Southwest Airlines debuted its new interior cabin design not long ago. Planned to be available on its new aircraft deliveries beginning in 2025, the airline showed off its new seats (and also mentioned its bigger overhead bins and in-seat power ports being added to its current planes) via a new video campaign.
The video Southwest posted on TikTok has, to date, garnered over 10 million views. Here it is:
@southwestair New fit check! 💯 Introducing our updated cabin design and new seats! You can catch this interior on new aircraft deliveries beginning next year. Not to mention our ongoing rollout of adding bigger overhead bins and in-seat power ports to our current planes!
The video’s also gotten over 17,000 comments and a whole lot of them are not particularly complimentary. In fact, bunches of them are essentially skewering the airlines for what appears to be much more uncomfortable seats.
- What I’m seeing is rockhard seats — Kyle Miner
- Is there an option to just stand? — TBW
- Those seats are 1 ply — Klumsy_Kat
- this did the opposite of make me want to fly southwest. 😅 — Justin Burnett
- The best Delta ad I’ve seen 👏 — Moo
- It’s like.. the opposite.. of comfortable seating? — Alyssa Schmidt
- That’s a yoga mat with a seatbelt! — It.PAYN3
- *puts SWA rewards credit card in the back of my wallet* — Simeon Lyon
- Will the prices being going down in proportion with the reduction in cushioning? — StefSaysHey
- My back just flared up — Derf
- Not only do I have to fight for a seat now I get to fight for a cardboard one! — Offofit
- Did y’all not do a single focus group on these?! — Lindsay
- Spirit airline seats… – Joont
- Why not just put wooden benches in? They’d be just as comfy… — Katie
- I’ll walk, thanks. — Harley (they/them)
- We are getting lawn chairs! — Dr Ruth Canoo
- @American Airlines this is why we fly with you 😳 — Mom of One
- Cool, when do you plan to reveal the improvements? — Beeageeda
- So we get thinner, more uncomfortable seats with a heart on it — mIss_minyard
- Love it 🥰 I’ve always wondered when airlines would start catering to people like us who enjoy relaxing on slates of granite 🥰 — Nicolestew🏳️🌈
- Are the cushions thinner so you could put them closer and squeeze in an extra two rows? lol — Null
- even less cushioning. nice. swa is the new frontier — John Golembiewski26
- My foldable camping chair looks more comfortable 😩 — Locutus_5618
- So the cushions not gonna be flotation devices anymore or do we take the whole seat with us & use it like a water mat? — Cadful
- Very nice… *books on United* — dead account
- Reminds me of an ol’ Wendy’s commercial: WheRRRe’s the Seat? — scottchuone
- hm….you know what’s due for a comeback? trains. Amtrak! this could be your moment, baby! — Tonight On Sick Mad World
- Cool. I always wanted to sit on a surfboard for 4 hours on my flight to Omaha. — HaveARiceDay
- if I pay a little extra can I get the old seat put back? — John Bull
There was one person whose own TikTok suggests that he’s a pilot. His reply was:
- We employees got to test them!! The seats recline, they’re just as comfy as the outgoing, and actually a little wider to sit in — Saahaj Mattey
But when questioned, he admitted:
- We were asked to sit for like 30ish mins in them, they felt to me just as comfy/uncomfy as the outgoing seats
Whoa, 30 whole minutes, huh? #rolleyes
Southwest made an announcement to defend the new seats.
For example, the airline insisted that “the [new] design is based on extensive research covering customer and employee perceptions of color, comfort and their aspirations for the overall onboard experience.”
“Our redesigned cabin interior significantly enhances our in-flight customer experience and will complement the amazing service that our crews provide,” Southwest senior vice president Tony Roach said in a statement.
“The new RECARO seats include a multi-adjustable headrest cushion for enhanced head and neck support, an intuitively designed seat for ultimate comfort while maximizing seat width and overall support,” Southwest said in a release.
I’m not sure how a seat that looks like it’s less than 2 inches thick will have “ultimate comfort,” especially on longer haul flights. I mean, can you imagine sitting on a cushion that thin on their LAX to the Baltimore/Washington area flight? Maybe I’m wrong, but I foresee sore backs and sore butts for a whole lot of Southwest PAX.
It’s probably something we’ll take into account when we’re considering which airline to fly.
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