Meagan may be too young to remember Southwest Airlines, but there was a time when it was much more common for airline passengers to face each other rather than all face forward.
Lounge Seating On Airplanes Is Still A Thing
Megan Homme posted a video of her being seated on a plane in which she and her seatmate were face the two passengers in the row behind them.
@meganhomme
It appears that she was flying Braathens Regional Airlines, which offers “lounge” seating onboard.
Homme remarked, “I’ve never seen this on a flight before…” which means she is probably too young to remember when this was common on several carriers. Southwest Airlines offered seating like this on its older Boeing 737 aircraft as late as 2004 (when I first discovered it and was just as amused…)
Looking at her TikTok page, though, Megan does not appear to be a novice traveler. She just flew business class on United Airlines to Croatia and has many videos of her onboard a plane:
@meganhomme top 5 moments of my life i actuallt shed a tear #mammamia #mammamiasummer #eurosummer #travelbucketlist #greece #croatia
She also was confused about the “do not disturb” stickers on Icelandair (EgyptAir has them too):
@meganhomme would you wear this be honest #flying #airplane #icelandair #traveltiktok #travelvlog
But her bemusement cornering the lounge seating is understandable: I cannot think of any other airline that has train-style “lounge” seating today.
Many business class cabins, by the way, have rear-facing seating, but you’re not have to literally share legroom with the passenger directly behind you.
CONCLUSION
I’m not a fan of lounge seating (I don’t like sharing legroom with the person in front or behind me), but I’m old enough to remember when it was much more prevalent. While it would not be bad for, say, my family of four traveling together, I’d just as soon face forward.
Do you like lounge seating on airplanes in economy class?
She works for United in communications according to her website – and ironically interned at Southwest
She “used to” work at United. She recently quit to become a full-time “influencer.”
Good for her.
I’ve experienced this seating a couple of times – on a BEA Trident in the 1970s and on Belavia (Belarus Airlines) Tu134 in 1998. Both of those had a fixed table shared between the rearward-facing passengers in row 1 and the forward facing in row 2 which gave some separation but also added to the lounge feel!
I can beat that by a few years…!
My first flight was on a BEA Vickers Vanguard in 1962; with lounge seating and fixed table.
I recall I was at the front of the aircraft…so one class cabin? Seven year olds don’t consider such things!!!
When I worked between Sacramento and Los Angeles, back in the days of drink coupons that flowed like water and never expired, colleagues and I would try for those seats so we could have a couple of drinks and catch up with each other. Very fond memories of a lot of flights between BUR and SMF. Also, given the number of people in politics flying, it was not hard to strike up a chat with folks if you got stuck in those seats without friends. I recall families also really liking them and we would often happily give up our seats for parents+kids.
“Clueless”, thats a bit harsh, imo :’D
Tbh I’ve also never seen this before
Thats the whole idea of leaving home.
There’s always something new to you but common to others.
Would love to see here reaction to eating a pigs knuckle in Warsaw restaurant…..certainly not listed on the Starbucks menu.
In addition, the lounge area is an excellent means to socialize with fellow passengers as noted above.
With those Monster earphones and her comments, she impresses me as standoffish and judgmental!!!
Not the best of blogger traits!!
I remember them I think it was on PSA flights between San Jose and San Diego. And the last few rows were for smoking.
Some ATRs still have this at other airlines, once saw it on the seatmap of an Asian airline and Loganair have rear facing seats in Row 1 but I haven’t yet seen them occupied.
I flew lounge style in the 90’s on Southwest when they had their lounges on their 737-300. Only did this when I flew home from LA to the Bay Area with college friends otherwise it avoided it as much as I could. Too awkward.
That used to b e standard on the 50 seat Dash 7s where row 1 was rearward facing.
This has completely slipped my radar – since when did these seats start flying? Which routes? Is there a seatmap?
Remember these lounge seats when flying SWA on business between MSY and HOU. As a group, we would try to get these seats on B737.
Southwest also flew B727s for a while, but I don’t remember lounge seats on that airframe.
“Megan Homme posted a video of her being seated on a plane in which she and her seatmate were face the two passengers in the row behind them.” ???????????????????
I’m assuming it should read, “Megan Homme posted a video of her being seated on a plane in which she and her seatmate were facing the two passengers in the row behind them.”
Planes in the 90s weren’t as full so WN’s lounge seating meant more room… If someone boarded and saw me already sitting there they were more likely to move on to another seat. It was rare for anyone to choose to squeeze in
These were also common on USAir in the late 80s, early 90s. I don’t recall what make of plane, I was too young to pay attention then!