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.


With the old Southwest Boeing 737s, this was certainly the case. A nice straight line from the aisle to the exit door means an easy out should something go wrong.

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.


Even other jet aircraft had them, such as the de Haviland Comet 4. You can see the 1970s styling on a Dan Air Comet 4 below, which I took at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune in Scotland.


It is well known that facing backwards is actually safer in the event of an accident. This is why cabin crew jump seats are usually facing the rear.

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.

Like planes? See my “Does anyone remember” series.
Flight reviews your thing? Mine are all indexed here.
Follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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.