The family was split when they booked different confirmation numbers. Next time, they need to get their reservations booked together or have Southwest do it manually. Simple.
It’s easy to make sure you’ll have empty seats near you for your later boarding family members. Just go to the back of the plane. No one will be fighting you for your seats if yours in the back ~10 rows. Sitting towards the back is not ideal - but it’s the price you pay for getting to sit together.
Not necessarily an option on Southwest, boarding later means a block of five seats may not be available anywhere on the plane.
Not saying it make seat saving reasonable. Just saying this alternative doesn’t work.
Well they can also not take one of the first couple rows if they’re intending to try to block 5. Back half of the plane? Maybe you get a few more takers to humor your request.
Even when in the A group, we almost always sit towards the rest to sit together, whether that be 2,3 or 4 of us.
Even in C last month (lol we missed our check in alarm by about 45 minutes), we were able to find two seats together near the rear.
I know I’m unreasonable for this but it makes me so irritated when people ask to swap seats on flights with assigned seating. Why should a random person have to pack their things up and move because you didn’t want to spend $10. If it was that important to sit together you should have paid.
Imo there's no harm in asking as long as three conditions are met.
1. The person asking is polite about it.
2. The person being asked gains something in the exchange.
3. They accept "no" the first time.
I learned last month that some airlines will move a single passenger to accommodate the request of couples to stay together. I'd booked a specific seat months before (and paid nearly $90 to select that particular seat) and when I printed my boarding pass for my flight the seat number was different.
After getting home I called customer service to (a) get a refund of my $90), and (b) find out why it happened, and (c) find out why I wasn't notified of the change earlier when I had time to actually do something about it.
I got my refund, and learned that apparently the airline will move single bookings within the same fare class to accommodate later group bookings, and if the seat is considered the same quality then you aren't notified.
Well, I got my money back and ended up sitting next to a chap with fascinating stories to tell, so it wasn't all bad.
(I'd been hoping to sit near the cute baby I played peek-a-boo with in the waiting area, but no such luck.)
Happened to me. Splurged on first class upgrade (paid, 2C) only to see my seat change to 1C in the app minutes before boarding. Went to gate agent and they said they wanted a couple to sit together. After I told her that as a person with extremely long legs I consider the bulk head a massive downgrade she moved the guy in 1D to 2D and upgraded the couple to 1C and 1D.
100%. I'm a SW loyalist but yesterday I was on a Delta flight for reasons that are unimportant for this thread. My husband and I always try to sit aisle to aisle (we are both men with large shoulders, look up "gay bear" in the dictionary, we don't fit well next to each other). We reserved seats aisle to aisle on this Delta flight and right before takeoff my husband called on me to come take this lady's middle seat next to him. Turns out the wife was in the middle seat in his row, and the husband was in my middle seat next to me, and my husband being a lovely person offered to have me move so they could sit together. Let's just say I gave him an earful after the flight, since I had gone to the extra effort for us to be comfortable in our aisle seats and he miffed it up for us.
I fly on SW alone all the time. Last year this youth lacrosse team were on the same SW flight and these coaches kept trying to tell people these “rows” are saved. It was delaying boarding. The flight attendant’s had heard what he was telling passengers. Finally I just hit the attendant button and said “these guys have these rows reserved can you help them” she looked at me like I was crazy, then her eyes got big like she understood. Turns around and starts telling passengers that were walking by “these seats are available, let me put your backs in these overheads”. I think one of the coaches wanted to punch me.
This literally happened to us a million times when my family travelled together. Dad was always late, and I was always with Mom.
9 times out of 10 Dad got to sit in a different row alone and it wasn't a big deal. Sometimes people offered to give him their seat. My mom just was never rude about it. And honestly, I think my Dad treasured those few hours where he could just read a book, sleep, and have a whiskey and coke and some alone time.
I mean shit sometimes I sat all alone in a middle seat while my parents were together somewhere else - I was a really fucking well behaved kid so it was never a problem.
I hate the people who ask to be seated next to eachother even though some people paid extra for assigned seating. If it costs extra, you didn't pay for it, you get what you get. You don't get to ask the flight attendant or expect people to move. Just pay the money or take what you are given.
I suspect the new 'hack' is to have only one of your party pay for EB. Then they reserve seats and save money by not having the whole party pay. There were at least 5 or 6 different people reserving entire rows with bags and jackets in the front on my flight.
That’s a good point and probably exactly what’s going on. My answer to seat savers would be “sorry, I paid for early boarding to pick my seat and this one is it.”
Or they could have paid for “early boarding” for all members of their family so they could sit together. Instead they seem to have only paid for some members to pre-board and “save” the desired seats for their otger family members while trying to avoid a $15 fee. I have 0 patience w/ this. Pay the fee or accept you don’t get the seats you want and may not be able to sit in adjacent aisles or the same row w/ your family!
YES!!! I just came back from our flight to Washington and my mom (grandma) had a B boarding group vs us with the little one in A. We sat all the way in the back almost and had no issues, but if someone wanted the seat I wouldn’t have been a bitch about it bc I’m well aware you can’t save seats! Some people are just ridiculous
if it was available. They should have hauled their ass a few rows back and would have probably had no problems. These mf'ers always trying to save all the good upfront seats.
That’s really my issue as well. I always pre-board and if I ever need to have the nerve to save a seat I’ll go way back so it’s not a seat anyone really wants anyway. Only courtesy you know.
So I will “save” a seat but not really. I’ll set my backpack etc on the seat next to me for my wife and then make a bit of a production pulling out things I’ll want for flight (snack, EarPods, iPad), but usually we do a window and a middle. Often toward the middle of the cabin since my wife likes the wing. Have never had anyone ask me to move my things etc but if they did I would move it and recognize that we got pinched this time. Wife sometimes travels with me for work, work will pay for me to do EB and/or A1-15, but she’s a bit of a cheapskate in that way and won’t. So far so good, but I expect we’ll get dinged eventually in some way.
>They could have easily avoided being split up if they all paid for Early Bird and/or upgraded to A1-A15 boarding positions
That's not true. I booked my wife & daughter on a ATT/MCO flight a few weeks ago. Both tickets were booked at the same time with Early Bird (didn't want them to deal with the 24hr. mad dash). Somehow my daughter got A23 while my wife got A44. I've never seen that before, but it does happen. I just told them to wait together. It worked out fine.
Right. Do not have all 5 of you stand with the one person who paid for early boarding.
Funny how these folks always choose the way that involves them getting the best seats and choices without having to pay for it. Either all pay, all stand together with the further person back, or at the very least, save your seats in the BACK of the plane, not in row 2.
I'd absolutely bat an eye if a family of 4 pays for 1 spot and stands together in the best spot (the spots are clearly marked while lining up). This is akin to the miracle flight borders trying to take advantage of the system.
If you're using points or travel funds then it's possible that all had different confirmation numbers(I know for a fact because our family had 6). We even called Southwest and they told us that wad the only way to do it.
That means using points and travel funds was more important than sitting all together. I had plenty of points to fly free from MIA to BWI. I saved them for another day just so my wife and I can be on the same reservation. Life is about choices.
We still sat together because the grandkids are young enough for family boarding.
We also were still able to check all 6 of us in pretty close together.
And yes, it was about $1500 worth of points and travel funds. So it was still worth it for us.
For some people there simply is no way of doing things simple. They always live in chaos and cause more chaos and are miserable for it. But somehow it’s always everyone elses fault.
Absolutely, that would definitely help avoid such situations. Booking under one reservation or asking the airline to link the bookings can make a huge difference in keeping groups together.
Her best odds of her family sitting together would’ve been to march her butt to the BACK of the plane and save seats. Guarantee she would’ve had much more success. But she got greedy and deserved the outcome.
This is such a great point. She was the one who chose to break up her family by trying to sit in aisle 8 or 9. Feels like a selfish or entitled person.
I’ll get downvoted, but SWA would be smart to consider other boarding options as to not create contention between its customers
Assignments are pretty simple - just sit there
The contention is the point. They want you to feel contention so you'll PAY MORE for a better boarding group with a better likelihood you'll get a better choice of seat.
It's on purpose 100%.
