It was nice while it lasted, but Southwest Airlines will stop blocking middle seats on December 1, 2020. Southwest claims the science demonstrates middle seat blocking is no longer necessary.
Southwest Airlines Will Stop Blocking Middle Seats
After announcing another $1.2 billion quarterly loss, Southwest Airlines is done blocking middle seats. Starting in December, Southwest will sell planes to full capacity. Currently, Southwest only sells 2/3 of its seats, meaning every passenger is guaranteed not to sit next to a stranger involuntarily. Southwest says this change will result in $20 million in lost potential revenue in October and up to $60 million in November.
Speaking of the change, Southwest Airlines noted:
“This practice of effectively keeping middle seats open bridged us from the early days of the pandemic, when we had little knowledge about the behavior of the virus, to now. Today, aligned with science-based findings from trusted medical and aviation organizations, we will resume selling all available seats for travel beginning December 1, 2020.”
I’ve always thought this was more about comfort than safety in terms of airline policy. Indeed, I argued that Delta Air Lines could distinguish itself as the premium U.S. carrier by continuing to block middle seats. Nevertheless, Live and Let’s Fly has demonstrated that blocking middle seats does provide statically significant additional protection for travelers.
> Read More: A Scientific Basis For Blocking Middle Seats On Airplanes
If more than 65% of seats are booked, Southwest will notify passengers ahead of time, giving them the option of switching to another flight at no additional cost.
CONCLUSION
If you are looking for a guaranteed middle seat, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines will continue to block middle seats through January 6, 2021. JetBlue is on the fence and has not made clear if it will block seats beyond November 30, 2020.
The good news for travelers is that passenger load factors remain depressed, so in most cases you still will not have a person next to you.
Will this policy change at Southwest Airlines cause you to fly another carrier?
image: Southwest Airlines
Well this is news. I’m doing STL-DEN-PSP on Dec 1 and returning the same on Dec 4. Hope I don’t have to deal with COVIDIOTS.
If this frightens you please cancel your trips immediately!
Flying for the last 6 months has been an absolute joy. The reason being, of course, is that the self selective travel nature of the covid ninnies, obviously they have a propensity for being complete boors and have ruined travel for the rest of us in the past. We just didn’t know it was them all the time!.
So, I beg of you, continue to be afraid and stay home. I just returned from a fantastic trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, not a covid ninny to be found!
Welcome home, Willy.
I’m sure the friends and loved ones of each of the 224,000 (and counting) ‘ninnies’ who have died of COVID in the States would take comfort in the fact that you had a good time on your trip. Those mourning ‘boors’ would accept, no doubt, that far more important than trying to reduce the staggering daily number of new COVID cases in America, is your ability to hop around the country experiencing ‘absolute joy’ on empty planes.
Ha, ha, the scolding crowd!
Lots of people die everyday and your stance is not a noble one, but purely egotistical. People are tired of your snotty blame game, reality has set in. I believe I care more than you for every person and family that gets and sadly might die from Covid, but I’m not willing to give up my freedoms.
Go scold other people. Maybe stand at a street corner and yell at people not wearing seat belts?
I’m off to Florida tomorrow, pretty hopeful you nasty, scolds continue to stay home.
I mentioned somewhere that I had taken a few trips over the past months. Some people responded aggressively about how I was contributing to the spread of Covid and how irresponsible I was. Oh well. It is certainly a tragedy that so many have gotten ill and died. But I haven’t and I am not in the least responsible for any spread. I take my precautions and continue traveling, albeit at a slightly reduced pace. When I return home I quarantine according to local laws. And I do agree – it’s been quite good: empty plans an airports, no lines, less stress. I do however feel sad for al those whose livelihoods are seriously impacted by the lack of travel.