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Southwest Airlines has long been an outlier when it comes to seat assignments and aircraft boarding. Part of the joy of flying with the airline that put “UV” in “LUV” is being able to self-manage arranging a boarding order, along with 25 other cattle passengers, then making a mad-dash for the exit row seats once you get on board.
While their competitors have added a plethora of different boarding groups, various levels of paid seating and even (*gasp*) premium cabins, Southwest has remained resolute in its one-class-fits-all policy.
All that’s coming to an end, however, as Southwest has announced that it will begin assigning seats in advance and installing additional legroom seats that it will (presumably) charge for as “premium seating.” In addition, the airline will end its longstanding “no redeye policy,” and has begun selling overnight flights starting in early-2025.
Changes at Southwest
The following changes are coming to Southwest Airlines:
- No more open-seating. All passengers will have seats assigned before boarding.
- The airline will begin installing additional legroom seats that will be sold at a premium. It expects 1/3 of its total seat capacity to be premium.
- The airline will begin offering overnight flights in early-2025. Some routes already have redeye flights on sale.
Quick Thoughts
Southwest has flown with the open-seating model for ~50 years and, to my knowledge, it’s never darkened the night skies with a red-eye flight. All that’s going to change, however. The airline lost $231 million in Q1 2024 and the pressure has been steadily increasing for the one-time toast of Wall Street to make significant changes for more revenue…and here we are.
Southwest states that 80% of the customers it surveyed expressed a preference for assigned seats (I would be among them), but I’ve seen quite a bit of chagrin among long-term Southwest loyalists, who were accustomed to being able to get desirable seats with an A group boarding pass.
We don’t know much about when these changes will take affect, only that Southwest plans to provide more details at its investor day in September. We do know that it intends to make approximately 1/3 of each plane into “premium seating,” which would presumably command higher prices.
I have a few questions about how these changes will play out:
- Is basic economy on the way? Southwest has long maintained that it will never offer the stripped-down basic economy fares that other airlines offer. But now that open-seating is on the way out, will we see more fare diversification?
- Will elite status have complimentary premium seating? My assumption is yes, and this may wipe some of the tears from the eyes of disgruntled A-listers
- What impact will assigned/premium seating have on the Companion Pass? Currently, if there’s an open seat, you can claim that seat for a companion. I would think that this will have to change in some way, as someone with a pass and a paid ticket mostly likely won’t be able to add their companion to an open premium seat…and with 1/3 of total seats being premium, that means that there’s going to be 33% less companion space.
I’ll be interested to see where this new direction takes Southwest. It needs to generate more revenue and things like premium seats and redeye flights seem like a completely reasonable way to do that. However, the airline has developed a brand by not doing things quite like other airlines for decades, and these changes will certainly make it look a lot more like them.
I’d love to hear what die-hard Southwest Luvers think. Let us know in the comments.
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Seats will likely follow the current fare structure, there’s no reason to unwind all of that. Wanna Get Away gates will go to the back of the plane and will have less chance to buy up to a seat. I really don’t think WN will make this harder (more complex) than it needs to be.
I wouldn’t call myself a die-hard, but I’ve long liked WN and they are by far the largest airline at my local airport so I end up flying them somewhat frequently for domestic travel. I’m pretty much ambivalent about the change – the seating policy never bothered me, but nor was it a draw. My ultimate feelings about this change will really depend on the details, which we don’t know yet — e.g., how much will seats cost, how will this change affect companion pass, how will family seating work, how will it affect their passenger of size policy, how much is leg room in the cheap seats affected, etc. Personally I’d love to see Southwest offer a European business style offering where you can pay to have an empty middle seat – on some of the longer flights (like to/from Hawaii) I’d happily pay for an extra seat to guarantee nobody in the middle seat next to me. Ultimately though, I think if WN sticks with their other customer friendly policies like 2 free checked bags (heck, even just 1), no change or cancel fees, free same day standby even on WGA fares, flight credits that don’t expire, and a companion pass that still largely resembles the current iteration, they will continue to be able to distinguish themself in the market and will be just fine.
We really hate the proposed changes. Loved seating by number withing the groups, and the companion pass was a major benefit for us. As SW becomes more like everybody else, there will be far less reason to choose them.
Overall not happy. Now we’ve become Spirit/Frontier without the big front seat. I’d personally go Spirit now, but unfortunately my home airport only has Frontier as a competitor.
I have February tickets next year. How will I be able to retroactively assign my seat? I _BOUGHT_ my tickets. Now they’re going to add on a new fee to my finished transaction?
Not happy
It isn’t legal for them to suddenly charge you more on a flight you’ve already paid for. They could have the updated planes for your flight and you might have to select your seat at check in or they might just roll out the updated planes on only the new flights. I’m thinking the latter.
Hate this. When I fly United I have to pay handsomely for a seat with reasonable legroom or an exit row. With SW this was free. I also knew I could get a last minute ticket and still get a good seat. Premium seats mean less legroom for the other seats. I’d rather orderly board in an assigned position then have massive “groups” all fighting to get on first.
