Do you remember lounge seating on Southwest Airlines?
It was 2004. I was traveling from Baltimore to Los Angeles on Southwest Airlines as part of a high school trip. We were connecting in Phoenix and had a tight connection. As I boarded the flight to LA with two of my friends, we noticed that the backwards-facing seats in row one were still open. So we grabbed them.
This was a Southwest Airlines 737-200 and my first time experiencing so called “lounge seating” onboard an airplane. We took our seats and found ourselves staring at a middle aged couple just inches away in the forward-facing seats.
The woman was only about four feet tall and had a cane. The man was unshaven and wearing a t-shirt with a confederate battle flag on it. Here’s how he broke the ice:
“I just smoked me five cigarettes and drank six beers in the airport bar.”
Ummm, that’s nice.
This was before Arizona’s clean air ordinance, when smoking was still permitted in Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The man clearly reeked of cigarettes and beer.
But his wife really took the cake. I was sitting directly across from her and she said:
“Honey, my leg hurts. Do you mind if I put my feet up?”
I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but told her to go ahead.
She proceeded to place her foot on my seat…directly between my legs.
I don’t think she was a cougar, but that made for an interesting flight…
Both were afraid to fly and the guy was cursing about all sorts of things as we prepared for takeoff. He was in the middle, his wife the window, and another older lady in the forward-facing aisle seat who said nothing the entire flight.
It was an unforgettable flight, thankfully only about an hour.
New Lounge Seating Design
The Heinkel Group, a German engineering firm, entered a new seat design for the Crystal Cabin Award 2020 that is really just a blast from the past. Heinkel describes its new “Flex Lounge” seat on Facebook:
“Our concept, the Flex Lounge, gives the opportunity to book the first two seat rows and make it your own private little area. Your time together starts after take-off!
“The Flex Lounge allows families and groups of friends to have an affordable privacy space during flights. The backrest of the first seat row can easily be moved by the flight attendants to create a communal space for a group of four people.”
Unlike the Southwest Lounge seating, these seats would all be forward-facing for takeoff and landing and adjusted after takeoff to create the lounge. The UK Independent calls this the “most socially awkward airline seat ever.”
CONCLUSION
My experience on Southwest Airlines was my first and only experience with lounge seating in economy class on an airplane. After that, I’m not sure I’d ever want to see it again. But there’s a certain nostalgia every time I see a new proposal to bring back lounge seating. After all, who wouldn’t want to share your seat with someone else’s foot?
Would you be interested in lounge seating again on Southwest and other airlines?
I just flew a Cebu Pacific domestic flight in The Philippines which had this configuration in row 1. Definitely not ideal.
Really? What aircraft?
The ATR fleet, I believe, some northern European ATRs have this layout too.
Must be nice to be better than everyone. As usual you come off as a entitled prick based on how you judged these people.
Matt. He is kinda right. Sometimes u are a bit judgey. Live and let fly…live and let fly, man.
Hmm. Can you point me to the part where I said I was better or indicated negative judgment? Because that’s not what I wrote or intended…
I don’t know if the article was edited but I don’t see that. But maybe I also don’t like sitting next to people who smell of smoke.
Article was not edited.
@Your daddy – it’s clear from your comment that YOU are the one who thinks you are better than, among others, Matthew. What a freaking hypocrite!
Qantas Dash 8 – 300’s have this layout as well, I’ve never been in the seat but always think about how awkward it would be to be trapped in them with strangers
American used to have this in their Dash 8-300s as well.
To be fair, from the evidence before is, Matt is indeed better.
The should be ‘us’, not ‘is’
I don’t get that sense at all. If anything it’s a bit self-deprecating: some High School brats met Ma and Pa Kettle ( On Vacation) and came out second best. As anyone would…
https://celebritypictures.wiki/celebrity/537685/720044
I remember a similar seating in the 70’s on Eastern Airlines. I don’t recall the aircraft type but there was a table in middle of the seats. Kinda cool for families I guess.
Man, I HATED those seats on WN. I am reminded of them when on a European train and get stuck in the same config.
I can go back one more though. As a kid flying on Allegheny in the late 1970’s their old DC-9’s had two cool rounded tables with seats around it. It was awesome actually. Because it was not squared off people could sit without staring at each other and feet touching. It made for some great card games and as a kid I thought it was the swankiest thing ever.
I’m going to dissent here … somewhat. It sounds like the configuration in this new design is optional. If you want to flip the seats around after take-off, you can, but you don’t have to. If I were traveling with my family of four, I would definitely find this appealing. And I would think that most people would prefer keeping the standard configuration if they weren’t traveling with companions.
Where this would fall down, however, is if I found myself with three other people who know each other and did want to configure these two rows for lounge seating. I wouldn’t get any benefit, but I also doubt that I would tell them ‘no’.
I suppose it’s all just a thought exercise, though. No one expects to actually see this again, do they?
Clearly this is for groups traveling together. If you don’t want to “accidentally” get paired with a group of 4-5 who want to flip their seats around…don’t sit in row 2. Not sure what the problem is.
Great story. Thanks for sharing Matthew!
Hah, you should’ve offered to massage her feet!
What @Shawn said. This could be useful for large-ish groups/families traveling together. I could see my son enjoying seeing his grandma face-to-face when the four of us travel together. Of course, the awkward part is if you have a party of 4 or 5, and end up having to share some of the lounge seats with strangers.
I didn’t mind the lounge seating on WN. Typically the planes were not close to full, I’d grab those seats and slouch down, no one would sit facing me
But for work trips we’d all sit in the lounge seats, pull out our ethernet cables and play Starcraft…
It worked on Southwest back in the day when you could amass booze coupons and share with those seat mates.
Our family of six sat in these seat quite often from PHX to SLC! Loved it! The feeling at take off and seeing everyone on the plane below you is incredible!
I miss those seats!
This shit sucked. Anyone who disagrees with Matt on this is a swinger.