As we’ve said in the past, Southwest is an outlier when it comes to seating. Instead of assigning seats, they use a mixture of paid access, special groups, and “first come, first served” (based on when you check in for your flight). They’ve also recently tried various experiments with small changes in boarding order (this one in December 2022 and then this one in February 2023), but the general heart of the system remains the same.
The system has its fans and its foes. However, since seats aren’t assigned and there’s no guarantee someone will sit next to you, many people have tried to tip the scales in their favor with various hacks to keep seats open in their row. We’ve reviewed some of them in the past:
- How to get the window seat
- Going one step further on a popular hack
- Two other ways to keep the seat next to you open
- Latest way to sit alone on Southwest
Obviously, each of those had its own success rate (although I give extra credit to the person in that first one 😜). But it looks as if Southwest has decided to get in on the fun…they’ve made a tongue-in-cheek video of their own strategies to get a row to yourself on their own airline. Some have been mentioned before, but some not. Take a look:
Some of the replies to the Instagram post were pretty good:
- I just hold my baby up so people can see her… works every time lol — kristiekayschildt
- I just hold the barf bag. 60% of the time, it works every time. — steveoflyz
- Have you tried “the travel vlogger” where you set up with a full video production kit? — gopro
- How about the guy who saved 4 exit row seats and was belligerant to anyone who wanted to sit there and then when his family showed up they were all too young. Oh and no one would move so his family could sit together…..karma — criswhit24
- One time, I sat in the middle seat of an empty row, in the hopes that no one would take the window or aisle before my friend who was boarding in group C. It worked! 😅😅 #southwestsocialexperiment — ros.travels
- I always hope the love of my life will sit next to me. No luck yet — mattswanderlust
- Little bit of snot dripping and a few heaty coughs does the trick — twepilot
- My mom faked a fear of flying on a flight from LA to Chicago with one open seat. After lots of tears, using a barf bag, and load prayers…We got the open seat — markie_54
- Don’t forget putting your bag in the seat next to you and acting busy. Amazing how many people don’t want to interact 🤷♀️ — csynodinos
But a few people had to be spoilsports and ruin the fun (even if they may or may not be right):
- Ummmkay. Most flights are oversold, so none of these tactics would work-nice try Southwest — carnivorous_rabbit
- Let’s just bring back assigned seating. Those who don’t fly frequently get really confused and hold up the process. It’s not as convenient as you thought. Also offer a First class option for your loyal frequent flyers who have earned the points. A List still gets you a small seat. — brittney_spurling
- We are A list and still have to pull all the tricks because there are way to many pre-boarders allowed! 🤪 — deannewalker43
- I purposely sit next to people who do this — jmbousselot
- 23 people disabled at boarding only two at landing. The Southwest preboarding miracle. — da_brewmaster
- An interesting perspective for a company to take…we know you hate not having an assigned seat and we see you doing all you can to be comfortable and we’re not going to change anything about it lol but we luv u! 🙄 — michaeeeeeel
- Not sure why you’d post this. You’re clearly promoting the practice and actively encouraging something that makes other passengers angry and your flight attendants’ lives more difficult. — lorfw
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.
Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
