flew southwest twice. Being able to snag any available seat i wanted was my favorite part
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I was lucky enough to experience the open seating on Southwest when attending FlightSimExpo in Houston last year.
I managed to snag an exit row with no one beside me, so it was great (especially considering I was on a MAX, haha). Although, it sometimes can be like the hunger games for seat selection!
Going to miss open seating on Southwest!
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It depends on your seating group for you to be lucky. There is a 5050 chance you get to sit with your family if you are in the B group but if your family is all in separate groups thats where the issue comes to light
if you book under one reservation your positions will all be under the same letter group and number grouping (ex: 6-7 or 31-35)
Oh I see. Often when I fly with family (most of the time extended if a vacation) we book separately so it gets hard when we want to be in the same section
Realistically speaking, you are guaranteed a whole row of 3 if you come anywhere in B, because there are 30 ish rows = 120 seats that ppl will fill first. Yes, it can get dicey if everyone wants a window but even then you can take BCDE. As a family of 4, I’ve never had an issue. Just bolt directly to the back if you’re unsure.
Gosh, now I gotta pay for a window seat on Southwest? Darn, the open seating is a reason why I fly on Southwest: 99% guaranteed window seat for me (provided that I check in right as the 24 hour check-in period begins).
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I actually like SWA’s open seating. I’m genuinely surprised that so many people don’t.
And the only reason why there will be more leg room is because the seats are now thinner than Bible paper.
“Premium seating” is just a euphemism for thinner, less comfortable seats that will make you wish you were in a lawn chair instead. (Which are more comfortable than most airline seats nowadays)
The fact that an AUSSIE has flown Southwest before me says a lot in terms of airline variety I decided to choose when traveling
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Didn’t know open seating was a thing for Airlines, I would personally prefer to just choose a seat and be done with it. I feel like it would kinda turn into a competition for the best seats, But ive never flown southwest so.
Southwest is kinda the only one that does that in the US alone so after this point, there will be no open seating on any US airline until a new one or an exist one implements it
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For me, open seating was a reason not to fly Southwest unless I absolutely needed. Being tall the ability to pick a seat at booking was preferred for me.
I think the problem now is that there are so many people with status/credit cards that offers early seating that by the time a normal person comes to sit they are out of luck. If you are a family and trying to sit together you have to get lucky or ask a stranger to move seats. I took the family on a trip and we had to ask four different people if they could move seats so the family of three could sit together. We were asking to move from one side of the plane to the other.
I still swear Southwest seats are closer together and smaller than other airlines… That is a different topic… lol.
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Yeah, I’ve had to ask a stranger to move back one row for my relatives to sit together. I felt a little bad. That’s a downside of open seating, especially on full flights where majority of the seats on board will be filled.
I was a fan of southwest’s open seating and sad to see it go away. Like any airline nowadays, there was a particular way to fly southwest - and that meant one checks in right at the 24 hour before the flight mark. Do that - and you and your party were almost guaranteed a spot before B50. Once you had that, you could get empty seats as you wanted, space for your carry-ons, and two free checked bags! It felt great. I’ve never had a bad seat flying southwest because I followed these rules. Now I feel with Southwest going the way of other airlines - the two free checked bags will be next to go!
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Regarding the seats on SWA:
For over 40 years they always maintained plush, comfortable seats. Then the MAX entered service and they have gone FULL low-cost airline mode by getting the typical, paper-thin, cushonless seats. And most seats in aircraft nowadays are almost exclusively made out of plastic. The cushions are less than an inch thick (assuming there’s any foam cushion at all).
Southwests best era for seats in my lifetime was the Canyon Blue era:
Their what fleet?
I can smell this picture
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So can I. I miss that smell.
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Nowadays their cabins smell like nothing.
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Sigh The leather musk is now only in our memories, like Desert Gold and Canyon Blue 737 Classics
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