If there’s one airline that may be described as polarizing, it is most likely Southwest. Some vacationers swear by the airline’s open seating coverage, whereas others desire to fly with carriers that will let you choose your seat upfront. However now, the controversy about the way you select your seat has considerably fallen by the wayside, as vacationers are up in arms about Southwest Airways’ new bodily seats. The airline introduced some controversial “upgrades” in a current TikTok video, which showcased computer-generated photos of a redesigned cabin.
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“Introducing our up to date cabin design and new seats!” the caption reads. “You may catch this inside on new plane deliveries starting subsequent yr. To not point out our ongoing rollout of including larger overhead bins and in-power ports to our present planes!”
In a Feb. 2 press launch, Southwest defined that it partnered with design firm Tangerine to create the up to date inside, which integrates shades of blue. The brand new seats have the Southwest coronary heart emblem on adjustable headrests and private digital gadget holders, per the discharge. Provided by plane seat producer RECARO, the seats are “intuitively designed…for final consolation whereas maximizing seat width and total help,” the airline stated.
Nonetheless, prospects had completely different ideas on the seats—and so they weren’t precisely optimistic. Southwest’s TikTok video was flooded with sarcastic feedback, with many stating that the seats seemed “smaller and thinner” than they did earlier than.
“I did not assume it was doable to make the seats any extra uncomfortable, but it surely seems like someway you managed. Congratulations, I suppose,” one remark reads.
One other commenter was shocked that the seats had been authorized in any respect, asking, “Did y’all not do a single focus group on these?!” (Within the press launch, the airline did write that “Buyer analysis and product testing” guided Southwest to collaborate with RECARO.)
Others made jokes, asking if there’s “an possibility to only stand” or whether or not the airline thought of picket benches, which might “be simply as cozy.” A number of feedback in contrast the seats to garden chairs, plastic pool recliners, and slabs of granite, whereas others stated that the brand new chairs are akin to these on finances airways like Spirit and Frontier.
Critics additionally argue that the “thinner” chairs is perhaps rolled out to create area for extra seats. “So extra crowded and fewer consolation? Superior,” a remark reads. One other asks, “Are the cushions thinner so you might put them nearer and squeeze in an additional two rows?”
Apparently sufficient, Southwest (together with JetBlue) has been acknowledged as having probably the most legroom in financial system seating. Again in 2015, Southwest’s Chief Business Officer Bob Jordan additionally stated that the airline would have the “widest financial system seats accessible within the single-aisle 737 market,” at 17.8 inches, Condé Nast Traveler reported. This set Southwest aside, as most airways had been transferring to slimmer seats.
In an announcement to Finest Life, a spokesperson for Southwest famous that the RECARO seats “preserve the typical seat width and pitch on Southwest Boeing 737 MAX 8 and -800 plane, and exceed the width at present accessible on the -700 sequence plane.” (Pitch is the time period utilized by airways for the area between a seat and the seats in entrance and behind it.)
Relating to the seats themselves, the airline stated that they’ve really made enhancements when it comes to consolation.
“We collaborated with RECARO to custom-develop a extra ergonomic cushion by utilizing completely different foam applied sciences and densities, and including extra padding to sure areas of the headrest, backrest, and backside cushion,” the spokesperson stated. “The seat materials chosen for these new seats will not be solely softer to the contact, however higher showcases the froth know-how.”
The Southwest spokesperson additionally stated that the airline did, actually, conduct testing for the brand new seats.
“Southwest performed a number of rounds of consolation testing with a whole bunch of individuals, and we’re assured within the consolation and reliability these seats present,” the assertion reads. “After testing, Southwest continued to leverage RECARO’s experience in creating long-haul premium financial system seats within the worldwide market and translated these learnings and enhancements to make a {custom} seat distinctive to Southwest.”
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On prime of common frustration with the seats, some vacationers stated it is sufficient to make them take their enterprise elsewhere.
“You simply earned your self a Delta buyer,” one remark reads on the TikTok video, whereas one other known as Southwest’s video “the perfect Delta advert I’ve seen.”
A number of commenters additionally needed to know why the renovated cabins did not embrace charging ports, which has been a ache level for vacationers. Nonetheless, the airline addressed this within the launch: New 737 MAX 8 plane could have USB A and USB C energy ports and bigger overhead bins. As well as, each charging ports and bigger bins will likely be added to current MAX 8 and 737-800 plane over the following a number of years, Southwest stated.
Finest Life reached out to Southwest for remark and can replace the story after we hear again.
