Longtime Southwest travelers will remember the old days – also known as four months ago – when passengers could choose any free seat on the plane. Now, Southwest works like pretty much every other airline: You pay for a seat assignment, or you gamble and have one assigned to you at check-in.
This is where some fliers are having issues. People who opt not to pay for a specific seat assignment may find themselves seated in the back of the plane, in a full row, even when there are plenty of empty seats. Sometimes, when passengers try and move into a less crowded part of the plane, they’re told it’s not allowed.
“I get that there’s assigned seating now, but we can’t move to empty seats either?” complained one Redditor. “I’m on my fourth flight today and exhausted. I’m in a middle seat on a full row, but half the plane is empty. I moved seats and the flight attendant made me go back. WTF? “
Another recent incident went viral, showing an airline employee telling a passenger they had to stay in their assigned seat or get booted off the flight. In some cases, flight attendants have said passengers can’t move due to an issue with weight imbalance.
This type of conflict may be new for Southwest, but it’s been going on behind the scenes for other airlines since the advent of commercial flight. Every airline and every pilot pays close attention to weight and balance before take off, said Edgar Mora, former pilot and chief instructor of aviation at San Jose State University.
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“It’s checked by the dispatchers, it’s checked by loadmasters, it’s checked by the pilots. So it’s triple checked most of the time,” Mora said.
Where people sit on the plane is a major factor for balancing the plane’s center of gravity, as is the location of the plane’s cargo. If the weight isn’t balanced properly, the plane may not be able to take off safely.
Even small changes in weight distribution – like from a group of people changing seats – could have a detectable impact.
“Any movement inside the cabin when the flight attendant’s going around with a little cart, we can feel it,” Mora said. “We even joke about it [in the cockpit] like, ‘Oh, somebody’s going to the bathroom.’”
The plane’s autopilot technology is usually compensating for these changes in mid-flight weight distribution, so you don’t feel anything as a passenger.
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For safety and fuel efficiency, Mora said it’s better for the center of gravity to be in the back of the plane, which is why you have spread out first-class seats up front, and denser economy seating in the back.
It’s not uncommon for airlines to assign seating with weight balance in mind, and we usually don’t even realize it’s even happening. “We don’t notice it as passengers because when the airplane’s usually full, it’s obviously balanced.”
He hypothesized it was also probably happening naturally under Southwest’s old open seating policy. If a flight was only two-thirds full, passengers would probably spread out pretty evenly, naturally balancing out the flight.
While the importance of center of gravity may be common knowledge for flight crew, it could be new information to flyers, especially Southwest passengers who are used to having more freedom.
“I think that what you’re seeing basically is both customers and flight attendants kind of getting used to this new normal,” said Sean Cudahy, senior aviation reporter at The Points Guy.
Cudahy and Mora both suggested asking a flight attendant before moving seats to avoid any issues.
“Weight and balance is most important during takeoff, which is why we ask Customers to remain in their assigned seats prior to departure,” a Southwest spokesperson said in a statement to Nexstar.
The spokesperson said conflicts between passengers and airline staff over seat assignments are not common, “and we continue refining our policies to best serve our Customers.”
Nexstar’s Michael Bartiromo contributed to this report.
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