Southwest Airlines has a Thin Response to Thinner Seats Outrage
‘I’m going to fly Delta.’ That was the gist of many responses to Southwest Airlines recent social media crisis. It’s just about the worst thing a brand can hear from its customers — that something they did is sending people to their competitor. But how did we get here? Let’s recap.
On February 2, Southwest Airlines posted on TikTok and Instagram a video announcing a new seat design, set to be rolled out in early 2025. The caption stated, “New fit check! 💯Introducing our updated cabin design and new seats! You can catch this interior on new aircraft deliveries beginning next year. Not to mention our ongoing rollout of adding bigger bins and in-seat power ports to our current planes!” It’s clear that the low-cost carrier thought that consumers would be excited about their sleek new design. That’s not exactly what happened.
The video quickly went viral on TikTok, garnering 20,000 negative comments bemoaning what consumers saw as narrower, more rigid seats, with less cushioning. There was even speculation that there was less leg room. “Love it. I’ve always wondered when airlines would start catering to people like us who enjoy relaxing on slates of granite,” commented one TikToker. Another commented “Ozempic seats,” likening the new, thinner design to the weight-loss drug. Others compared the seats to “lawn chairs” and “wooden benches.”
So how did it all go so wrong? The brand told Fast Company that, “The visual is a 2D rendering of the overall cabin design and aesthetics, and not a representation of the seat thickness or comfort.” According to this, it feels like the brand rushed, maybe not the design itself, but their marketing of it. Could this have been avoided by testing the design out on focus groups? Of course there’s no way to know whether they did or not, but the 2D rendering clearly had such an immediate, visceral reaction that it’s hard to believe they did their due diligence.
Far more concerning has been Southwest’s reaction. The airline defended the design to various publications that reached out for comment, telling Travel and Leisure, “We developed the rendering because the actual seats had not been fully branded when we made the original post to announce our updated cabin plans,” the representative added. “The actual seats feature MORE cushion in the headrest, backrest, and bottom for additional comfort and a new material that’s softer to the touch and better showcases the foam technology in the seat.”
PEOPLE reported that the brand told them that the seats “maintain the customer-friendly width and legroom we currently offer on all aircraft configurations,” adding that they spent ““18 months” researching and testing the comfort of the seats. The new design utilizes foam technology that’s “softer to the touch” and the headrest offers a “multi-adjustable” cushion as well.”
Despite this plethora of explanations (which I notice doesn’t include refutation of the claim that the seats are narrower than they used to be), Southwest’s response has been to quietly retreat into the background on the subject. The brand has deleted the offending video off of TikTok, though it remains on Instagram with almost 5,000 largely negative comments, but 223,231 likes. A quick look through Southwest’s press releases shows they haven’t released one addressing the matter. They certainly haven’t posted on social media anything about it. Instead of engaging with consumers about the matter, it seems that the brand is largely hoping that if they pretend the debacle never happened (unless specifically asked by a major publication) that everyone will forget about it and it will blow over.
Incredibly that seems to mostly be what’s happening as consumers move on to whatever the next big scandal is. Their recent posts and videos don’t seem to have any comments about the unpopular new seat design. Still, it feels like a missed opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. The brand could’ve posted something cheeky about the situation, simultaneously having fun with it while also reassuring them that they’re taking consumers’ concerns into account.
What actually could’ve been really fun is if the airline created a mockup of the new seats and put them in a public location, encouraging people to sit in them, try them out, and post about the experience. If the new seats really are as comfy as Southwest claims, this could’ve been a great way to prove it to people, and garner some positive earned media.
Alas, we will just have to wait until 2025 to see how this really turns out. Flying is an ordeal. You have to get to the airport multiple hours before your flight, you have to take off your shoes, and then you spend however many hours crammed in close quarters in a tin can with your airpods in just hoping to god you can manage to sleep through it. It’s no surprise that passengers get a little cranky when it looks like they might have to deal with anything that makes the experience worse. If Southwest Airlines’ new seats end up being as uncomfortable as consumers fear, there’s going to be hell to pay.