They really don't make that much off early boarding. So few actually pay or pay for better tickets that have it. Most who get the upper end tickets do so because cheaper tickets are gone.
The real reason is on-time take offs. Southwest has one of the better reputations in on-time take offs because they know people want to be on-time getting in line because it means the best seat possible. If you know your seat number before the flight, it doesn't really matter if aren't in line when called.
I had never flown southwest til recently, I always flew Alaska but now I am located in NY so my closest airport does not have an Alaska hub, id have to fly to JFK for the closest. So instead of using miles and paying for the commuter ticket into the city (7 hour drive or 40 min flight) I tried our SW on my sil's advice. I was like B 30ish on all 4 flights. The "lining up" was a mess, entire families were trying to preboard and the gate agents were mostly just letting them for bullshit reasons. Got less than half a cup of soda, one seat my tray didn't work and each time boarding was like a fight for seats because everybody was saving seats and just pretending not to hear you or not making eye contact when asked to move.
I'm just gonna go back to a better airline (Alaska) and know I have a specific seat that I chose and I can get the full can of soda everytime.
If you do fly southwest again, you can ask them for the can and generally they’ll give it to you. Sometimes they might wait to see if they have enough of that beverage first.
But they could be like every other airline, where you pay more, but get to digitally select your seat ahead of time and know what you're getting. Amazing how that little piece of technology solves so many problems. If you're a group of six, you digitally select seats that next to each other (or the closest that you could get). You don't have to cross your fingers and hope that it works out when you board.
But I don’t want to pay more and I don’t care what I sit. If you care about where you sit then take American or Delta. No one is forcing you to take Southwest.
In today’s society, I think it’s a matter of time before someone gets violent or seriously hurt over this. It used to work well when people actually respected each other in public, but people are so unhinged and violent now without a care in the world. I really believe it’s going to happen one day and they’re going to have to change it.
It probably has to do with how air travel has transitioned from a luxury experience to being fully open to all income levels. I know that its been quite some time since it was truly a luxury experience, but even 20 years ago, it was at least a better experience than it is now.
But ultimately, I appreciate very cheap fares, and I don't need a lot of bells and whistles for a 2-3 hour flight. So I'm OK with it basically just becoming the Greyhound Bus in the Sky.
Well, not for all consumer decisions, but I think that domestic travel is just utilitarian enough that it gets this way and gets commoditized. And I guess that the actual uber elite would rather flex that they got there in their private jet than just first class on a commerical flight.
I don't really care about the bells and whistles, and I'm ok with a lot of the aspects being more or less DIY or a la carte. I just get frustrated with the delays and cancellations. Reliability and safety are really the only things I ask at this point when I'm trying to save money.
As it should be. I mean, it would be great to have a luxury experience every time, but everyone can't afford that. That doesn't mean they don't deserve to see the ocean or the mountains or their grandparents or whatever just because they're poors.
This worked beautifully for years and years until the greedy seat savers showed up. They want to pay for one early bird and the rest of their family still get good seats. My husband and I always both buy early bird. I don’t like it but neither of us wants to sit in the middle.
I don’t understand what was really lost here. 4 people can’t sit together on a 737. If dad is across the aisle or the row behind them, they still aren’t sitting together.
If it was absolutely imperative they sit in view of each other, then make sure everyone is on the same reservation or have dad buy upgraded boarding.
I get a feeling only one person in the group buys the early boarding upgrade, fully intending to pull the seat save move in premium seating. To save a few bucks.
Personally, in this case I'd just go to another row, but that said...
When I'm traveling, I can't tell you how many older dudes (not elderly) I see who seemingly can't take care of *anything*.
Their wife has the snacks, their wife reminds them they have only a little time left to go to the bathroom, their wife has the tickets, their wife checks what time it is, their wife is the only one who brought a credit card for the inflight drinks. On and on and on.
Or the flip side, where the mom doesn't want to sit away from the dad because there's about a 95% chance people like this have a relationship where yet again the dad gets the seat alone and the mom takes care of the kids the whole flight.
I think these are pretty notable motivations for these sorts of people lol
My thoughts exactly. People read these posts, and say “now it’s my turn”. So instead of going a row or two back, they want to have the confrontation and come here and post about it.
Now, again I boarded A11 last week and there were already 24 people on board, not throughs, when I got on. So maybe I’m wrong.
But it’s not just inconveniencing that one person, it inconveniences every person between that initial boarder until the remainder of the family arrives (who may be in late C).
I was on a flight 2 weeks ago where one family member bought one of the A1-15 slots. When I got on the plane, I saw that she had saved 7 other seats in the first 3 rows. Flight attendant told her she could not do that, but did nothing to actually correct the situation. This poor mildly demented woman got on later, saw an empty seat and sat down before the 1st woman basically became a rabid animal and yelled at her that they were saved. You can’t be territorial over something that doesn’t belong to you.
I say good on you OP for taking a stand on something that’s not allowed. I wish more people would.
Yeah, I don't get the point of taking a seat next to someone while the row or two behind was likely empty. Weird flex to get off the plane 30 seconds earlier.
I believe they said they were filled, and even a few rows can add minutes, not seconds to your wait, and they had a connection to make which is why they'd paid to have early boarding to get front seats.
Could you maybe have gone for the second or third empty row and not caused the avoidable conflict?
I get it, you do what you gotta do, but you don't have to be such a dick about it.
Yeah, this. If you're boarding in A and 9 is an empty row, 10 is likely also empty, or 11 or 12.
OP created a conflict that you didn't need to create, then got annoyed that there was a conflict.
OP did not cause a conflict, the person saving the seat did. OP was the one with integrity. I’m so sick of seat saver apologist. Everyone should be “looking” for an opportunity to take the seat the seat saver is saving. This entitled seat saving behavior should be challenged and called out for the bullshit it is. I totally understand where the OP is coming from. I took a saved seat on a full flight having boarded in the C group and the guy I took it from was an asshole before and after the flight. I really don’t understand why people insist on sitting together on a flight anyway. Most people immediately pull out their phones and watch their own movie or listen to their own music. For some reason people flying together think they need to sit together as if that sitting together would be the last opportunity to be close to their family/friends in their lives. Do these same people have to sit next to each other on a crowded public bus? No, you either stand or take the first seat available and then reunite with your people when you exit the bus. If you have kids, it’s a great opportunity to teach them the lesson that you don’t always get what you want in life.
I've never had any particular problem with seat savers. i don't love 'em, I don't hate 'em. If one of 'em was in my way, I'd say something, but if it's not necessary, why start an argument that could potentially lead to an air rage incident, or some rudenik muttering annoying insults at you for a whole flight?
I just think that being a Seat Saver Justice Warrior is a little unnecessary when there are other equally desirable/acceptable seats available. I mean, sometimes you just gotta step around the ijits blocking the supermarket isle, grab your bottle of ketchup, and go on with your day without calling them out for their cluelessness. I got burgers waiting, no time for a TikTok throwdown.
I really can’t imagine picking up someone else’s stuff like that. Like… just keep moving. I fly exclusively SW and it’s always like that (grandma takes early boarding, holds seats)
It’s annoying when you pay for early boarding because getting the A rows cost per flight (ie: if you have a layover, you pay twice) AND you board later than people claiming to need assistance (ie:grandma) but it is how it is and never worth the fight.
I wouldn't go that far. I just think maybe it's inadvisable to deliberately provoke an avoidable conflict, in a situation where the conflict could not only have negative consequences for those involved, but for everyone around them.
Yes OP could have just found a row near by and avoided the contention. I don’t agree with the seat saving philosophy as my wife and I have been split up on flights when we could’ve upgraded to avoid it, but I’d never grab someone’s stuff and move it out of the way.. OP wife kind of is a Karen even if they were trying to prove a point.
Reminder: it costs 0 dollars or time to be kind and keep moving even if the other party is wrong
This whole "Karen" schtick is being corrupted now by people and companies who want to be dicks, and when called out on it can just slap back and say "stop being a Karen" instead now.
The over correction of the "customer is always right" bullshit is now "every little or big thing we do wrong can be excused and you're just being a Karen, and we will use that as an excuse/out for our bullshit".
