Booking on Southwest

Walt Disney World
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Adding a data point to this thread from a different angle — I booked my May flights (PIT↔MCO, 5/4 and 5/10) for a pre-cruise WDW stay plus Disney Fantasy sailing, and wanted to share how I worked through the fare decision as a Passenger of Size. The calculus is meaningfully different now, and I haven’t seen it discussed much since the January changes took effect.

The POS-specific problem under the new rules:

In the Before Times, I’d book any fare, pre-board, grab two seats together, done. The refund came automatically. Now:

  • Two seats must be pre-purchased
  • Refund on the second seat is no longer automatic — requires the flight to depart with at least one open seat AND same fare class AND request within 90 days
  • On Basic fares, seat selection exists but costs extra per seat, and without selection you’re assigned at check-in. I’ve seen posts on other platforms suggesting the auto-assignment algorithm has put POS travelers’ two seats in different rows. Not a risk I wanted to absorb.

So Basic isn’t really Basic for me anymore — I’d be paying to select seats anyway to guarantee adjacency, which starts narrowing the gap to Choice pretty quickly.

The boarding group angle that flipped my thinking:

Boarding group follows seat TYPE, not fare class. An Extra Legroom seat on a Basic fare still boards Group 1-2. That was going to be my play initially — Basic + pay for ELR upgrades on all four segments (2 seats × 2 directions) = cheaper than Choice Extra on paper.

What killed that plan was the points math:

  • Basic: 2x points per base fare dollar
  • Choice Extra: 14x points per base fare dollar
  • ELR upgrade fees and bag fees earn ZERO Southwest points
  • CSP earns 2x on everything regardless

Basic + ELR upgrades: ~$1,307 cash, ~1,770 SW points + ~2,614 UR
Choice Extra: ~$1,614 cash, ~20,110 SW points + ~3,228 UR

Valuing SW points conservatively at 1.2¢ (my actual redemption rate on these specific flights was 1.11-1.20¢) and UR at 2.0¢, the effective cost gap compresses from $307 to about $74. For $74 net I picked up:

  • Full refundability (EMS schedule, 24-hour shift swaps happen :crossed_fingers: please don’t)
  • Same-day change/standby without fare upgrade (:folded_hands: I will not be needing this, universe)
  • Transferable 12-month flight credit if things go sideways
  • Priority/Express lanes at PIT and MCO
  • 2 free bags (eliminating the $45 bag fee)
  • Premium drink on the way there because vacation mode starts in 15A

Pulled the trigger at $1,611.60.

Gotchas I’d flag for other POS travelers:

  1. Assume you’ll pay full price for both seats. The refund conditions are restrictive enough that on any popular route you should treat it as a bonus, not a plan.
  2. Basic fare is a trap if you’re buying two seats — the adjacency risk is real, and paying to select seats closes most of the savings gap anyway.
  3. The 32"→31" pitch reduction on 737-800s/MAX 8s matters if you were already “just comfortable” at the old pitch. ELR at 34" is actually better than the old baseline. I don’t think I could loose the inch of legroom without seriously reducing comfort (even worse if the row in front reclines)
  4. Checked-bag reality with camera/electronics gear: if you’re in Group 6-8 and bin space runs out, gate-checking a bag full of lithium batteries becomes a FAA compliance scramble at the jet bridge. Group 1-2 via ELR is cheap insurance there.
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Yep!

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83

So, checking available Extra Legroom seats at 48 hours before flight today, most of the ones still available are a few rows behind our current Preferred seats.

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Looking at this in reading it that row 16 is not an EXIT row. But if I try to select one of these seats the description DOES tell me it is an Exit row. Does this seem right or glitchy?

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I’ve never really paid attention to whether SW considers the row behind as such because as pre boarders we can’t sit in one so we just head a little further back or forward.

(Annoying, really, because we preboard to wipe seats down for allergens and would be fully able to open the door if needed.)

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84

For my flight today, Rose 14 and 15 are considered exit row but row 16 is not although it is an extra legroom seat

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Thanks! Weird that it the app says it is.

I was going to try picking those seats, but since we’re preboarding I didn’t want to cause a problem since the FAs would definitely notice us heading there!

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Southwest moved us to row 16 in February and it was considered an exit row. I was in 16a with no one in front of me (extra extra legroom!) and we had to do the verbal confirmation that we’d help in case of emergency.

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Thanks! Gemini seems to agree, so I’m not going to take any chances with this row.
Too bad, if this flight is an indication, looks like people are picking the front EXL seats before the exit rows.

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Row 16 is an exit row BUT the chairs recline, the chairs in front of you can not recline and you get extra legroom. It’s the optimal seats for people that want the most room in economy.

I’ve been on this plan set up several times. It’s technically exit row. Not sure why they aren’t considering it that in the app or site. DH and I almost always get the 2 seater exit row seats. During the emergency exit briefing, they all have to agree to the emergency exit rules.

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89

That’s what I did. While there’s nothing in the rules about buying double seats not being exit row eligible, I didn’t want to risk it.

During open seating, buying the double seats made me pre-board so I was essentially guaranteed seats side by side. But I think now with assigned seating that’s probably no longer a thing.

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@JJT I was assigned row 16 on a flight a few weeks ago. Me and the other two women with me were approached by the flight attendant and told we were in an exit row and asked if we consented to being there and explained our roles. There was no one seated in row 15 in front of us.

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91

Fares opened up today for SW flights through January 5, 2027.
We’re flying from BUF to MCO, and we decided a stop in BWI wasn’t such a bad idea for 8,500 points each! Unfortunately, options were not as good on the way home, so we paid $229 each for a non-stop flight. All-in-all, we’re pretty pleased.

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@OBNurseNH , @JenniferB1975 , @JJT

We will have an opportunity at noon today to upgrade to an extra legroom seat @ 48 hrs. We are currently in middle and window seats in Rows 12 and 13. Husband would like an aisle seat. It looks like Row 16 currently has 4 openings.

Questions: Do all of the seats in Row 16 with the exception of the window seats have storage underneath the seat in front of you? Looks like yes from the diagram. How much extra legroom are you actually getting over the regular seats? Not sure if it is worth moving back a few rows…

Please reply ASAP! Thanks!

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From what I read, row 16 under seat storage is limited, but I’m not sure what that means in real life.

I found the preferred seat legroom decent on our flight down (row 9). I’m 6’1” and DS 6’2” or more with a lot of legs and we did fine on a NY to FL non stop, FWIW. A 6 hour flight across country I’d probably appreciate the EXL more.

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:rofl:

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I don’t know the answer to the storage question cause I’ve not sat in those seats before. I will say the extra legroom is not substantial! I would never pay for it, but I’m glad to accept it for free because every little inch matters.

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Yes. I was in seat A and put my backpack under the seat in row 14 A since there is not a seat at the 15A position.

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I had the extra leg room since there was no seat in front of me but I didn’t notice that the B and C seats next to me had any addition leg room compared to the other seats at all.

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Thanks all!

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Do you all think Row 14 would be a better choice? It is an Exit Row, but looks like it has under the seat storage in Row 13.

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If you have faith in Reddit user info, looks like there is under seat storage in row 14.

The new seat configs might make some reports out of date I suppose, but this one is only a month ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SouthwestAirlines/s/7niD6R1OKA

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