Seating selections abound on Southwest

Photo by Brave Heart

I flew Southwest yesterday for the first time in a while, and was immediately presented with a dilemma. When selecting your seats on the fly, is it better to be nearer the front of the plane, or try to have a row to yourself near the back of the plane?

With other airlines, when I am presented with seat selections while purchasing the ticket, I usually try to find something as close to the front of the plane as possible. That's usually because I'm banking on the flight being oversold, and have blocked out of my mind the possibility of having a row to myself.

Not that Southwest flights aren't oversold. But yesterday's trip was a single-day roundtrip excursion -- early flight to Philadelphia, late flight back to Providence -- on a day that was not very busy for business or holiday travel. So I was hopeful there would be seats to spare both ways. All of the crowded flights were headed further south.

On the flight out, I had a high number on my boarding pass, so was in the second wave of Southwest's open seating. As luck would have it though, there was a completely open row near the front of the plane when I arrived. Score! Window seat near the front and a row to myself?! Surely I was going to pay for this good fortune on the way home.

My meetings finished up earlier than I anticipated, so I got back to the airport just after 3:30 p.m., four hours in advance of my scheduled flight. I started harboring dreams of switching to the earlier flight, especially after a speedy rental car return, but a lengthy wait in the security line made me less hopeful.

I got to the gate just as the 4:45 flight to Providence was finishing up its boarding. In between catching breaths, I explained to the gate agent that I was on the subsequent flight, and was there a chance they could squeeze me into the one that was about to leave?

"You'll have to pay the difference in the fare," she said, as she took my boarding pass for my scheduled flight and started typing.

"How much?" I asked.

Pause amid furious typing. No eye contact. I'm getting less hopeful by the second.

"$30," she finally said.

"Sold!" I exclaimed.

"Cash or credit?" she asked.

"What's easier for you?"

"Credit."

"Done!"

She then made the final boarding call, paged two passengers in the process, all while running my credit card. Amazing.

The gate agent handed me the receipt to sign, but I was so giddy at the prospect of getting home before the family was asleep that I grabbed it and started heading to the gate.

"No, wait, you need to sign that." she said.

"Oh, of course," I replied, taking the pen from her.

Now with receipt and new boarding pass in hand, I make my way to the gangway and plane. I'm figuring I'll be squeezing into a middle seat, but balancing that against the early arrival and short flight. It will be OK, I chanted to myself.

As I walk onto the plane, I scan the playing field. Any exit row seats? No. Any aisle or window seats near the front? No. Any aisle or window seats at all?

Cue the orchestra in my head, and fire up the heavenly glow. There's two empty rows. The back rows, but they're empty. This truly has been a blessed travel day!

Neither flight really settled the seating debate, though. Turns out I am happy with either a seat at the front of the plane, or with a row to myself. If that row to myself is near the front, all the better. Least desirable? Middle seat, no matter where it is on the plane.

The punctuation mark to yesterday was the plane landed at 6 p.m., and after a quick family coordination phone call I was sitting in a Plymouth restaurant at 7:15, meeting Brandy and the kids there after they had completed some errands. Brandy had even ordered my food, the kids were eating, and it was if I had not traveled at all.