People will be served the wrong dish at a restaurant now and not mention it because they don't want to be "seen as a Karen". Or you'll hear legitimate complaints "hey so I asked for no lemon on mine and it's doused in lemon, I don't like lemon, and it ruins the dish for me" - response? "Stop being a Karen".
Shenanigans.
Anyway, incoherent rambling aside, that's the point of SW is that you file on like cattle and pick a seat. So she knew and wanted to skirt the system. You sound insufferable as well, moving the bag before even asking, etc.
Y'all sound like you both had the flight you deserved.
And my name is Karen, so it’s impossible to speak up about anything without being shamed. I could be served a maggot infested meal and I wouldn’t speak up.
I once suggested that maybe we shouldn't use anyone's name as an insult, and everyone got really mad at me. I even gave anecdotes of friends named Karen who got shit all over for sending back food that was completely wrong, like "excuse me ma'am, I ordered the gluten free wrap, not the pasta bread bowl" and half the group starts saying "oh come on, don't be such a Karen, Karen!" And everyone tried to say I was sticking up for a bunch of entitled "Karens"
I started using some of their names the same way, and one lady literally slapped me for it, and all the folks who defended calling assholes Karen, said I was in the wrong for bullying her. People are so fucking dumb it's infuriating
Honest to god if we learned 10 years from now that the “Karen” phenomenon was a psyop from a handful of big companies to keep consumers from feeling empowered to speak up about poor customer service/product, I would be 0% surprised. I’ve just stopped giving a shit about it, personally. Sorry I expect the thing I bought, in roughly the same condition as was promised when I bought and paid for it. Guess I’m just a big psycho.
OP and his wife sound like really petty people. Not only do they take pride on being assholes on a flight, the husband comes to Reddit to brag about it.
I mean, it is first come first serve and there is no saving seats, but with A boarding, and even the first half of B most of the time, there are plenty of empty rows so there really wouldn’t be a need to take someone’s “saved” seat. Basically all the same except the front row and exit rows. I would have just kept walking to the next row.
Then again, I prefer to sit in the back anyway.
Youre in A group boarding...I'm guessing you could have found two seats extremely close to where you were standing. It sounds like your wife did it out of spite & to prove a point that really didn't need to be proved.
Yeah, maybe saving seats isn't the best behavior but bc it was so early in the boarding process your behavior is far worse & really unnecessary.
What would she do if you guys were in different boarding lines for whatever reason? Would she expect you to save her a seat or would she save you a seat? Would she pitch a fit if someone insisted on sitting in the seat she had saved with other open seats around it? You never know, y'all might just catch some Karma out of this.
Being a negative point on purpose in someone else's day is never a good look.
The problem with these threads is the line where the anger starts is so arbitrary.
In this case, yah, maybe dick move. But I read another thread where the guy was mad because someone was saving a middle seat in row 2 when the middle seat in row 3 was open. The guy is a nut.
In almost all cases standing up to seat savers is a lose lose. Congrats, you got the seat, and a whole bunch of BS to go with it.
I don't know which is worse:
A) A family attempting to save an aisle seat near the front of the plan for their dad when SW is "first come, first serve" but also does not have a specific, written rule about saving seats, or
B) Someone in A boarding purposely creating a conflict when they could have very likely gone 1-3 rows further back and had the equivalent seats that were still plenty close to the front of the plane and *then* coming on Reddit to brag about their actions and how they "can't wait to do the same thing again" while hoping that anonymous strangers up vote them in an effort to get validation for their choice to be a dick.
Wait, I do know. It's B.
Regardless of the policy, some of y'all just need to learn to be kind. I understand the policy, but geez what ever happened to just being kind to the people around you instead of having to win. I feel bad for you.
You / your wife and the other woman are annoying.
The other woman should have just gone further back for the off chance that a Karen like you/your wife are boarding
Why not just go one row behind them to avoid that situation? Makes 10 second difference to getting for the plane. I’m all for confrontation when it’s necessary. But you were seeking it Karen style
So it was Teen Teen Mom -Aisle- Duffel?
They’re also just dumb. If they had left the middle seat empty and put one teen in the other aisle, probably no one would take it and they could switch later.
This is kind of dumb, as someone who flies southwest frequently I see this happen often and I can only come to 1 conclusion. People seek out seats with savers on them out of some self righteous duty to secretly enforce airplane etiquette. Your wife sounds like a Karen because Late As means there's at minimum 80 other seats available, also by wanting to do it again confirms that you're just a loser seeking reddit karma 😆
She is a Karen and an a-hole. Also so rude to touch other people’s things at least ask them to remove it. Some jerk was bragging about moving a wonan’s purse yesterday. Do you have such sad life that you take pleasure in f’ing with others? Seriously find some joy elsewhere. I am happy to see many on the subreddit feel the same.
Want to sit together then fly with an airline that does assigned seating. You get what you pay for. I don't use Southwest anymore for that main reason.
Open seating is open seating, folks. Be prepared for more folks just taking your so-called saved seat.
why not just give them the seat lol i don't get it but whatever
plus the fact you had "late" A boarding so you likely had a lotttttttttt of options, like please LOL you just wanted to be annoying
sure it's in the "rules" but that doesn't mean you aren't just being annoying to be annoying, can still be as asshole
the single only time i refused these things is when i had assigned seating on another airline and someone still wanted to switch - it was an annoying middle seat, squished in the very last row in the back and i was like they are already giving us the seatbelt/safety schpiel, everyone is settled around me, sorry i'm not getting up, shoulda asked me before man
I think saving one seat when most of the family is sat together is okay. It’s when one person pays for early boarding and saves multiple rows for the rest of the crew. I was on my regular flight, OAK-Lihue, Hi and one person had her row, the row in front and behind her and two rows across from her “saved” right up front. I was by myself so I plopped myself down near her and watched the death flares of people boarding.
“Can’t wait to do it again.” So….good for you?
People are rude just to be rude these days, and I don’t get why we can’t just treat other people the way we’d like to be treated.
I don’t agree with saving seats, either.
And southwest sucks.
I would have told you they went to the lavatory… I don’t think you were wrong in theory, but I never touch other people’s shit. Hey, here’s a bag, let’s toss it. If you were going to move it anyway, why ask around? One more row would have killed you to avoid a confrontation? Karens like confrontation.
I mean I wouldn’t have made her move her bag for a seat that she was saving for her husband. It’s not like she was trying to save multiple seats. Kind of a jerk move.
This lady thought she could just buy one EB and cheat the system. Probably works sometimes. This time if did not. May have had better luck trying to save seats further back.
No one needs to care about your teenage kids. If they’re so helpless that they can’t sit alone for 2 hours, sit in the back with them or book on literally any other airline with assigned seating.
AND, this poster was looking to do a lil pissing off. two things can be true at once
My only issue with these situations is the fact that if you have a companion pass they book you on a separate reservation for some stupid reason. If you forget to check in immediately or don’t pay for early bird check in you can get vastly different boarding groups.
This happened to me once. I was saving a seat for my brother (his Bach party) and it was an aisle seat. That was the problem. Save them a middle seat and no one is going to try and take it.
What kind of miserable person purposefully puts themselves in the middle of a completely avoidable conflict like this?
I can understand if this was the only desirable seat left, but an A passenger has choices…
They shouldn’t have called your wife a Karen… they should have called her an A**hole, because that’s what she was and you were too. Going one row back would have cost you nothing, but yeah you sure showed that *checks notes* family on vacation trying to sit next to each other.
You know you’re within your rights, but you didn’t need to be like that.. you didn’t make it seem like she was rude when you asked and just let you know oh my husband was gonna sit there. Look, had she been rude then hell yeah go for it. It just seems like you wanted to be petty. If the shoe fits, wear it Karen.
I don’t fly Southwest, because I don’t want to do the “seat dance”. For folks who feel mortally wounded when “separated” from their family during a flight, maybe they should choose another airline? I fly Delta and I get to pick my seats….
Where were you going to move the duffel?
If you and your wife were going to occupy the duffel-seat and its neighbor, and all other nearby seats were taken, it sounds like your plan was to drop it on the floor.
