Originally Posted by
PVDtoDEL
Board at the end of the Bs sometime and then tell me it's not stressful. Every empty middle seat you walk past makes you think "maybe there aren't any more aisles/windows left and I should just try to stick closer to the front." And indeed, this happened to a person just a few spots behind me in line - he went all the way to the back hoping for a window or an aisle, and instead got stuck in last row middle. He could've had 2B, but he took a risk and got rewarded with a tight space, no window, no recline, and the longest wait to get off the plane possible.. That's stressful.
Flew WN twice weekly SMF-BUR-SMF. Mostly A-List, so I'm seated when FA announces "Okay, folks, no more aisles or windows, just grab that first middle seat you see and get to know your neighbors." And I watch the FAs in the rear of the plane monitor bin space and inform the forward FA's so they can let later boarders know to use the first bin space they come to.
The stress in WN boarding isn't choosing a seat. It is watching the COS come down the aisle and hope he's not eyeing the middle seat in your row. But assigned seats really don't solve that anyway.