Southwest Airlines has open seating onboard, with seats available on a first-come, first-served basis upon boarding. There are no reserved seats. But one guy has an admittedly clever trick for ensuring that your middle seat stays open on Southwest.
Clever Trick To Keep Middle Seat Open On Southwest Airlines
I’m not a fan of Southwest Airlines because I like to know what seat I will be seated in before I board the plane. I also don’t like the idea of checking in at 23 hours and 58 minutes before your flight and finding myself at C39 (toward the end of the bolding queue).
But some people swear by Southwest Airlines and I think Southwest now has a great opportunity to poach passengers who were once loyal to legacy carriers, but that is not the subject of this post…
Instead, I want to focus on a genuinely clever trick that involves simply an arm, a hooded sweatshirt, and a baseball cap. Put the cap over you first, the hoodie over your arm, and voila…you have a “seatmate” that renders the middle seat occupied.
View this post on Instagram
Anyone who doesn’t look closely will keep right on walking past.
I like this method a whole lot more than the creepy eye trick, where you deliberately make eye contact while patting the middle seat as if to invite someone to sit next to you.
https://www.tiktok.com/@mikewdavis/video/7116956884212518190?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc
I suspect it would be a very weird flight if someone actually took you up on your offer.
Then again, maybe it’s better than using an app to find a date…
CONCLUSION
While I don’t see myself in a position to try this trick out, perhaps it will help some of you. I genuinely find it clever and the sort of thing that even if another passenger caught on, they’d probably skip the seat anyway just out of respect for your efforts.
Funny childish trick appropriate for Halloween . Harmless puppet . Recall Senor Wences .
Matthew, it’s time to surrender to AI—at least to do your proof reading and run spell check:
“ I think Southwest now has a great oppronity . . .”
“ Put the cap over your first . . .”
I remain grateful for your posts.
The race to the bottom continues.
He’s a punk.
This is exactly the reason why I avoid WN. With that said, should they ever consider proper seat assignments AND in the manner of Spirit doing a couple rows of F style seating to buy up to, I would absolutely consider switching given frequency and good point to point options. Even more so if UA goes the way of Delta as to loyalty.
My trick is to use the various tools that exist to help me determine if there are likely to be empty seats on the plane before boarding starts.
I sit at the front of the aircraft.
If there are going to be empty seats, I try to sit where the overhead bins are already full– many people want to sit near their overhead baggage. Obviously sometimes the middle seat gets taken, sometimes it doesn’t.
If it’s a full flight, as others are boarding I make brief eye contact with those who look narrow and clean, accompanied by a small smile– hoping that I look friendly, clean, narrow, and not creepy myself.
I applaud the bit; too bad it will not be viable after this IG post gains traction.
I agree with you Matthew on the seat issue plus it takes at least an hour to get your luggage at my home airport DEN. Clever trick but it’s rare that a SW flight isn’t full.
I love and ONLY fly Southwest and have done so for over 35 years. Those who complain apparently have more money that sense. Checking in 24 Hours in advance only takes a few moments – while others would rather spend $25 to $100 for their seat – what a joke. People have been brainwashed AND fleeced by the airlines for things that used to be and should be free as part of the price of a ticket. Paying for a seat, paying for checked bags, paying for carry on baggage, paying to print a boarding pass – asinine and ridiculous. Forrest Gump had it right – “Stupid is as stupid does.
A coin has 2 sides and likewise to just fly SW can be stupid as well. If I restricted all my flying to SW for my business trips I would never have accumulated the points to fly to Australia from the US multiple of times and even had multiple opportunities to be upgraded to business on United. Sure I could have flown SW but the points would have gotten me no where. Now that’s stupid.
I avoid baggage fees with a branded credit card, typically about $99/year but I churn them for bonuses so the annual fee is moot. We travel with a 7 year old so we usually get assigned seating as a family. It’s strange how many people haven’t figured out how to check-in online 24 hours in advance, but it’s usually helped me snag great seats. I still prefer to print our boarding passes (double sided) because it’s so much faster for the TSA and gate agents (and they seem to appreciate it) as they don’t have to fiddle with your phone to try to get the bar code to scan.
I find it less than humorous that a “legitimate” journalist would propagate such an idea. More appropriate (mature) is to just not fly Southwest rather than use childish methods to game the system. Give all your business to places you want to support.
I think it’s a cute trick. I don’t fly Southwest.
I’m the guy with a serious cold 365 days\yr. It’s working even better since COVID.
I’m the guy with a serious cold 365 days\yr. It is working even better since COVID.
Trickery. And the flight attendants don’t care I suppose. Reminds me of someone having a mannequin in the car in the carpool lane.
No, I don’t fly Southwest either. It’s a mad selfish grab for a seat.
Now you can grab an extra seat by being selfish with a makeshift mannequin but you can’t bring an extra handbag at the risk of getting kicked off the flight.