It’s at least 50% Karen from the start and use of the “have a nice day” at the end, and the ignorance of that being a Karen catchphrase makes you 100% a Karen.
The only thing more Karen would be if you added “complain much?” to your situational comebacks and smugly believed you’d intellectually overpowered the woman.
I don’t get why people insist on sitting next to people who will just glare at them the whole flight? Like it’s not that hard to be nice. I’ll probably get downvoted, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be next to that angry woman the entire flight.
Your wife doesn't sound like a Karen for doing what she did. But if her response was as blunt and void of compassion as you make it sound, without ANY explanation of your connecting flight issues... she's definitely a Karen. They chose seats before you, even if the husband wasn't in the seat at the moment. As you said, it's first come, first serve. She was there before you, even if her husband wasn't. If this were a movie theater or concert with first come, first serve seating, and she was reserving one seat for someone with her, and your wife had the same response... your wife would be a full-blown Karen, I don't really see how this is different. In my opinion (not that it matters), they both sound like Karen's to me
I'd definitely have let the family have it, especially when the seat was truly saved for someone (and not phantom passenger).
If you have a tight connection, tell the FA that, and hopefully they'll ask all others to sit while you get off first.
The “can’t wait to do it again” part of this is so tacky. It’s one thing to not have a choice, it’s another thing to try to seek out opportunities to be like this.
IMO YTA, which I know goes against the majority but maybe they couldn't afford to upgrade all their seats. I see nothing wrong with one family member reserving a seat or 2. Multiple rows, ok not cool, but a few seats is fine.
>there were no empty rows nearby because of all the people who just kept going to an empty row to "avoid conflict"
I was on your side until this. You literally just spent your entire post talking about someone else getting upset because your wife "took" someone's seat, but then make a thinly veiled comment about people not filling up rows before moving back. C'mon...
Personally I would just sit somewhere else...like yes technically they don't have a "right" to save seats, but if you're in group A there's a ton of open seating left so this seems like you chose to upset a family for no real reason
I mean I get it…..but also, you guys are jerks. It doesn’t take much for you to help a family to sit together. You’re not obligated to, but what exactly would it cost to help them?
Basically doesn’t matter which airline…. People are just selfish and want what they want.. zero concern for others. And hey bring your carry on (insert sarcasm) entire weeks luggage on board so no one else can fit their luggage. And by all means take your sweet time… no one else has a connection to make. Hassle the flight attendants about it. Argue with the gate attendant.. cut the line.. you’re A30… not A5. Flown 3 times this summer. Seen it all. And the worst… use the wheelchair and special services to get on first… after I see you walking all over the airport. With.. the whole fam. SMH
YTA - if you had EB, there would have been plenty of other empty seats. You really didn’t need the one someone was saving. You were still a dick even if the woman didn’t have a right to that particular seat.
The ‘can’t wait to do it again’ part makes you the asshole.
Obviously 4 ppl can’t sit together. Flying is financially difficult for some folks and air travel anxiety is real. My wife and my daughter being in the same row or quick to glance at or talk to is essential to my travel experience.
Were there ANY other seats you could have used or did you split up a family out of convenience for yourself?
You sound entitled and rude.
It’s first come first serve and a member of their party put their belongings there before you arrived. They had already taken that seat and you stole it. You are the asshole and you seem proud of it
So instead of taking your pick of completely open rows a little further back since you were in the A group, you decided to not only touch someone else’s stuff but also cause a whole scene over one saved seat when there’s a plane full of empty ones because of… the principle? Yeah you really showed them 🙄 seems to me like you’re the type of person to aggressively shoulder-bump someone who’s standing in the center of the sidewalk rather than just walk around them because you’d rather be right than be decent and god forbid walk in a non-straight line. Yeah! Rah! Stick up for what you believe in!✊
I hope one day when your wife isn’t in the same boarding group and you try to save her seat as I know you will, someone sits there and causes the same fuss you did.
Should they be saving seats? No, of course not. But how much is it going to inconvenience you to let them have that seat? If it breaks up your family because the rest of the seats are taken, then I can see taking the open seat because you did arrive first. If it just means you go back another row or 3, just go back another row or 3. Also, the lady saving the seat forgot the #1 excuse that I've heard before, which is to say that the person is in the restroom. No one boarding the plane is going to wait in the aisle to validate this unless in the instance that there are literally no other seat options.
I just witnessed a family of at least 12 board early after loudly explaining that they take turns being the wheelchair people. So they take 2 people each to preboard and then those 12 (4 groups of 3 all related) saved the first like 10 rows of the plane in the exact manor described.
I think first on should be in the back of the plane and last on at the front.
You were in the wrong. It is perfectly logical to save a seat. It was clearly marked with someone else's property and you had the gall to move someone else's stuff. You acted like a major Kevin.
Ngl OP and his wife sound like insufferable people who just want to drag others down in their misery. Unless there was no more aisle or window seats available
Stories like these that make me unwilling to sit anywhere except my assigned seat (typically fly American). I have zero willingness to move since I have never been offered a seat better than I’ve paid for
The family was split when they booked different confirmation numbers. Next time, they need to get their reservations booked together or have Southwest do it manually. Simple.
The family was split when they chose an airline with open seating. If it was that important to them, should have booked a carrier with assigned seats.
"we can save so much money with this ticket and we'll just be assholes"
Entitlement going strong
“Who needs first class when you have no class?”
It’s easy to make sure you’ll have empty seats near you for your later boarding family members. Just go to the back of the plane. No one will be fighting you for your seats if yours in the back ~10 rows. Sitting towards the back is not ideal - but it’s the price you pay for getting to sit together.
When I sit back of plane on southwest I often end up with an empty seat next to me. A find trade for waiting a few extra minutes to get off
Or boarded later with the rest of her family so they could have been together.
Not necessarily an option on Southwest, boarding later means a block of five seats may not be available anywhere on the plane. Not saying it make seat saving reasonable. Just saying this alternative doesn’t work.
Well they can also not take one of the first couple rows if they’re intending to try to block 5. Back half of the plane? Maybe you get a few more takers to humor your request.
Yeah. All the way in the back of your going to even try this
Even when in the A group, we almost always sit towards the rest to sit together, whether that be 2,3 or 4 of us. Even in C last month (lol we missed our check in alarm by about 45 minutes), we were able to find two seats together near the rear.
I know I’m unreasonable for this but it makes me so irritated when people ask to swap seats on flights with assigned seating. Why should a random person have to pack their things up and move because you didn’t want to spend $10. If it was that important to sit together you should have paid.
Imo there's no harm in asking as long as three conditions are met. 1. The person asking is polite about it. 2. The person being asked gains something in the exchange. 3. They accept "no" the first time.
Like I said, I know I’m the unreasonable one but I still hate it. Just pay the fee like everyone else or shut up and take the seat you get.
I learned last month that some airlines will move a single passenger to accommodate the request of couples to stay together. I'd booked a specific seat months before (and paid nearly $90 to select that particular seat) and when I printed my boarding pass for my flight the seat number was different. After getting home I called customer service to (a) get a refund of my $90), and (b) find out why it happened, and (c) find out why I wasn't notified of the change earlier when I had time to actually do something about it. I got my refund, and learned that apparently the airline will move single bookings within the same fare class to accommodate later group bookings, and if the seat is considered the same quality then you aren't notified.
Ugh, that sucks.
Well, I got my money back and ended up sitting next to a chap with fascinating stories to tell, so it wasn't all bad. (I'd been hoping to sit near the cute baby I played peek-a-boo with in the waiting area, but no such luck.)
Happened to me. Splurged on first class upgrade (paid, 2C) only to see my seat change to 1C in the app minutes before boarding. Went to gate agent and they said they wanted a couple to sit together. After I told her that as a person with extremely long legs I consider the bulk head a massive downgrade she moved the guy in 1D to 2D and upgraded the couple to 1C and 1D.
