An aircraft with a row of rear facing passenger seats was a thing once upon a time. You could find these right up into the 2000s, though they were relatively unusual.
Southwest Airlines had a row of these in the centre of the cabin on their Boeing 737s at one point. It’s a piece of aviation history I certainly had no idea about.
Here are the Rear Facing Exit Row Seats
Exit rows must be kept clear on flights, as anyone who has ever sat there will know. Your luggage has to go in the overhead compartment to prevent it impeding people’s exit in an emergency.
You had to be there. #IYKYK #Southwest50 pic.twitter.com/1vHXR8ss72
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) March 10, 2021
I’m not sure how comfortable it would be if all six seats were filled. No problem if you were a group of six, but if nobody knew each other, it could be a little awkward on a long flight, though I guess it’s never really ruined anyone’s life.
Another Set of Rear Facing Seats
Back in the day, you could find these seats on various aircraft operating around the world. Below is an atmospheric shot from 1968 inside a BEA Vickers Vanguard.
Overall Thoughts
It’s great that Southwest Airlines tweeted about that cabin configuration. I had no idea they had rear facing seats at the exit row back in the day, and I always like finding out something new.
Apart from the British Airways rear facing Club World business class seats, I can’t think of any contemporary examples of this arrangement. I’m curious as to why it fell out of favour, when it was once quite common. You’ll just have to take a train if you want to experience it these days, I guess!
Have you flown in the rear facing exit row seats on Southwest? How about any other airline? What was it like? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image by Aero Icarus via Wikimedia Commons.
Southwest exit row seats by Justin Cederholm on Airliners.net.
BEA Vickers Vanguard cabin by Dan Clark on Airliners.net.
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It was common on SWA in the early to mid 90’s. Smaller 737’s back then. Used to sit in those seats from ONT to LAS. Funny, they were charged as “premium” seats!
Haha well, I guess they had a certain look to them so I guess they could charge extra. Great that you’ve been in them too!
Southwest also had some aircraft with that configuration at the front of the plane. A buddy of mine and I flew from St. Louis to Chicago once and snagged the window seats on the left side, rows 1 & 2. We were among the first 20 or so to board, and I was surprised to see they hadn’t been taken yet (open boarding on Southwest). A Flight Attendant told us that most people thought they were reserved do to the odd configuration, plus some people feel weird about facing backwards. Not me, I plopped down in seat 1A and flew… Read more »
I’d really only ever seen them before at the front of aircraft, rather than anywhere else, so seeing it at the exit was a new one for me. Nice that you got to experience that – I would have sat there as well, as I’m always keen to try new things. Very nice!
I thought American Airlines has rear facing seats too on their 787-8 Business Class don’t they?
Yes, they do indeed. Good spot there!
We loved those seats! As groups of us traveling to Las Vegas back in the 1990’s, we’d try to get them every time we’d fly! We called them the party seats! And they were!
Haha – I can imagine they certainly would be just that, with a group travelling to and from Las Vegas! 🙂
PSA had rear facing seats at the window (tight like SW) but very roomy on the 727-214 rear door exits
That is something I was not aware of. Great to know – thanks for that!!
I have flown SWA since 1983. I liked the rear facing seats. I often heard the fight crew refer to them as the parlor seats. If someone was sitting across from you, it wasn’t any problem to adjust your leg position to either side, even if all six seats were occupied. And even then, you had great legroom as you could stretch across the aisle putting your feet under the seats across from you. Sitting across from people, though, was kind of like walking on an elevator and not turning around to face the doors. It seemed awkward at first,… Read more »
Interesting that the flight crew called them parlor seats. Great to hear your experience there. I imagine it’s just like on a train – you can avoid eye contact if you really want to and you can strike up conversation if you want to. They certainly almost look like their own enclosed cabin of sorts. Thanks for the comment and for sharing your experience.
I know they were referred to as the “lounge” but I used to call those the “party seats”. I remember sitting in that row with people that didn’t know each other and there was always friendly banter. Mostly sat there on short hops between Northern and Southern CA where it was only 45 min to an hour. Sometimes a couple people had drink coupons and would buy a round (back in the days when there was no expiration date) for the whole row.
Sounds like some really friendly flyers on board there. That’s really nice to hear – you certainly don’t get that much of a social vibe as often nowadays. I would have called them the party seats myself, to be quite honest. Thanks for sharing that, much appreciated!
UA still has the forward/backward business class seats in domestic configuration 777, similar to their pre-merger business class seats.
Having flown “backwards” (or facing the rear) on both WN and UA, it’s really not all that different, other than during take off. The “lounge” seats on WN are typically used by a group, or last seats to be filled.
Good to know UA still have some in business class – BA still has the rear facing Club World seats on many aircraft, though they are being phased out. I’ve flown backwards in those and I agree with you, they are very much the same, apart from take-off and landing. Thanks for the comment!