Most flights, Hollie Mackey opts for a window seat near the front of the plane.

But on Tuesday, long lines through security at New York's LaGuardia Airport caused her to miss her boarding position and pushed her back a couple rows from her preferred seat.

Because the 10:30 a.m. flight to Dallas was scheduled to be a four-hour haul, the University of Oklahoma associate professor of women's and gender studies chose mobility over comfort. She went with an aisle seat on Row 14 of Southwest Flight 1380.

“I always heard above the wing is the safest place in the plane,” said Mackey, who was flying back from an academic conference. “So I thought, ‘Well, I'll sit here.'”