If you’ve ever flown Southwest Airlines (SWA), then you know it’s a unique airline in many ways: The airline only uses Boeing 737 aircrafts, they have fun flight attendants, they give customers two free checked bags (up to 50 pounds each), they don’t charge change fees, you have to book tickets using their website, they don’t fly red-eye flights and most notably, they don’t assign seats.
Well, the last three things are changing, according to a big announcement made by the airline today. In May, Southwest announced that they’d begun allowing their flights to show up on Google Flights but customers would still have to book through Southwest.com. But today, they just announced the biggest change of all: They’re doing away with open seating and will start doing red-eye flights.
Years ago, when I first learned that the airline didn’t do red-eyes, I was extremely surprised … because aircrafts don’t make money on the ground, which was the main reason Southwest didn’t offer assigned seating. They wanted to turn the planes around as fast as possible and one way to do that was to have passengers choose any seat they wanted when they got on the plane, instead of trying to figure out where their assigned seat was located.
Almost all SWA travelers know that not all seats are created equal, which is why some will pay a premium ($30 to $80) to get Southwest Airlines Boarding Group A, so they can board the plane first, snag the exit row seats, bulkhead, or aisle or window seats closest to the front of the cabin, and be among the first to deplane.
Not assigning seats was essentially a social experiment and it always brought out both the best and the worst in people. I met some nice people trying to find my place in line but have also seen the dirty tricks customers with no conscience would play to keep the seat beside them open. The worst trick I saw was when some passengers claimed they had an injury or medical condition that required them to be in a wheelchair so they could get a seat towards the front of the aircraft and not have to pay extra or worry about their bags not making it into the overhead bins.
Flight attendants sometimes quip that they work miracle flights because passengers board with a wheelchair but walk off when they land. It was infuriating for travelers who paid extra or who had a legitimate handicap. The other trick some SWA passengers have played is having just one member of their family or party pay for Group A boarding and then they would save seats for the others. Some flight attendants would crack down on it but others wouldn’t. Here are some of the other tricks.
Taylor Swift told the graduates of NYU in her commencement speech a couple of years ago that even her and her mom used to play a funny trick back when she flew commercial. Others do the same, like this guy pretending he’s about to throw up in a barf bag or the one below, pretending to be comforting a crying baby under a blanket.
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Southwest’s CEO, Bob Jordan, has been under fire because customers were getting sick and tired of the games and ruining the whole SWA experience. Then when a hedge fund, Elliott Management, bought a huge stake in the company, they were pushing for change to make more money and for Jordan to resign.
Well, all those tricks are about to come to an end. Jordan had to cave to save his job and possibly the airline. According to a SWA press release, Jordan said, “Although our unique open seating model has been a part of Southwest Airlines since our inception, our thoughtful and extensive research makes it clear this is the right choice— at the right time—for our Customers, our People, and our Shareholders. We are excited to incorporate Customer and Employee feedback to design a unique experience that only Southwest can deliver. We have been building purposefully to this change as part of a comprehensive upgrade to the Southwest experience as we focus on Customer expectations – and it will unlock new sources of revenue consistent with our laser focus on delivering improved financial performance.”
Southwest also announced it is “adding 24-hour operation capabilities with the introduction of overnight, redeye flights. Booking on initial routes is available today through Southwest.com, with the first overnight flights landing on Valentine’s Day 2025 in five initial nonstop markets: Las Vegas to Baltimore and Orlando; Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville; and Phoenix to Baltimore. Southwest plans to phase in additional redeye flying in the carrier’s coming schedules as part of its multi-year transformation to a 24-hour operation. Redeye flying, coupled with continued reductions in turn-time through new technologies and procedures, is expected to provide incremental revenue and cost savings, enabling Southwest to fund nearly all new capacity over the next three years without incremental aircraft capital deployment.”
As you can imagine, some customers are not happy with the changes but I think it’s great. I stopped flying SWA because they didn’t assign seats. I didn’t want to chance not getting a row without extra legroom so I can work. I don’t mind spending more money to have that space.
How do you feel about these changes? Will they make you more or less likely to fly Southwest Airlines? Leave a comment with your thoughts.
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I wonder what they will do with the customers who paid for early boarding on upcoming flights. What happens to their priority in seat selection? Does Southwest honor that in some way? Do they refund the money we paid for early boarding. Will the new policy be implemented immediately, or on future flights that tickets have not yet been sold?
Good questions! I’m not sure but I assume they will refund or give a credit
New policy doesn’t go into effect until “sometime” in 2025.
I wouldn’t worry about it, SWA, at least for me, has always been pretty fair when dealing with possible refund issues.
And on a relate note… does the implementation of assigned seat spell the end for the “miracle flights”? ;-)
Thanks and YES!
Hi Johnny- “…They’re doing away with assigned seating…” Doing away with non-assigned seating, right? Cheers. Love your content and Leo appearances.
Ugh! Thanks for catching that!!!
I would assume that they will starting assigning seats with the next round of flights opening up for reservations. Right now they’re booking through 3/5/25 so I bet they do it with flights starting 3/6/25. Smoothest way to start the transition I would think.
Open seating was always just one of quirky Southwest’s charms. Nobody really loved it, but you worked with it the best you could because it was worth it to save some money on your flight, or on checked bags. You can still save with the checked bags when you need them, but Southwest’s pricing has crept up enough in recent years that I no longer consider it a “low cost” airline. And if it costs as much, or more, as everyone else, it’s harder to put on a happy face about the open seating game and the long line of wheelchair pre-boards at the gate.
The question is: Will assigned seats be included in the base fare? Or will they charge to pick a seat, and then charge more for an aisle or window, and then more still to be closer to the front?
The next shoes to drop at SWA will likely be less leg room, bag frees, fewer destinations, and higher executive pay. Wait. There’s also the possibility of no more peanut fares for the steerage class.
Oh dear, I like flying SWA because of the open seat boarding. I always pay to be in business class so always one of the first group on the plane so I always get an exit row window, and 737s have a window exit row with no seat in front of it. I am almost always in that seat. We will have to wait and see how they handle assigned seating going into the new program. I have a couple of flights booked out to October, I don’t think they will change before then.
Darn I fly Southwest all the time and like the current system of boarding. But as an A list preferred, I am almost always in the first 30 to board, so I guess that helps.
However, I generally don’t sit in exit rows. I didn’t like the seat by the window because I can’t get to my backup easily because it’s under the seat two rows up, and I didn’t like the front row for the same reason, I don’t have anywhere to put my backpack, so I have to put it up top. I have so many electronic gadgets, chargers and cables in my bag, that I always want it accessible to me without standing up.
I wonder how A-List and A-list preferred will be handled in the future. One of the biggest perks of A-List and A-list preferred is the automatic A boarding group.
I just upgraded my SW credit card as one of the list of perks advertised was two free seating upgrades yearly. I guess those will be worthless very soon? I liked the open seating policy and have a feeling that they are going to be like all the rest now and nickel and dime us for everything including charging to select our seats. Southwest used to be my go-to airline…
I will be giving up my southwest credit card starting 2025.
As an Alist preferred, I wondered the same. Hopefully maybe upgraded seating?