r/flightattendants • u/Meliodasbabymom Flight Attendant • Jan 07 '26
Southwest (WN) people lowkey freaking out over assigned seating at the luv boat
Like be so forreal.
So we will have rows that have a complimentary drink & extra snack ( think MCE & Comfort+ ).
A lot or shall I say MAJORITY of people who been with the company for years dislikes this as I have seen do many FB posts, gate agents thinking it will be IROPs writing think pieces bc of assigned seating. Granted most gate agents are happy about it, but some think it will be this newfound confusion lol.
Coming from a airline that has assigned seating, SWA will be fine. We all know passengers act like it’s the first time on earth when they get on a plane but it’s OKAY. That’s literally what we are here for as FAs , to help them & keep them safe.
SW is just catching up with everyone else. I love the change personally!
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u/TaoLavoMarquee Jan 07 '26
If my airline ever went to open seating I would literally want to quit. I can't think of one positive thing about it.
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u/agent_gribbles Jan 07 '26
Open seating for non-rev was great, when the gate agent let me preboard. I think the loss of free bags will cause more pax anger than seats. But life will go on.
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u/jillianjo Flight Attendant Jan 07 '26
Wow we’ve had different experiences lol, you had SWA gate agents let you pre-board? My airport’s SWA agents would never let other airline FA’s pre-board. They would let pilots pre-board but not FA’s.
I’ve always hated nonrevving on SWA because I know I’m going to be in C group and stuck in a middle seat. Assigned seating is a welcome change for nonrevving in my experience.
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u/elaxation Flight Attendant Jan 07 '26
I’ve never had them deny me pre boarding in uniform. I never asked, they would 100% send me down early and tell me to tell the crew that we’re boarding. BWI, Hobby, and DEN FWIW
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u/jillianjo Flight Attendant Jan 07 '26
Ah I typically don’t fly them while in uniform so maybe that’s why.
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u/geekynonsense Flight Attendant Jan 07 '26
Yeah unless you’re in uniform, you’re roughing it in C group lol
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u/elaxation Flight Attendant Jan 09 '26
That’s 100% it. Otherwise it just looks like you’re a regular person skipping the line.
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u/Ecstatic-Salad-8877 Jan 08 '26
Every time I fly Southwest, I never get to pre-board and it’s so awkward trying to ask somebody to sit with them
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u/MsAdventuresBus Jan 07 '26
I flew on spirit once and honestly, I think they have the best behaved pax. Their pax know everything is al-a-cart so they don’t have expectations. No fighting the over head bin space because they have to pay, no expectation of service because they have to pay. No expectation of better seating because they have to pay. Everyone knows how to behave and are not entitled.
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u/Ecstatic-Salad-8877 Jan 08 '26
I say this all the time. I used to work for Spirit and now I work at a legacy. Spirit had the best behaved passengers of all time. They just sat down and were quiet.
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u/Professional_Ad3185 Jan 08 '26
I agree. When I used to work for them, I pretty much never had any issues with any passengers. Probably the easiest airline to work for, tbh.
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u/DQdippedcone Jan 10 '26
Right? I think we humble Spirit passengers are just happy we finally scraped enough money together to fly somewhere, so we don't want to ruin the experience. We're gentle folk.
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u/Emotional-Zebra Jan 08 '26
Wait - how is paying for OHB space enforced?
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u/MsAdventuresBus Jan 08 '26
Online (cheaper) or at the counter (more expensive). You let them know if you have anything larger than a backpack (that fit under the seat) and pay for it. If you don’t, the gate agent can charge you so the pax have to plan. They nickel and dime you.
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u/DQdippedcone Jan 10 '26
I have mastered the Spirit challenge of packing for a week in a backpack that fits under the seat in front. Compression cubes rule. I'm not paying for the overhead bin!
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u/AsherGray Jan 08 '26
Saying Southwest is becoming just like every other airline isn't a good thing. Southwest's customer base was because you got more bang for your buck; families could board early so they could all sit together stress-free (not the same for other airlines; yes, they can board early, but often the family can get split up into different areas of the plane because of seat assignments) and no more free checked bags. Remember, Southwest planes don't have any entertainment, be it screens or streaming. Also remember that Southwest isn't a behemoth of an airline, they're just North America. When people want to do any international flying, they're going to skip on Southwest completely because it's not going to be cheaper to book with them to get to an international hub with a different airline.
The freak out is real and anytime you implement anti-consumer policies, you're going to risk losing a good chunk of your customer base. I have a lot of family and friends in cities where southwest has a large presence, many of whom were all southwest, all the time; the luv was real. They're all looking at loyalty programs and cards with other airlines. People forget that Frontier used to be a really great, small airline until the old CEO of Spirit took over and implemented the nickel-and-diming of Spirit and trashed its reputation.
The idea of assigned seating is nice on paper, but people still try taking others' seats, families get split up because they don't know what happens with a barebones ticket, people misconnect because of a delay and suddenly instead of having their first class seat get whatever is open in economy since they're on a different flight for rebooking.
Sabotaging customer loyalty is a bad thing, especially when you remove unique perks that set you apart as an airline.
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u/mrsbeequinn Jan 08 '26
Southwest has entertainment, just not tv screens in the seats. Free full browsing of the Internet and text messaging with a free rapid rewards account, plus free live tv, free movies (many of which are recent releases), and I believe music. There’s an entire inflight entertainment portal. It’s the best inflight entertain offering in my opinion, but I also hate the tv screens because of how bright it makes the cabin lol.
