Flight from Oakland International Airport to Austin–Bergstrom International Airport was delayed for a few hours with many passengers rebooked onto other routes. When boarding finally happened, the aircraft operated by Southwest Airlines was only about half full.
I ended up with an entire row to myself. In the emergency exit row, a father and adult son were seated in the aisle and middle seats, with the window seat (extra legroom seat with no seat in front) remaining empty.
After takeoff, since no one had taken that seat, the son moved into it and went to sleep. A flight attendant then approached and told the father that the son could not sit there unless they paid for the upgrade.
The father disagreed and questioned the policy, but after further discussion, the flight attendant warned him about non-compliance consequences. The son eventually moved back to his original seat, and the exit row seat remained empty for the rest of the flight, along with several other unused seats on the plane.
This felt frustrating given how many empty seats there were and how rigid the enforcement seemed in that situation.
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