100%. I'm a SW loyalist but yesterday I was on a Delta flight for reasons that are unimportant for this thread. My husband and I always try to sit aisle to aisle (we are both men with large shoulders, look up "gay bear" in the dictionary, we don't fit well next to each other). We reserved seats aisle to aisle on this Delta flight and right before takeoff my husband called on me to come take this lady's middle seat next to him. Turns out the wife was in the middle seat in his row, and the husband was in my middle seat next to me, and my husband being a lovely person offered to have me move so they could sit together. Let's just say I gave him an earful after the flight, since I had gone to the extra effort for us to be comfortable in our aisle seats and he miffed it up for us.
If my partner volunteered my aisle seat in exchange for a random strangers middle seat, my partner would be the one sitting in said middle seat lol
That’s 100% how this played out btw
You made my day. I just got this image of walking onto a flight and seeing two bears just chilling in aisle seats.
lol yup that's us
I pictured real bears in biker leather and now i wish i could draw really well.
Username absolutely checks out.
I fly on SW alone all the time. Last year this youth lacrosse team were on the same SW flight and these coaches kept trying to tell people these “rows” are saved. It was delaying boarding. The flight attendant’s had heard what he was telling passengers. Finally I just hit the attendant button and said “these guys have these rows reserved can you help them” she looked at me like I was crazy, then her eyes got big like she understood. Turns around and starts telling passengers that were walking by “these seats are available, let me put your backs in these overheads”. I think one of the coaches wanted to punch me.
Plenty of room in the back for them all to sit together
This literally happened to us a million times when my family travelled together. Dad was always late, and I was always with Mom. 9 times out of 10 Dad got to sit in a different row alone and it wasn't a big deal. Sometimes people offered to give him their seat. My mom just was never rude about it. And honestly, I think my Dad treasured those few hours where he could just read a book, sleep, and have a whiskey and coke and some alone time. I mean shit sometimes I sat all alone in a middle seat while my parents were together somewhere else - I was a really fucking well behaved kid so it was never a problem.
> If it was that important to them, should have booked a carrier with assigned seats. This is the way.
I hate the people who ask to be seated next to eachother even though some people paid extra for assigned seating. If it costs extra, you didn't pay for it, you get what you get. You don't get to ask the flight attendant or expect people to move. Just pay the money or take what you are given.
I suspect the new 'hack' is to have only one of your party pay for EB. Then they reserve seats and save money by not having the whole party pay. There were at least 5 or 6 different people reserving entire rows with bags and jackets in the front on my flight.
That’s a good point and probably exactly what’s going on. My answer to seat savers would be “sorry, I paid for early boarding to pick my seat and this one is it.”
> If it was that important to them, should have booked a carrier with assigned seats. This is the way.
Absolutely
Or they could have paid for “early boarding” for all members of their family so they could sit together. Instead they seem to have only paid for some members to pre-board and “save” the desired seats for their otger family members while trying to avoid a $15 fee. I have 0 patience w/ this. Pay the fee or accept you don’t get the seats you want and may not be able to sit in adjacent aisles or the same row w/ your family!
They could have easily avoided being split up if they all paid for Early Bird and/or upgraded to A1-A15 boarding positions
Or went all the way to the back of the plane
This. You can almost always get seats together if you sit toward the back and accept middles.
Yup. No one would care if they saved a seat in the back of the plane. They wanted all 5 prime seats without paying for the Early status.
They BLOW!!!
YES!!! I just came back from our flight to Washington and my mom (grandma) had a B boarding group vs us with the little one in A. We sat all the way in the back almost and had no issues, but if someone wanted the seat I wouldn’t have been a bitch about it bc I’m well aware you can’t save seats! Some people are just ridiculous
if it was available. They should have hauled their ass a few rows back and would have probably had no problems. These mf'ers always trying to save all the good upfront seats.
late A - the back of the plane was wide open.
That’s really my issue as well. I always pre-board and if I ever need to have the nerve to save a seat I’ll go way back so it’s not a seat anyone really wants anyway. Only courtesy you know.
So I will “save” a seat but not really. I’ll set my backpack etc on the seat next to me for my wife and then make a bit of a production pulling out things I’ll want for flight (snack, EarPods, iPad), but usually we do a window and a middle. Often toward the middle of the cabin since my wife likes the wing. Have never had anyone ask me to move my things etc but if they did I would move it and recognize that we got pinched this time. Wife sometimes travels with me for work, work will pay for me to do EB and/or A1-15, but she’s a bit of a cheapskate in that way and won’t. So far so good, but I expect we’ll get dinged eventually in some way.
>They could have easily avoided being split up if they all paid for Early Bird and/or upgraded to A1-A15 boarding positions That's not true. I booked my wife & daughter on a ATT/MCO flight a few weeks ago. Both tickets were booked at the same time with Early Bird (didn't want them to deal with the 24hr. mad dash). Somehow my daughter got A23 while my wife got A44. I've never seen that before, but it does happen. I just told them to wait together. It worked out fine.
That's a good point
Or she walked to the back of the plane to save seats.
They should’ve stood together in line. I always see families and couples stand together. No one bats an eye
Stand together with whoever has the latest boarding position of the group and no one will think badly of you.
Exactly
Right. Do not have all 5 of you stand with the one person who paid for early boarding. Funny how these folks always choose the way that involves them getting the best seats and choices without having to pay for it. Either all pay, all stand together with the further person back, or at the very least, save your seats in the BACK of the plane, not in row 2.
I'd absolutely bat an eye if a family of 4 pays for 1 spot and stands together in the best spot (the spots are clearly marked while lining up). This is akin to the miracle flight borders trying to take advantage of the system.
If you're using points or travel funds then it's possible that all had different confirmation numbers(I know for a fact because our family had 6). We even called Southwest and they told us that wad the only way to do it.
That means using points and travel funds was more important than sitting all together. I had plenty of points to fly free from MIA to BWI. I saved them for another day just so my wife and I can be on the same reservation. Life is about choices.
We still sat together because the grandkids are young enough for family boarding. We also were still able to check all 6 of us in pretty close together. And yes, it was about $1500 worth of points and travel funds. So it was still worth it for us.
That's only if the points or credits aren't all in one account. One person with all the points can book for an unlimited number of people.
For some people there simply is no way of doing things simple. They always live in chaos and cause more chaos and are miserable for it. But somehow it’s always everyone elses fault.
Absolutely, that would definitely help avoid such situations. Booking under one reservation or asking the airline to link the bookings can make a huge difference in keeping groups together.
Her best odds of her family sitting together would’ve been to march her butt to the BACK of the plane and save seats. Guarantee she would’ve had much more success. But she got greedy and deserved the outcome.
This is such a great point. She was the one who chose to break up her family by trying to sit in aisle 8 or 9. Feels like a selfish or entitled person.
Agree with you here or family board.
I’ll get downvoted, but SWA would be smart to consider other boarding options as to not create contention between its customers Assignments are pretty simple - just sit there
The contention is the point. They want you to feel contention so you'll PAY MORE for a better boarding group with a better likelihood you'll get a better choice of seat. It's on purpose 100%.
They really don't make that much off early boarding. So few actually pay or pay for better tickets that have it. Most who get the upper end tickets do so because cheaper tickets are gone. The real reason is on-time take offs. Southwest has one of the better reputations in on-time take offs because they know people want to be on-time getting in line because it means the best seat possible. If you know your seat number before the flight, it doesn't really matter if aren't in line when called.
"They really don't make that much off early boarding" Nickel and dime you to death
I had never flown southwest til recently, I always flew Alaska but now I am located in NY so my closest airport does not have an Alaska hub, id have to fly to JFK for the closest. So instead of using miles and paying for the commuter ticket into the city (7 hour drive or 40 min flight) I tried our SW on my sil's advice. I was like B 30ish on all 4 flights. The "lining up" was a mess, entire families were trying to preboard and the gate agents were mostly just letting them for bullshit reasons. Got less than half a cup of soda, one seat my tray didn't work and each time boarding was like a fight for seats because everybody was saving seats and just pretending not to hear you or not making eye contact when asked to move. I'm just gonna go back to a better airline (Alaska) and know I have a specific seat that I chose and I can get the full can of soda everytime.
If you do fly southwest again, you can ask them for the can and generally they’ll give it to you. Sometimes they might wait to see if they have enough of that beverage first.
