Southwest passenger boards a mostly empty flight. Then he learns why he can’t move to a different seat: ‘The stupidest thing I’ve ever heard’

It’s quite easy to find complaints about any airline on social media, and this time, Southwest Airlines is in the spotlight after Kelly (@justplainmanshit) took a flight from LAX to Reno and questioned what appears to be one of the airline’s policies.

Kelly apparently tends to snore, as he mentions in the video description, and he wanted to spare the old couple nearby from listening to him snore, so he asked to move to one of the many empty seats in front of him on the flight.

After asking the flight attendant if he could move to one of the empty seats after the flight takes off, he learns about a policy that he calls “The stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

You can’t move to more expensive seats without paying

Kelly was allegedly told that he couldn’t move to an empty seat because they’re upcharged seats, and he didn’t pay for a seat in that fare. Basically, if he wanted to move to one, he’d have to first pay the price difference between his current seat and the seat he’s moving to.

What makes Kelly find this policy ridiculous is the nature of airplanes. Once the flight takes off, nobody else is going to be boarding the plane, so those seats will remain empty unless he buys a seat in that fare. This is because of Southwest’s assigned seating.

If you look at the Southwest website and read their policies about being able to move seats after boarding, it says, “No, with assigned seating, you’ll select your seat during booking for most fares, and it will be saved for you. Seat selection will no longer be based on boarding order. If you purchase our Basic fare, your seat assignment will be provided at check-in, unless you are a Rapid Rewards Credit Cardmember (seat selection subject to availability) or have Tier status.”

Commenters are divided over Southwest’s policy

Part of the division comes from how other airlines have different policies, so while you can’t move seats to a different fare on a Southwest flight, you might be able to when flying with another airline, as long as you get permission from the flight attendant. Another source of discourse comes from commenters who say that they would be upset if they were in a higher fare and another passenger was able to move to it without paying for it.

One commenter asked, “Why are you entitled to a product you didn’t pay for?” Another one said, “Everyone wants everything for free.”

Meanwhile, a commenter didn’t understand why many others were on the side of the airlines, saying, “Why are these comments defending the airline?”

Apparently, former Southwest policies let passengers move after boarding, and it was the introduction of assigned seating that removed that ability, leading to Kelly’s frustration.

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