Southwest Airlines passengers made their ultimate boarding-time scrambles for seats on Monday because the service ready to end the open-seating system that distinguished it from different airways for greater than a half‑century.
Starting Tuesday, prospects on Southwest flights can have assigned seats and the choice of paying extra to get their most well-liked seat nearer to the entrance of a airplane or seats with further legroom. The airline started promoting tickets formed by the brand new coverage in July.
Here’s what vacationers can count on as Southwest does away with one other of its signature options and turns into extra like different airways:
Goodbye, A/B/C teams
Under the open-seat system, Southwest prospects may examine in beginning precisely 24 hours earlier than departure to safe locations in boarding traces at departure gates.
Early check-ins had been positioned within the coveted “A” boarding group, primarily guaranteeing they might discover an open window or aisle seat. Others landed in “B” or “C,” the chance of solely center seats being out there rising the longer they waited to examine in.
The Dallas-based airline’s uncommon seating course of started as a manner to get passengers on planes rapidly and thereby cut back the time that plane and crews spent on the bottom not getting cash. It helped Southwest function extra effectively and to squeeze just a few extra flights into the day by day schedule; the system additionally was a key motive Southwest remained worthwhile yearly till the coronavirus pandemic.
The open-seating association grew to become much less democratic over time, nevertheless, as Southwest additionally had beginning permitting passengers to pay further for spots close to the entrance of the road.
Hello, assigned seating
An eight‑group boarding construction is changing the find-your-own-seat scrum. Instead of numbered steel columns at departure gates, passengers will file by way of two alternating lanes as soon as it’s time for his or her group to board.
The airline stated its gate areas will probably be transformed in phases beginning Monday evening, a course of that would take about two months to full. Columns that stay standing previous Tuesday can have their numbers eliminated or coated within the meantime.
Southwest is promoting tickets at fares with completely different seating selections, together with commonplace seats assigned at examine‑in or paid most well-liked and additional‑legroom seats chosen at reserving. For sure flights, passengers additionally can have the choice of paying for precedence boarding starting 24 hours earlier than departure.
How it’ll work
Newly designed boarding passes will present seat assignments and boarding teams, in accordance to Southwest. A reservation made for 9 or fewer individuals, together with households, will assign these passengers to the identical boarding group.
Southwest says the boarding teams are primarily based on seat location, fare class, loyalty tier standing and the airline’s bank card rewards advantages. Passengers who buy seats with further legroom will probably be positioned in teams 1-2. Customers with premium fares and the airline’s “most loyal travelers” will even have entry to preferential seats and earlier boarding, the service stated, whereas these with primary fares will seemingly be positioned in teams 6-8.
Other adjustments
With the swap to assigned seating additionally comes a revision of the airline’s coverage for purchasers who want further room. Under the brand new rule — additionally efficient Tuesday — vacationers who don’t match inside a single seat’s armrests will probably be required to buy an extra seat upfront.
That represents a change from the airline’s earlier coverage that allowed passengers the selection to buy a completely refundable further seat earlier than arriving on the airport, or request a free one on the gate. Under the up to date coverage, refunds are nonetheless doable however now not assured and rely upon seat availability and fare class.
In May 2025, Southwest additionally ended its many years‑previous “bags fly free” coverage, changing it with baggage charges for many vacationers.
The adjustments mark one of the largest transformations within the airline’s historical past, because it alters its longstanding buyer perks to convey it extra consistent with the practices of different bigger U.S. carriers.
Why all of the change?
The shift comes amid stress from traders to improve profitability.
“We have tremendous opportunity to meet current and future customer needs, attract new customer segments we don’t compete for today, and return to the levels of profitability that both we and our shareholders expect,” Southwest CEO Robert Jordan stated final yr.
When the Texas-based airline first introduced plans in 2024 to swap to assigned seating, it stated research on seating choices confirmed that buyer preferences had modified through the years, with the overwhelming majority of vacationers saying they now need to know the place they’re sitting earlier than they get to the airport.
Jordan stated on the time that open seating was the highest motive surveyed vacationers cited for selecting one other airline over Southwest.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