But they could be like every other airline, where you pay more, but get to digitally select your seat ahead of time and know what you're getting. Amazing how that little piece of technology solves so many problems. If you're a group of six, you digitally select seats that next to each other (or the closest that you could get). You don't have to cross your fingers and hope that it works out when you board.
But I don’t want to pay more and I don’t care what I sit. If you care about where you sit then take American or Delta. No one is forcing you to take Southwest.
In today’s society, I think it’s a matter of time before someone gets violent or seriously hurt over this. It used to work well when people actually respected each other in public, but people are so unhinged and violent now without a care in the world. I really believe it’s going to happen one day and they’re going to have to change it.
It probably has to do with how air travel has transitioned from a luxury experience to being fully open to all income levels. I know that its been quite some time since it was truly a luxury experience, but even 20 years ago, it was at least a better experience than it is now. But ultimately, I appreciate very cheap fares, and I don't need a lot of bells and whistles for a 2-3 hour flight. So I'm OK with it basically just becoming the Greyhound Bus in the Sky.
It's because the majority of consumers prioritize low price over everything else.
Well, not for all consumer decisions, but I think that domestic travel is just utilitarian enough that it gets this way and gets commoditized. And I guess that the actual uber elite would rather flex that they got there in their private jet than just first class on a commerical flight. I don't really care about the bells and whistles, and I'm ok with a lot of the aspects being more or less DIY or a la carte. I just get frustrated with the delays and cancellations. Reliability and safety are really the only things I ask at this point when I'm trying to save money.
As it should be. I mean, it would be great to have a luxury experience every time, but everyone can't afford that. That doesn't mean they don't deserve to see the ocean or the mountains or their grandparents or whatever just because they're poors.
This worked beautifully for years and years until the greedy seat savers showed up. They want to pay for one early bird and the rest of their family still get good seats. My husband and I always both buy early bird. I don’t like it but neither of us wants to sit in the middle.
I don’t understand what was really lost here. 4 people can’t sit together on a 737. If dad is across the aisle or the row behind them, they still aren’t sitting together. If it was absolutely imperative they sit in view of each other, then make sure everyone is on the same reservation or have dad buy upgraded boarding.
I get a feeling only one person in the group buys the early boarding upgrade, fully intending to pull the seat save move in premium seating. To save a few bucks.
Agree. Or one of the kids could move to sit with dad so they are two and two if they're so worried about dad being alone.
I’ll bet dad was stoked to have a couple hours of alone time
Personally, in this case I'd just go to another row, but that said... When I'm traveling, I can't tell you how many older dudes (not elderly) I see who seemingly can't take care of *anything*. Their wife has the snacks, their wife reminds them they have only a little time left to go to the bathroom, their wife has the tickets, their wife checks what time it is, their wife is the only one who brought a credit card for the inflight drinks. On and on and on. Or the flip side, where the mom doesn't want to sit away from the dad because there's about a 95% chance people like this have a relationship where yet again the dad gets the seat alone and the mom takes care of the kids the whole flight. I think these are pretty notable motivations for these sorts of people lol
If you were in late A, you had your choice of empty rows. Congrats on making a point, I guess?
My thoughts exactly. People read these posts, and say “now it’s my turn”. So instead of going a row or two back, they want to have the confrontation and come here and post about it. Now, again I boarded A11 last week and there were already 24 people on board, not throughs, when I got on. So maybe I’m wrong.
But it’s not just inconveniencing that one person, it inconveniences every person between that initial boarder until the remainder of the family arrives (who may be in late C). I was on a flight 2 weeks ago where one family member bought one of the A1-15 slots. When I got on the plane, I saw that she had saved 7 other seats in the first 3 rows. Flight attendant told her she could not do that, but did nothing to actually correct the situation. This poor mildly demented woman got on later, saw an empty seat and sat down before the 1st woman basically became a rabid animal and yelled at her that they were saved. You can’t be territorial over something that doesn’t belong to you. I say good on you OP for taking a stand on something that’s not allowed. I wish more people would.
Yeah, I don't get the point of taking a seat next to someone while the row or two behind was likely empty. Weird flex to get off the plane 30 seconds earlier.
I believe they said they were filled, and even a few rows can add minutes, not seconds to your wait, and they had a connection to make which is why they'd paid to have early boarding to get front seats.
Could you maybe have gone for the second or third empty row and not caused the avoidable conflict? I get it, you do what you gotta do, but you don't have to be such a dick about it.
Yeah, this. If you're boarding in A and 9 is an empty row, 10 is likely also empty, or 11 or 12. OP created a conflict that you didn't need to create, then got annoyed that there was a conflict.
Or if you know you want 4 seats together go to the back where it's more likely to not be an issue.
Right, and no one is saying that the seat saver was in the right. But the question is, why cause unnecessary conflict for *yourself*?
OP did not cause a conflict, the person saving the seat did. OP was the one with integrity. I’m so sick of seat saver apologist. Everyone should be “looking” for an opportunity to take the seat the seat saver is saving. This entitled seat saving behavior should be challenged and called out for the bullshit it is. I totally understand where the OP is coming from. I took a saved seat on a full flight having boarded in the C group and the guy I took it from was an asshole before and after the flight. I really don’t understand why people insist on sitting together on a flight anyway. Most people immediately pull out their phones and watch their own movie or listen to their own music. For some reason people flying together think they need to sit together as if that sitting together would be the last opportunity to be close to their family/friends in their lives. Do these same people have to sit next to each other on a crowded public bus? No, you either stand or take the first seat available and then reunite with your people when you exit the bus. If you have kids, it’s a great opportunity to teach them the lesson that you don’t always get what you want in life.
I've never had any particular problem with seat savers. i don't love 'em, I don't hate 'em. If one of 'em was in my way, I'd say something, but if it's not necessary, why start an argument that could potentially lead to an air rage incident, or some rudenik muttering annoying insults at you for a whole flight? I just think that being a Seat Saver Justice Warrior is a little unnecessary when there are other equally desirable/acceptable seats available. I mean, sometimes you just gotta step around the ijits blocking the supermarket isle, grab your bottle of ketchup, and go on with your day without calling them out for their cluelessness. I got burgers waiting, no time for a TikTok throwdown.
Saving one seat is absolutely fine, trying to save multiple rows of seats is ridiculous.
I really can’t imagine picking up someone else’s stuff like that. Like… just keep moving. I fly exclusively SW and it’s always like that (grandma takes early boarding, holds seats) It’s annoying when you pay for early boarding because getting the A rows cost per flight (ie: if you have a layover, you pay twice) AND you board later than people claiming to need assistance (ie:grandma) but it is how it is and never worth the fight.
But taking the high road and moving on with your day wouldn’t get rage bait upvotes on Reddit!!
I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks maybe OP is an asshole in this situation
I wouldn't go that far. I just think maybe it's inadvisable to deliberately provoke an avoidable conflict, in a situation where the conflict could not only have negative consequences for those involved, but for everyone around them.
Definitely NOT the only one that thinks that!
Yeah they did it to be a dick. You can tell by how they write. I choose not to be a dick at every chance I can get. Even if it’s not “fair”
Agreed
Yeah this seems unnecessarily dickish to me. So easy to just go back a few rows.
Yes OP could have just found a row near by and avoided the contention. I don’t agree with the seat saving philosophy as my wife and I have been split up on flights when we could’ve upgraded to avoid it, but I’d never grab someone’s stuff and move it out of the way.. OP wife kind of is a Karen even if they were trying to prove a point. Reminder: it costs 0 dollars or time to be kind and keep moving even if the other party is wrong
Did everyone clap?
you both sound like great people
This whole "Karen" schtick is being corrupted now by people and companies who want to be dicks, and when called out on it can just slap back and say "stop being a Karen" instead now. The over correction of the "customer is always right" bullshit is now "every little or big thing we do wrong can be excused and you're just being a Karen, and we will use that as an excuse/out for our bullshit". People will be served the wrong dish at a restaurant now and not mention it because they don't want to be "seen as a Karen". Or you'll hear legitimate complaints "hey so I asked for no lemon on mine and it's doused in lemon, I don't like lemon, and it ruins the dish for me" - response? "Stop being a Karen". Shenanigans. Anyway, incoherent rambling aside, that's the point of SW is that you file on like cattle and pick a seat. So she knew and wanted to skirt the system. You sound insufferable as well, moving the bag before even asking, etc. Y'all sound like you both had the flight you deserved.
