‘There’s no one monitoring it’: Woman paid top dollar for Southwest’s new premium seating experience and came off the plane thinking she got scammed

A frequent Southwest flyer named Roya posted a TikTok video about her bad experience with the airline’s new premium seating system. The video got over 529,500 views and showed that Southwest’s new boarding process may not be working as well as the airline claimed.

Roya and her travel companion paid extra for what they thought were reserved extra-legroom seats. But when they boarded as group five, they ended up in row 22 with their bags nowhere near them. “It is an absolute s— show,” she said on her TikTok video. “We had to wait for the entire plane to deplane, and then walk back to get our bags.”

Under Southwest’s new system, passengers are placed into seat categories like standard seats, preferred seats, and extra-legroom seats. According to Brobible, passengers who pay for extra-legroom seats are supposed to get reserved overhead bin space and upgraded snacks. But in reality, passengers at the back of the plane were storing their bags in the front bins with no one stopping them.

Southwest’s new seating system is creating real problems for paying passengers

“There’s no one monitoring it,” Roya said. “There’s no one telling them they can’t.” The lack of any crew oversight has led to a lot of frustrating situations for passengers who paid more expecting better service. This is not the first time Southwest passengers have faced chaos on board, as one couple’s absurd pre-takeoff demand recently delayed an entire flight at LAX.

One clear example of this was Roya’s neighbor in row 7, who had boarded in group three, while Roya and her companion were in group five. Their bags ended up in completely different parts of the plane, which defeated the whole point of paying for a better boarding position.

In March 2026, Southwest sent customers an email saying there were “several enhancements” being made to fix complaints. But passengers are still reporting the same issues, and it does not seem like much has actually changed on the ground.

The TWU Local 556 flight attendants’ union also spoke up about the issue, pointing out that the new system has forced crews to police overhead bin usage on their own. There have also been cases where a flight attendant’s poor knowledge of seating rules split up a family mid-flight despite them following the rules correctly. This puts extra pressure on flight attendants and makes things worse for both workers and passengers.

Viewers of Roya’s video shared plenty of their own frustrations in the comments. “Ridiculous!! Will be changing airlines,” one commenter wrote. Another comment simply wrote, “SouthWORST.” Others were equally unhappy, with one saying, “Flew with them over the weekend and the same thing happened.” Roya’s own advice to fellow travelers was simple: “Do not fly Southwest.”