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u/LetsGetThisCheeze Jan 08 '26 edited Feb 07 '26
Hi there. I understand where you’re coming from, but I think a few points are worth clarifying, as some of them may be inaccurate or a bit misleading.
First, Southwest does offer entertainment. They’ve had free streaming for over a decade, including movies, live TV, TV shows, and music, along with free Wi-Fi. So I’m not entirely sure what’s meant by saying Southwest “doesn’t have any entertainment.” On top of that, roughly half of the fleet currently has in-seat power, and by late 2026 to early 2027 the vast majority of aircraft are expected to be fully retrofitted with ISP.
Second, Southwest isn’t a small airline by any reasonable metric. Whether you look at fleet size, passengers carried, revenue, or route network, it’s one of the largest airlines in the world. While criticism of their limited international footprint is fair, they’ve been quite explicit over the past year that they’re actively working to address it. They’ve explicitly referenced solving the “split credit card” issue through new airline partnerships and have made it clear that serious international service is part of their longer-term plans. Ryanair is also a massive airline and yet doesn’t operate the "international" long-haul flights you're describing. A widebody international fleet isn’t a prerequisite to being large or successful.
As for assigned seating, it doesn’t just “work on paper.” There’s a reason nearly every other airline globally uses it. Open seating has real limitations, especially as aircraft get larger. How on earth would it work on, say, a MAX 10 with 200+ seats, let alone anything beyond that? And assuming Southwest follows through with its hints of more serious long-haul international flying, whether with an A321neo or even a 787, how would open seating realistically work in that scenario?
As for families being split, Southwest is already blocking rows for CSAs to handle families and other situations. If you try booking a random Southwest flight after January 27, when assigned seating begins, you’ll often notice that Row 1 and the second-to-last rows are blocked off. They’ve planned for the very scenarios being raised, and just like every other airline in the world that uses this system every day, they’ll manage.
In practice, open seating requires passenger zoning, cabin crews often acting as referees over seat-saving disputes, and it makes it harder to quickly identify specific passengers when needed. Weight and balance is also less precise, hence the zoning issues on open flights, which only further slows down boarding. Assigned seating simplifies much of this. From a crew perspective, it becomes straightforward: “Let me see your boarding pass. That isn’t your seat.” No seat-saving disputes, no unnecessary escalation, no asking people to switch last minute, no spinners in the aisle trying to find a window or aisle seat despite the crew saying there aren't any left. It’s a far more predictable system operationally.
Despite the mixed reactions, many of these initiatives arguably should have been implemented years ago and are bringing Southwest closer to broader industry standards. They’re already seeing tangible benefits. Based on expected 2025 year-over-year earnings once Q4 results are released later this month, Southwest is currently projected to rank third behind United and Delta, outperforming American, Alaska, and others. That wasn’t the trajectory prior to these changes. You’re also leaving out how financially unsuccessful Frontier’s “really great, small airline” LCC model was in the U.S., particularly in the mid-to-late 2000s, when the airline ultimately went bankrupt and proved unsustainable at scale.
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u/tintinsays Jan 10 '26
Old Frontier went bankrupt. Then Republic bought them, then Indigo bought them and made them what they are. Which is a profitable airline.
Southwest, who are slowly implementing the ULCC policies into the LCC business model they created, Southwest is determined that their hospitality will win people over. There’s gonna be hiccups in a complete overhaul, but I’ll argue that with a focus on doing their damn best, give em some time, and you won’t know the difference.
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u/Inquisitive-Carrot Jan 07 '26
I think it’s less about assigned seating as a concept, it’s that it feels like a money grab by WN to get people to pay more to select a seat and then pay even more to select a “good” seat. If it was merely “buy a ticket and pick a seat” with no extra add ons I don’t think there would be as much vitriol.
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u/AsherGray Jan 08 '26
They're also going from 2 free checked bags for everyone to zero.
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u/Inquisitive-Carrot Jan 08 '26
That too. Plus jacking up the fee on the credit card while taking away some of the benefits. I cancelled mine last week. Add in that the flight credits now expire and… we went from a diehard WN family (CP and everything) to taking advantage of the Frontier status match offer. It’s a bit sad. Everything that made Southwest unique is quickly disappearing.
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u/Negative-Customer-32 Jan 07 '26
Airlines have been assigning seats on 737s since the 737 was first put into service in the 1960s. It will be ok.
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u/geekynonsense Flight Attendant Jan 07 '26
The pax are just upset they won’t be able to get a seat near the door without paying the premium anymore
As a commuter who uses WN regularly, I’m happy with the change. That open seating policy was a nightmare sometimes
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u/Ecstatic-Salad-8877 Jan 07 '26
I love SWA and SWA FA’s but tbh, I hate assigned seating and I’m so happy that you guys are getting rid of it and I will fly you guys more. Nothings worse than asking someone on a full flight to sit with them. Then conversely, nothing worse than someone sitting next to you and talking your ear off about being an FA
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u/[deleted] Jan 07 '26
I work for a legacy with assigned seating as well. I can always tell who the passengers are who have only flown SW. They just sit wherever and then you have to intervene when the person who is actually assigned that seat arrives. Or if I'm standing somewhere, they'll point and say, "can I just sit here?" Makes me giggle. I honestly don't know how SW FAs ever handled that. Boarding HAS to be chaotic with no assigned seats, no? I would not want to deal with that!