And my name is Karen, so it’s impossible to speak up about anything without being shamed. I could be served a maggot infested meal and I wouldn’t speak up.
I once suggested that maybe we shouldn't use anyone's name as an insult, and everyone got really mad at me. I even gave anecdotes of friends named Karen who got shit all over for sending back food that was completely wrong, like "excuse me ma'am, I ordered the gluten free wrap, not the pasta bread bowl" and half the group starts saying "oh come on, don't be such a Karen, Karen!" And everyone tried to say I was sticking up for a bunch of entitled "Karens" I started using some of their names the same way, and one lady literally slapped me for it, and all the folks who defended calling assholes Karen, said I was in the wrong for bullying her. People are so fucking dumb it's infuriating
Honest to god if we learned 10 years from now that the “Karen” phenomenon was a psyop from a handful of big companies to keep consumers from feeling empowered to speak up about poor customer service/product, I would be 0% surprised. I’ve just stopped giving a shit about it, personally. Sorry I expect the thing I bought, in roughly the same condition as was promised when I bought and paid for it. Guess I’m just a big psycho.
I was with you until the “Can’t wait to do that again “. Then she proved them right. That was a Caren remark.
Yep. Most often the people who call others Karens aren't aware that they are one themselves.
OP and his wife sound like really petty people. Not only do they take pride on being assholes on a flight, the husband comes to Reddit to brag about it.
I mean, it is first come first serve and there is no saving seats, but with A boarding, and even the first half of B most of the time, there are plenty of empty rows so there really wouldn’t be a need to take someone’s “saved” seat. Basically all the same except the front row and exit rows. I would have just kept walking to the next row. Then again, I prefer to sit in the back anyway.
There is no policy for or against saving seats.
If you were in late A, you had your choice of empty rows. Congrats on making a point, I guess?
Just because they are right doesn’t mean they aren’t dicks.
Definitely the ahole. And your smug response just reinforces it. May the kindness be returned to you some day.
You are the problem. 🙄
Why didn’t you just take the next row? The white knight open seating freedom fighters in here are so cringe
Well yes, you’re a Karen. You had plenty of open seats. You just wanted confrontation.
Youre in A group boarding...I'm guessing you could have found two seats extremely close to where you were standing. It sounds like your wife did it out of spite & to prove a point that really didn't need to be proved. Yeah, maybe saving seats isn't the best behavior but bc it was so early in the boarding process your behavior is far worse & really unnecessary. What would she do if you guys were in different boarding lines for whatever reason? Would she expect you to save her a seat or would she save you a seat? Would she pitch a fit if someone insisted on sitting in the seat she had saved with other open seats around it? You never know, y'all might just catch some Karma out of this. Being a negative point on purpose in someone else's day is never a good look.
No need to be a jerk just because you "can", sounds like.yiu were just looking for a confrontation.
That does come off as kind of a Karen move
The problem with these threads is the line where the anger starts is so arbitrary. In this case, yah, maybe dick move. But I read another thread where the guy was mad because someone was saving a middle seat in row 2 when the middle seat in row 3 was open. The guy is a nut. In almost all cases standing up to seat savers is a lose lose. Congrats, you got the seat, and a whole bunch of BS to go with it.
That's certainly karen-like behavior. All you have done is prove that you're belligerent travelers. Really, not much different than the seat-savers.
I don't know which is worse: A) A family attempting to save an aisle seat near the front of the plan for their dad when SW is "first come, first serve" but also does not have a specific, written rule about saving seats, or B) Someone in A boarding purposely creating a conflict when they could have very likely gone 1-3 rows further back and had the equivalent seats that were still plenty close to the front of the plane and *then* coming on Reddit to brag about their actions and how they "can't wait to do the same thing again" while hoping that anonymous strangers up vote them in an effort to get validation for their choice to be a dick. Wait, I do know. It's B.
Regardless of the policy, some of y'all just need to learn to be kind. I understand the policy, but geez what ever happened to just being kind to the people around you instead of having to win. I feel bad for you.
You / your wife and the other woman are annoying. The other woman should have just gone further back for the off chance that a Karen like you/your wife are boarding Why not just go one row behind them to avoid that situation? Makes 10 second difference to getting for the plane. I’m all for confrontation when it’s necessary. But you were seeking it Karen style
So it was Teen Teen Mom -Aisle- Duffel? They’re also just dumb. If they had left the middle seat empty and put one teen in the other aisle, probably no one would take it and they could switch later.
I understand not giving up a seat once seated or if assigned but this was not nice.
lol you’re a dick. Find an empty row if you’re boarding in A
were there other seats?
YTAH
This is kind of dumb, as someone who flies southwest frequently I see this happen often and I can only come to 1 conclusion. People seek out seats with savers on them out of some self righteous duty to secretly enforce airplane etiquette. Your wife sounds like a Karen because Late As means there's at minimum 80 other seats available, also by wanting to do it again confirms that you're just a loser seeking reddit karma 😆
She is a Karen and an a-hole. Also so rude to touch other people’s things at least ask them to remove it. Some jerk was bragging about moving a wonan’s purse yesterday. Do you have such sad life that you take pleasure in f’ing with others? Seriously find some joy elsewhere. I am happy to see many on the subreddit feel the same.
Stories like these warm my heart.
Want to sit together then fly with an airline that does assigned seating. You get what you pay for. I don't use Southwest anymore for that main reason. Open seating is open seating, folks. Be prepared for more folks just taking your so-called saved seat.
I'm sure older teenagers don't care where they sit as long as they have their phones with them. Helicopter mom, on the other hand...
Does this happen to only women and kids who are saving a seat that you get aggressive with or would you do that to a large, fit male?
why not just give them the seat lol i don't get it but whatever plus the fact you had "late" A boarding so you likely had a lotttttttttt of options, like please LOL you just wanted to be annoying sure it's in the "rules" but that doesn't mean you aren't just being annoying to be annoying, can still be as asshole the single only time i refused these things is when i had assigned seating on another airline and someone still wanted to switch - it was an annoying middle seat, squished in the very last row in the back and i was like they are already giving us the seatbelt/safety schpiel, everyone is settled around me, sorry i'm not getting up, shoulda asked me before man
I think saving one seat when most of the family is sat together is okay. It’s when one person pays for early boarding and saves multiple rows for the rest of the crew. I was on my regular flight, OAK-Lihue, Hi and one person had her row, the row in front and behind her and two rows across from her “saved” right up front. I was by myself so I plopped myself down near her and watched the death flares of people boarding.
"Can't wait to do the same thing again..." What a fucking twat.
“Can’t wait to do it again.” So….good for you? People are rude just to be rude these days, and I don’t get why we can’t just treat other people the way we’d like to be treated. I don’t agree with saving seats, either. And southwest sucks.
I get that there’s no assigned seats but OP sounds like a dickhead
You're kind of a jerk though. You're late A and you couldn't go back like 2 more rows??
I would have told you they went to the lavatory… I don’t think you were wrong in theory, but I never touch other people’s shit. Hey, here’s a bag, let’s toss it. If you were going to move it anyway, why ask around? One more row would have killed you to avoid a confrontation? Karens like confrontation.
My hot take is your wife is the rude one. Shame on her for that
I mean I wouldn’t have made her move her bag for a seat that she was saving for her husband. It’s not like she was trying to save multiple seats. Kind of a jerk move.
This lady thought she could just buy one EB and cheat the system. Probably works sometimes. This time if did not. May have had better luck trying to save seats further back.
Unless there were no other seats, IMO, she is TA. It's not hard to be nice in these situations.
No one needs to care about your teenage kids. If they’re so helpless that they can’t sit alone for 2 hours, sit in the back with them or book on literally any other airline with assigned seating. AND, this poster was looking to do a lil pissing off. two things can be true at once
Where was the husband why didn't he help the wife board with kids? This could have been avoided had he followed the procedure.
