![]() But now, now you are stuck with the baby and the chatty mom. He was already curled up into his book and she would have watched movies. You should have chosen the middle seat a few rows up, between the older man and teenage girl. You quickly determine that, in retrospect, it’s easy to see where you went wrong. You easily imagine all the other seats you could have chosen and how nice it would have felt to sit in silence. You ask yourself, could it have ended differently? It pushes you back in time to that critical moment when you choose the seat next to the chatty mom and the baby. She has a lot to get off her chest.Īs soon as this happens your mind rewinds. And, it turns out the women to your right is a mom going to visit her child at college for the first time and she just wants to talk it out. This baby starts crying before the plane takes off. You pick a seat but you didn’t catch that there was a baby sitting right behind you. The other way this could end is if you have a less than peaceful flight. You open your laptop or your rest your eyes and before you know it, you’ve arrived at your final destination. You could sit down between two people and have a very peaceful flight. This makes your stereotyping even quicker and thus more offensive (if that’s possible). This whole process is made more difficult because everyone who is already seated is desperately trying to look away and avoid eye contact with you in fear that you’ll choose them. We scan for age, looks, weight, race and make quick judgments about seatmate compatibility that would put even the best tinder swiper to shame. No one is spared -you must find the most desirable people to squeeze between. There is no turning back now.Įach person in each row is evaluated. You take quick glances at first but then as you get halfway down the plane, you start stealing longer glances at potential seatmates with the realization you’ll have to make the decision very soon. It’s debatable, but we may be the very worst version of ourselves at this moment.Īs you’re walking down that airplane aisle, you start the scanning process. You need to choose the two people you are going to sit between. What happens next is an agonizing and rapid process of extreme stereotyping. The only thing left is a sea of middle seats. The aisle and the window seats are long gone at this point. See, the last 1/3rd of people boarding are destined to sit in a middle seat. Their decision is ‘ who do I want to sit by?’ It may seem to people who have not experienced the Southwest Airlines boarding process that the decision one must make is, ‘ where do I want to sit?’ Yet for the last 1/3rd of people boarding the plan, their decision is much deeper than that. Once you get on the plane, there is a big decision to make. If you have a low number you board first and if you have a high number you board last.ĭo not be mistaken though - the Southwest Airlines boarding process is much more than this initial lineup process. Instead, they assign you a pre-determined order in which you must board the plane. Last month, Chicago-based United Airlines took aim at Southwest’s unassigned seating with a series of web advertisements and a website to remind Southwest passengers to check in 24 hours in advance.People get to pick their seats when flying Southwest Airlines. Usually, people with the first boarding numbers get seats in the front and on the window or aisle, while lower boarding numbers mean middle seats toward the back. Instead of assigning seating, Southwest assigns a boarding number and then passengers pick their own seats. Jordan has said the company studied moving to an assigned seating policy and that it’s something it would consider if customers demanded a change. Southwest charges $30 to $60 for early boarding and gives priority to frequent flyers and credit card holders. “Back when we had our infamous 10-minute turns, the FAA didn’t insist that everybody be seated, which it has since.”Īirlines have studied the boarding issue from years, including proposals such as boarding the back of the airplane first.īut there are other complications, such as the upgrades people pay for to board first and get the first shot at overhead bins. “There’s been some regulatory requirements about what one must do before you turn the aircraft,” Southwest chief operating officer Andrew Watterson said. Jordan cited the large amount of literal paperwork exchanged when an airplane unloads and reloads, something the airline is trying to eliminate through technology.
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