Couple’s Trick for Keeping Middle Seat Open on Southwest Might Be the Best Yet
Ah, the mythical empty middle seat: a coveted treat for couples flying with Southwest Airlines. With Southwest Airlines' unique unassigned seating system, you and your partner have a better chance of getting a full row to yourselves than you would with other airlines. However, as the plane starts to fill up, and the number of available seats starts to dwindle, couples who want to keep that middle seat empty may need to think outside the box.
Southwest Airlines customers have been coming up with all kinds of crazy "seat-saving" tactics for years now. However, one particular ploy, demonstrated here by Kalah Vance and her partner on March 29, seems to be perfect for scaring potential seatmates off!
LOL! I love how @kalvance388 and her partner can barely keep it together while pretending to have the most heated argument of their lives. It's not often that a video like this actually makes me laugh out loud, but this one had me rolling, especially with their blurted fake-angry interjections. And the best part is, according to Kalah, it worked!
It's simple social engineering: would you want to sit between an angry couple fighting on their way to visit the in-laws? No? Me neither- and so, as long as there are any other seats left on the plane, boarding passengers are probably going to move on. The "fake argument" ploy has long been a favorite of Southwest Airlines passengers, but seeing it in action here was riotously funny. Southwest customers will go a long way to save that open middle seat!
Seat-Saving Tactics Among Southwest Customers
The goal of these seat savers is to give any potential seatmates the "ick" and convince them to look elsewhere on the flight for an open seat. The fake argument trick is a popular one, as is fake coughing or pretending to have a baby. One hilarious middle-seat saving tactic I saw once involved a couple who tried to make it appear that they were, shall we say, a little too enthusiastic about looking for a third (seatmate, that is). The phrase "you catch more flies with honey" doesn't apply there!
For what it's worth, Southwest's employees are onto the "seat-savers." However, as Gary Leff from View from the Wing points out, Southwest Airlines doesn't have a specific policy for or against seat-saving, much to the chagrin of some passengers. Whether or not the flight crew will intervene varies from flight to flight, though for something silly, like what Kalah and her partner are doing, they probably wouldn't intervene unless absolutely necessary. Until such a time (if ever) that Southwest Airlines changes that policy, crafty customers will keep going the extra mile to keep their rows open and enjoy all that extra seating space!
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