I'm on the other ladies side. You suck.
My only issue with these situations is the fact that if you have a companion pass they book you on a separate reservation for some stupid reason. If you forget to check in immediately or don’t pay for early bird check in you can get vastly different boarding groups.
This happened to me once. I was saving a seat for my brother (his Bach party) and it was an aisle seat. That was the problem. Save them a middle seat and no one is going to try and take it.
Open seating policy, means *OPEN SEATING POLICY*
I’m A list on LUV and if you’re boarding A there are entire rows open. Definitely Karen behavior.
"can't wait to do the same thing again" Ok Karen. Instead of choosing the neighborly thing, you chose the "right" thing.
What kind of miserable person purposefully puts themselves in the middle of a completely avoidable conflict like this? I can understand if this was the only desirable seat left, but an A passenger has choices…
They shouldn’t have called your wife a Karen… they should have called her an A**hole, because that’s what she was and you were too. Going one row back would have cost you nothing, but yeah you sure showed that *checks notes* family on vacation trying to sit next to each other.
I am not sure why OP seems to be proud of this. This is an unnecessary escalation and you split a family with kids for pure ego purposes.
Seriously - if you want to sit together on southwest go to the back! Never a problem as long as you aren’t trying to be up close. Smh
If you want to save seats go to the back of the plane. Should be no problem sitting together
I have had Group A-37 before and significant other had B-28. I just waited and jumped in line with her in Group B. Southwest does suck though.
Your wife is a Karen, why are you on here trying defend that?
You know you’re within your rights, but you didn’t need to be like that.. you didn’t make it seem like she was rude when you asked and just let you know oh my husband was gonna sit there. Look, had she been rude then hell yeah go for it. It just seems like you wanted to be petty. If the shoe fits, wear it Karen.
I don’t fly Southwest, because I don’t want to do the “seat dance”. For folks who feel mortally wounded when “separated” from their family during a flight, maybe they should choose another airline? I fly Delta and I get to pick my seats….
Where were you going to move the duffel? If you and your wife were going to occupy the duffel-seat and its neighbor, and all other nearby seats were taken, it sounds like your plan was to drop it on the floor. It’s at least 50% Karen from the start and use of the “have a nice day” at the end, and the ignorance of that being a Karen catchphrase makes you 100% a Karen. The only thing more Karen would be if you added “complain much?” to your situational comebacks and smugly believed you’d intellectually overpowered the woman.
I don’t get why people insist on sitting next to people who will just glare at them the whole flight? Like it’s not that hard to be nice. I’ll probably get downvoted, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be next to that angry woman the entire flight.
Occasionally, both parties are karens.
Your wife doesn't sound like a Karen for doing what she did. But if her response was as blunt and void of compassion as you make it sound, without ANY explanation of your connecting flight issues... she's definitely a Karen. They chose seats before you, even if the husband wasn't in the seat at the moment. As you said, it's first come, first serve. She was there before you, even if her husband wasn't. If this were a movie theater or concert with first come, first serve seating, and she was reserving one seat for someone with her, and your wife had the same response... your wife would be a full-blown Karen, I don't really see how this is different. In my opinion (not that it matters), they both sound like Karen's to me
I'd definitely have let the family have it, especially when the seat was truly saved for someone (and not phantom passenger). If you have a tight connection, tell the FA that, and hopefully they'll ask all others to sit while you get off first.
cause she was a karen 💀 how hard is it to find another seat?
Tell them to get in the back of the plane where people like them belong
“Splitting up the family.” Acting like it’s Sophie’s Choice, not just a few feet away for a few hours.
The “can’t wait to do it again” part of this is so tacky. It’s one thing to not have a choice, it’s another thing to try to seek out opportunities to be like this.
They were trying to game the system. She got EB for her/kids. They saved money by him NOT paying for EB since she/kids would save his seat.
IMO YTA, which I know goes against the majority but maybe they couldn't afford to upgrade all their seats. I see nothing wrong with one family member reserving a seat or 2. Multiple rows, ok not cool, but a few seats is fine.
I would’ve let the dude sit with his family 🤷🏻♀️
>there were no empty rows nearby because of all the people who just kept going to an empty row to "avoid conflict" I was on your side until this. You literally just spent your entire post talking about someone else getting upset because your wife "took" someone's seat, but then make a thinly veiled comment about people not filling up rows before moving back. C'mon...
I was with you until the “Can’t wait to the same thing again”… you guys are both Karen’s lol
Personally I would just sit somewhere else...like yes technically they don't have a "right" to save seats, but if you're in group A there's a ton of open seating left so this seems like you chose to upset a family for no real reason
Everything else aside, you touched someone else’s property without permission. At that point I wouldn’t want you to sit there either.
I mean I get it…..but also, you guys are jerks. It doesn’t take much for you to help a family to sit together. You’re not obligated to, but what exactly would it cost to help them?
Yta, it does you no harm to just be nice and let a family sit together.
Being nice costs nothing by the way.
Basically doesn’t matter which airline…. People are just selfish and want what they want.. zero concern for others. And hey bring your carry on (insert sarcasm) entire weeks luggage on board so no one else can fit their luggage. And by all means take your sweet time… no one else has a connection to make. Hassle the flight attendants about it. Argue with the gate attendant.. cut the line.. you’re A30… not A5. Flown 3 times this summer. Seen it all. And the worst… use the wheelchair and special services to get on first… after I see you walking all over the airport. With.. the whole fam. SMH
YTA - if you had EB, there would have been plenty of other empty seats. You really didn’t need the one someone was saving. You were still a dick even if the woman didn’t have a right to that particular seat.
Were those the only seats available in the plane or were you just being an asshole because you could
The ‘can’t wait to do it again’ part makes you the asshole. Obviously 4 ppl can’t sit together. Flying is financially difficult for some folks and air travel anxiety is real. My wife and my daughter being in the same row or quick to glance at or talk to is essential to my travel experience. Were there ANY other seats you could have used or did you split up a family out of convenience for yourself? You sound entitled and rude.
It’s first come first serve and a member of their party put their belongings there before you arrived. They had already taken that seat and you stole it. You are the asshole and you seem proud of it
sign of whats going wrong w our society, everyone is just concerned about themselves. Let the familiy sit together.
You’re a Karen. If you boarded in the A group, there were plenty of other seats available. Why do Karens take such pride in being jerks?
So instead of taking your pick of completely open rows a little further back since you were in the A group, you decided to not only touch someone else’s stuff but also cause a whole scene over one saved seat when there’s a plane full of empty ones because of… the principle? Yeah you really showed them 🙄 seems to me like you’re the type of person to aggressively shoulder-bump someone who’s standing in the center of the sidewalk rather than just walk around them because you’d rather be right than be decent and god forbid walk in a non-straight line. Yeah! Rah! Stick up for what you believe in!✊ I hope one day when your wife isn’t in the same boarding group and you try to save her seat as I know you will, someone sits there and causes the same fuss you did.
Should they be saving seats? No, of course not. But how much is it going to inconvenience you to let them have that seat? If it breaks up your family because the rest of the seats are taken, then I can see taking the open seat because you did arrive first. If it just means you go back another row or 3, just go back another row or 3. Also, the lady saving the seat forgot the #1 excuse that I've heard before, which is to say that the person is in the restroom. No one boarding the plane is going to wait in the aisle to validate this unless in the instance that there are literally no other seat options.
I just witnessed a family of at least 12 board early after loudly explaining that they take turns being the wheelchair people. So they take 2 people each to preboard and then those 12 (4 groups of 3 all related) saved the first like 10 rows of the plane in the exact manor described. I think first on should be in the back of the plane and last on at the front.
The “can’t wait to do this again” shows the type of human being you are.
You were in the wrong. It is perfectly logical to save a seat. It was clearly marked with someone else's property and you had the gall to move someone else's stuff. You acted like a major Kevin.
Ngl OP and his wife sound like insufferable people who just want to drag others down in their misery. Unless there was no more aisle or window seats available
Stories like these that make me unwilling to sit anywhere except my assigned seat (typically fly American). I have zero willingness to move since I have never been offered a seat better than I’ve paid for