It’s hard to imagine any of WN’s seats having less legroom than before.
Really? If you don’t fly SW, maybe just google before posting?
As of June 2024, the average seat pitch for US domestic airlines ranges from 28–32.3 inches, with JetBlue having the most and Frontier and Spirit having the least:
Although we live 25 minutes from a SW hub, we purposefully avoid them due to the seating policy and lack of first class/premium economy. We will see if this changes that.
80% of customers and 86% of prospective customers wanted assigned seating!
Case closed.
So, do I get refunds of my Early Bird fees for my September flights?
You can get any statistics you want by asking the right set of people and phrasing your questions in the right way. Ask if people are ok with less leg space if they don’t pay extra, or if they are ok to pay extra for their preferred choice of the seat (aisle or window), and you’ll get totally different result.
You are not wrong. Judging from my own informal survey among people I socialize with…I am finding more will consider flying Southwest now. Fwiw.
Refunds for EB fees in September? Why? They aren’t implementing this until next year.
Was fooling around. These changes will start being implemented very slowly next year.
Extra legroom is not premium. Wider seats and drinks in glass glasses and food on long flights. Otherwise it’s lipstick on a pig
I have been a long time Southwest loyalist.
Companion Pass has been one of the reasons that I have used them so much, but also their process in general. It has always resonated with my personality.
My first flights were on Southwest so when I patronized to other airlines, I thought their way was weird.
Either way, these changes affect more than just assigned seats, it changes the core of Southwest. They built the largest people mover airline domestically by having a culture that would draw people to them.
Honestly, I have sent a lot of my family business that way because of how I have felt about the airline.
Right now, there is no way to know what this looks like long term, but I already do not feel the same. They have completely abandoned their company culture, and motto.
Reinventing happens at companies, but not companies that are at the top. In this case, the top people mover domestically.
They may gain some new customers, but they had better hope that they do not lose many more.
I have already started booking Delta for some of my future domestic flights. Southwest was always first unless there was a need to book another airline domestically.
If there is no difference between them and other airlines, they actually lose because they do not have partnerships, or an extensive international network.
I will focus my attention on an airline that will more largely satisfy my global travel needs at this point.
I feel mostly the same. I have a pretty large family and haven’t even looked at other airlines for most family travel for years unless it was a choice between a direct flight on some other airline and a connecting one with Southwest. We still choose Southwest most of the time anyway because of the ways they are different. Charging for bags, if they ever go there, would very likely be the final nail in the coffin for me prioritizing them for family travel.
I also travel regularly for business and am 6’6″. Southwest having an inch or two of extra space between their regular economy seats compared to most airlines and not having to pay extra out of pocket for a window or aisle seat have led to me also usually picking Southwest for my business travel. I’ve spent too many flights on other airlines with the plastic or metal from the seatback in front of me jabbing into my knees to want to fly on carriers that have 30 inches between their seats. Southwest planes aren’t going to suddenly get bigger so it seems likely that the way to have extra legroom seats in the cabin is likely to take away that extra inch or two on all of the other seats. When I’m sitting next to my kids it doesn’t matter that much, but when I’m flying for business, it’ll be a total dealbreaker for me if they tighten up the rest of the seats in the cabin to make room for seats they can charge extra for. There will be very little reason for me to choose Southwest over any other airline if that happens.
I have no delusions about being an “important” customer to Southwest (or any other airline), but it seems very likely that these changes will result in me travelling less frequently on Southwest, and maybe just less frequently overall.
For me, it would definitely mean less traveling overall.
Very likely, it also means less travel on SW, but I am a realist, and I want to see how all of this plays out.
The part I focus on the most now is the fact that they have no global presence so changes that push them toward status quo airline makes them less attractive in general.
Are we sure that all seats will be assigned? I would have thought they would have assigned seats in premium section and as a buy-up option, and not possible with basic economy.
I’m thinking this as well. The press release says assigned and premium seats without details. I’m imaging a fee structure for every type of assigned seat, and then a basic economy-last group type fare that includes no bags (carry on nor checked) that still has a “cattle call” style boarding – take whatever is empty – or the computer assigns you randomly when boarding opens. We will see!
I think this is a horrible change. With other airlines, you have to pay money to get an aisle seat. With Southwest all you had to do was set an alarm to check in on time. This change just means more money out of our pockets. RIP Southwest.
I’m very concerned about how this will affect companion path going forward. I also don’t mind the current boarding process, because we always get family boarding with young children. Also, if you know how to do it right, you can end up getting empty seats next to you, or even a row. This changes everything.
I don’t like it. I like that I could do things differently with Southwest. It’s going to slow things down and cost us more. I can’t see this being a good thing.
As long as they don’t change the baggage or cancellation policies, this is a good thing. Especially for people following this blog
As one reader commented to a different article: add real domestic first class seats for Business Select and we’ll talk.