Dad blames Southwest Airlines for auto seat…
They’re calling him a cheapskate.
As a consequence of refusing to pay for seat choice on a flight, a father of two was compelled to sit individually from his tots — and people are taking the airline’s aspect.
Cory Watilo took to X (previously Twitter) to share his moderately irritating expertise not too long ago flying Southwest Airlines with his household.
Alongside a screenshot of choosing from the drop-down menu on the airways’ website that he was flying with little ones, the daddy of two wrote, “my wife and two kids (5 and 2) are flying @SouthwestAir today. and because i refuse to pay for seats, their seats were auto assigned. My 2 year old in his own row without his mom or sister. i sorta figured when the websites breaks out age 0-4, they’d factor this in but nah…”
Watilo’s assumption wasn’t unsuitable. If a flyer doesn’t pay for seat choice, their seat will likely be auto-assigned, and technically, airways aren’t required to seat households together on a flight.
However, the Department of Transportation encourages airways to at least guarantee younger flyers are seated with an accompanying grownup, which clearly Southwest failed to do right here.
my spouse and two youngsters (5 and 2) are flying @SouthwestAir today. and because i refuse to pay for seats, their seats had been auto assigned.my 2 12 months previous in his own row without his mother or sister.i sorta figured when the web sites breaks out age 0-4, they’d issue this in but nah… pic.twitter.com/7D0M3OLhiq— Cory Watilo (@watilo) February 12, 2026
So you possibly can’t blame this aggravated father for feeling a sure means. However, his little rant of a post prompted fairly the stir online, garnering over 2 million views and a lot of blended reactions.
“If you’re so cheap that you refuse to not pay for seat selection then why didn’t you put the 2 year old as a lap child?” one individual snarkily requested.
Someone else chimed, blaming Watilo: “Not true. Unless you put their ages wrong. Just did a flight Saturday and they automatically assigned us seats together. Do you need me to do a tutorial for you. To disprove this?”
The dad introduced up legitimate factors, that many appeared disagree with. Markus Mainka – stock.adobe.com
“Come on bro. I hate this SW BS as much as anyone out there. I can literally fly FREE with them and still pay now for other airlines… But this is a bit on you my man. You want your family to sit together ya gotta buy the seats,” quipped another person.
“Bro, pay the money for your family to be together this isn’t difficult – penny pinch elsewhere,” another remark read.
Some, not many, got here to Watilo’s protection: “The comments on this post are surprising. Your point is that their booking systems shouldn’t allow the child to be located away from the parents and at least be in the same row, but everyone’s saying it’s your fault.”
“…People are more focused on the dad as to why he didn’t pay rather than the greedy multi billion cooperation which is separating a family traveling together unless they pay up,” read another remark.
Despite the heated online debate Watilo’s post prompted, the great news is that a sort flyer ended up switching seats with his spouse, so none of their little ones had been sitting alone.
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