abaheti

I was in D and Wife in F. I'm going to just assume she had a tight connection and wanted to sit as far forward as possible.

As for old thread, I am guilty, but I prefer to keep topics together and it makes it much easier for me to search for help or info when others do it. And having all the prior info for context is generally useful to me. I usually feel guilty starting a new thread when there is already one on point that I just didn't find.

pinniped

My Southwest seat strategy is this:

If I have no checked bag, and if it's my terminating segment where I'm immediately leaving the airport, then it's easy: first open aisle seat that isn't bulkhead.

If I have a checked bag, or if I have a connection that isn't super tight, I go to 17D. It's "first class" for the rear FA (on most planes) and falls into the "middle middles fill last" strategy from this thread.

If I think my connection might be tight, I go back to the first approach - aisle seat up front.

If I'm traveling with someone, we usually go to row 17. D and F if it's an obviously not full flight. C and D if it will likely be full.

Boraxo

Appreciate the compliments for WN but the rest is not accurate - maybe more geared to increasing social media page hits on the video?

First, the title is misleading as it implies advance seat selection. Of course there is none - you get what is left when you board the airplane.

Second, the middle seats in the back are no worse than the front in terms of space. The only perk is that you get off the plane faster.

Third, if you want to increase your odds of an empty middle seat, the generally accepted strategy is to take an aisle or window a couple of rows before the exit row. That is because the middle seats up front typically fill first (with people who want to get off the plane faster) and the ones in the back fill up next as people discover there are no more aisles or windows left. So the middle seats in the middle of the plane are normally the last to fill.

Fourth, it is very common to find zero drink service on short flights - could be lazy FAs though the profered excuses are always "air turbulence" or "not enough time"

smmrfld

Ummm...the post was almost four years ago.

dmbolp

And how does the title imply "advance" seat selection??? Every pax boarding a Southwest plane has to then select a seat.

abaheti

Fascinating. Fewer than 40 on the flight, but everyone is bunched up at the front in aisles and windows and way in the back aisles and windows. One woman plopped down in a center and nobody is trying to sit next to her. Meanwhile the middle of the plane is empty. Gate agent, FA announced "take a whole row, we are empty" but folks didn't. All about getting off fast or back door boarding at BUR, I guess, or habits. No back door exit in OAK when we land.

Some academic should do a paper on this stuff.

kennycrudup

Edit: NVM my previous W&B post, then

EAJuggalo

I flew MCO-MKE on Monday morning with the plane continuing on to MCI. I had A24, took the unlimited legroom seat. And had the whole row to myself. According to the monitor at the gate the flight was 78% full and according to the FA, "This is a completely full flight." An even odder anomaly is that the unlimited legroom seat on the other side of the plane had the whole row to himself also.

joshua362

FA's fib a bit at some point of "fullness", after all their goal is to get you seated quickly without time consuming musical chairs.

Those empty seats aren't unusual, there is nothing special about those seats other than they are adjacent to the best seats in the house.

Same with the "luv" seats other than no 3rd party in that row. No extra legroom. And they don't decline.

NoStressHere

More often than not, exit row seats do not get filled early. We get the LUV seats 90% of the time and always chuckle watching those good seats still empty. Even more amazing is when I see a TALL person in the A1-a15 and I assume they are going for the daddy long legs seats - but then they sit in row 3. go figure.

dmbolp

But the "center" LUV seat comes with 2 tray tables; 1 for your laptop and 1 for you drinks!

ACES70

I'm flying with this airline next month so will try and see what works we will have che ked bags so no rush to get off the plane.

dmbolp

I do the opposite; I rush when I check a bag to make sure someone else doesn’t take it first

ACES70

hopefully i won't be that slow, just like timing it well