pay fare; first to select a seat before boarding. In other words, you pick your seat when you pay fare – another incentive to book early.
JOE
The one and only reason I don’t fly SW is the seating stampede. I’d gladly pay a bit more for assigned seating.
I wonder how Southwest gets away with this. Is a seating manifest not important? What if, god forbid, there is an air crash where part of the plane has perished? Imagine the investigation scenario when they cannot determine who was seated where on the aircraft and the bodies are unidentifiable? What if an individual are 10 suffered concussions and simply wandered off out of confusion and the airline pronounced them dead because they don’t have a seat manifest? Why has nobody questioned this? I’d think the FAA and DOT would have a genuine concern over this free for all policy.
I suspect that it would be very expensive and error prone for southwest to now retrofit their reservation and boarding computer systems to manage seat selection and assignment. Don’t expect that investment to be made.
Southwest needs the extra revenue, so they NEED to stop “the save”. I know the FA’s don’t want to be confrontational, nor do they want bad PR (flight delayed due to taking scofflaws off). People who save seats should be fined the cost of “early bird” or “business select” for each seat saved, and if they don’t whip out a credit card, be banned from the airline for a year. Southwest should post that policy at the gate and right before you board. It’s really no different than if you have an overweight bag (I was charged for even 1 lb!!). If you save a seat, you need to pay for priority boarding for that seat. It’s really that simple. Now for the disabled, that needs our Transportation Secretary to fix. You should prove you are disable. You have to do that where I live (Reno, NV) to get a discounted fare to ride public transport. Why the same rule doesn’t apply to planes as it does for public transit buses is curious. BTW, Reno’s requirement to prove disability: *Medicare card or a signed letter no more than 3 months old (original document only) from a physician stating the individual is disabled and the time period of the disability accompanied by a valid driver license or non-driver photo ID card issued by the Department of Motor Vehicles.* Now how they prove it’s a real doctor letter…..sigh!
A lady last week on a flight from Baltimore to Manchester NH tried to save 5 seats. I paid over a 1k for a business select seat. She boarded early, which i thought was reserved for people with disabilities. When I boarded i was just amazed. When I said “really” to the 5 seats (or 2 2ntire rows), she became upset and looked at me like I was totally in the wrong. I enjoy SW, but they are doing a poor job on managing seating. They need to allow business select customers the opportunity to board prior to those who are allowed early boarding, but dont actually have any disabilities. I’ve been an A List Premeier with companion status for over 10 years. It’s at a point where I may go back to unitied. At least there I won’t see someone saving 2 rows who should never have been allowed to board early
And this is why I will NEVER fly Southwest again!.
Pay more at another airline for an assigned seat.
So sick of rude entitled jerks!
I wanted to chime in here on this topic because I agree with some on here. No travellers should be allowed to save seats on a flight at all because if your doing this,then it causes a major nuisance to the airline company and it will also piss off other travellers and that’s probably something that you don’t want to do, especially if you don’t want to get an ear-full from a ticked off traveller
too many betas here
Ask them which seat they want.
You take take seat they arent using at that moment.
If they fuss, get the FA.
Problem solved
For every action by an airline, there is a reaction by their customers.
Baggage fees beget carry ons.
Carry ons beget full bins
Full bins cause delays due to gate check ins
See how that works?
Open seating saves on reservations
But it fosters mob mentality
That mentality leads to seat saving and arguments over placement
Should I go on?
On the saving passengers side it’s a smart move for one person to pay for early boarding then save the seats for family in B/C group vs. everyone paying the fee and to Southwest that should be a problem in itself because it’s lost revenue. For the people infuriated with seat saving, stop taking pictures and then moving along to another seat, instead take one of their seats. Be confrontational and loudly shame them but there is the problem with our weak society, everyone is afraid of confrontation so they just take a picture and move along.
Just flew Nashville to Greenville and very large woman with cane limped to wheelchair and early seating. Well, she was zipping ahead of us to baggage with no cane, no limp in Greenville!