Emergency Exit Seating Requirements

The following requirements were created for the safety of everyone onboard our aircraft, and in compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations.

Federal regulations require that a Customer select a non-exit seat if he or she cannot or does not wish to perform the following functions:

• Locate the emergency exit
• Recognize the emergency exit opening mechanism
• Comprehend the instructions for operating the emergency exit
• Operate the emergency exit
• Assess whether opening the emergency exit will increase the hazards to which passengers may be exposed
• Follow oral directions and hand signals given by a crewmember
• Secure the emergency exit window so that it will not impede use of the exit
• Pass expeditiously through the emergency exit
• Assess, select, and follow a safe path away from the emergency exit

• Reach upward, sideways, and downward to the location of emergency exit
• Grasp and push, pull, turn, or otherwise manipulate mechanisms
• Push, shove, pull or otherwise open the emergency exit
• Lift out, hold, deposit on nearby seats, or maneuver over the seatbacks to the next row or out the opening objects the size and weight of overwing window exit doors.
• Remove objects similar in size and weight to overwing exit windows
• Reach the emergency exit expeditiously
• Maintain balance while removing obstructions
• Exit expeditiously

A passenger seated in an exit seat must:

• be 15 years of age or older
• have the capacity to perform the applicable functions without the assistance of an adult companion, parent, or other relative
• have the ability to read and understand instructions related to emergency evacuation provided by Southwest in printed or graphic form
• have the ability to understand oral crew commands
• have sufficient visual capacity to perform applicable functions without the assistance of visual aids beyond contact lenses or eyeglasses
• have sufficient aural capacity to hear and understand instructions shouted by Flight Attendants without assistance beyond a hearing aid
• have the ability to adequately impart information orally to other passengers

A passenger seated in an exit seat must not:

• have preboarded
• use a portable oxygen concentrator
• require a seat belt extension to fasten his or her seat belt
• have a condition or responsibilities, such as caring for small children, that might prevent them from performing the applicable functions
• have a condition that might cause the person harm if he or she performs one or more of the applicable functions

Return to previous page.