(WXIN) – Assigned seating for passengers flying with Southwest Airlines will begin in the “first half of 2026,” the airline announced.
Southwest, however, will start booking those assigned seats in the second half of 2025, for flights departing in the first half of the following year.
Southwest provided the somewhat vague timeline Thursday during the company’s “Investor Day.”
For now, Southwest’s traditional “open seating” model — a policy that has been in effect for more than five decades — will remain the norm.
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Southwest Airlines first announced in July its plans to begin assigning seats to passengers — abandoning the open-seating policy that’s been a trademark of the carrier for half a century.
According to Southwest, 80% of its travelers — and 86% of travelers who choose other airlines — have a preference for assigned seating. Southwest added that its open-seating plan is “the number one reason” customers choose to fly with a competing airline, according to a separate media release from July.
Southwest’s unique seating policy, as it currently exists, initially began as a way to load passengers faster, thereby limiting the time that planes and crews spend sitting idly on the ground. It works like this: Instead of being assigned a seat when they buy a ticket, Southwest customers check in exactly 24 hours before departure to secure their spots in boarding lines. The earliest to check in are placed in an “A” boarding group, with “B” and “C” groups containing those who checked in later.
The system became less democratic over time as Southwest let people pay extra to guarantee a spot near the front of the line. Despite that, many Southwest loyalists still love open seating. The airline thinks they will adapt.
Southwest’s upcoming plans also call for additional legroom options for passengers, with up to “five additional inches of pitch for approximately a third of its seats,” the company said.
Loyal customers and those who buy premium seating will still be among the first to board under the new system, according to Southwest.
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“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,” said Bob Jordan, the president and CEO of Southwest.
In addition to news of its boarding changes, Southwest said Thursday that its “bags fly free” policy — which allows travelers two carry-ons with no additional charge — isn’t going anywhere. This policy is the carrier’s “most important feature by far,” the company said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
