Southwest Seat Selection
 

Hi,
I recently flew on a southwest 737-700 from New Orleans(MSY) to DAL. Just want to share my experience.
First, MSY's new terminal is so much better than the old one. Anyone who had been to the old terminal knows how dirty and old it was. The new one is very clean and modern!
Second, Southwest's seats are actually pretty comfortable compare to other US carriers. However, it's weird that I did not receive a drink or snack.
Third, a little tip I picked up on choosing seats on Southwest... if you're traveling by yourself and don't want to sit by someone else, your best bet is to sit in the window seat towards the back of the plane. Those middle seats are the worst seats on the plane, thus, people wouldn't want to sit in those seats.

I've also made a detailed video on this flight. Please check it out :)

FA somehow made a mistake not giving you a snack and drink. Everyone always gets those.

Seats immediately behind the exit row are also generally last to fill.

Good to know! Thanks for sharing

I agree right in the middle of the A/C is the best place to get an empty middle seat over my 700+ flight history. People either a) go to the back looking for a window or aisle then still sit there when they don't find one or b) take the first middle they see.

The results of a) and b) are the only remaining middle seats in the middle of the aircraft.

Four of my flights this month had no drink service due to continuous turbulence. The FAs were ordered to remain seated by the captain.

I have been on way too many southwest flight and value open middle seat above all else.

I would argue a different strategy for higher open middle seat probability even on fuller flights. The middle of the airplane 1-4 rows behind exit row has been my sweet spot as well as noted above. Once the aisles and window seats are gone you are typically left with infrequent fliers that will be coming in two types...those that will want to get off ASAP thus will grab the middle in the 1st third of the plane...and those that will keep on "hunting" for the perfect seat all the way to the back of the plane bypassing the middle of the plane then unable to backtrack.

Unless a couple plunks does next to me I am at about an 80% success rate on open middle even with 5 or less seat open.

FAs waiting he exit rows often look at me a bit funny when I bypass the completely open exit row and plunk down one row behind. A few ask, I explain my strategy and most reply with "Yup...brilliant".

If the flight is wide open, rear of the plane is a good idea but on full flights that very well may backfire.

Yes, I only have flown to MSY once a AA Eagle E175 from CLT and the old terminal was yes just that, old and dirty, if I remember correctly the floor was sticky. Good to see they've improved. I hope they also did something about the ride share pickup area, it wasn't well marked and it was a bit of a walk from the terminal. Then again they probably want to make the cab drivers happy and discourage uber/lyft.

I have to disappoint you by telling you that the ride sharing situation did not improve at MSY. They now make everyone line up for lyft and uber. However, the cars does not come according to where you are in line, making the whole process very confusing.

As someone who heads straight to the back for the very reason of getting an empty middle or row, I disagree; many many times on a 136 of 137 flight the only empty seat is the middle next to me in the penultimate starboard row; for some reason the back rows fill before that one (usually 'cause of groups trying to sit together).

Yeah, they seem surprised at that, it's kind of funny sometimes as they make all this effort to move and I just keeeep going.

MSY to DAL is a fairly short flight. With weather it's possible they skipped the service for FA safety.

As a regular Lyft user I thought the line worked very well at MSY. I traveled in on Dec 30th and it was really crazy. I followed directions, generated my code, and stood in line. They had someone there helping folks get vehicles and since there was three of us with two bags they grabbed us a larger SUV and we were gone pretty quick. Worked very well.

I just returned from the new MSY terminal last week. Very big, nice, wide open. Extremely smooth travels. And I had no issues with Uber/Lyft, went very quickly with the line/pin system.

If there was a drink service and you were skipped, just hit the call button. That is what it is there for. To call someone.

No need to make this more than it is.

A lot of people head to the very back because that’s the only bin space left. Once they secure their bag, swimming up stream is not an option.

When I don’t get a drink/snack, it’s due to one of the following:
1) Short flight, 35min or less (a good crew can easily do it)
2)Turbulence
3)I fell asleep

(#2 is often used as an excuse for #1)