What is the pitch of Southwest Airlines’ extra legroom seats?

Southwest Airlines unveiled details of its major transformation plan as part of its Investor Day programming. Southwest Leaders outlined next steps in a three-year plan that retools aspects of the airline’s unique business model while leaving some aspects of it in place. The airline is transforming its approach to provide more choices and greater comfort for passengers. This is being done to drive revenue growth and return the carrier to industry-leading profitability amid a push for change from an activist investor. Bob Jordan, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Vice Chairman of the Board, had this to say about

I’ve always been fascinated by Southwest Airlines for its friendly, no-fuss approach to flying, especially the open seating and free checked bags that many of us have come to cherish. But as of 2025, this beloved airline is unveiling a major transformation: assigned seats, bag fees, and nine distinct boarding groups. I recently took a deep dive into the details and discovered that these changes are set to roll out in booking channels by late 2025, impacting flights starting in 2026. Naturally, I’m wondering whether Southwest’s legendary quick turn times and warm spirit will hold strong under the pressure of

In September 2024, Southwest Airlines announced that it would introduce assigned and extra legroom seating, as one of the biggest changes to its business model in decades. In the meantime, the company has of course gone way more extreme than that, and plans to start charging for checked bags, introducing basic economy, and much more. Anyway, when it comes to Southwest’s plans to introduce extra legroom seating, there’s an update, as aircraft will start to be reconfigured shortly. However, it’ll be quite some time before the airline actually starts charging extra for these seats, so that creates an interesting

Southwest Airlines is in the process of transforming its business model, under financial pressure from activist investors. The airline is changing just about everything, and has started charging for checked bags, adding basic economy, expiring travel credits, and more. In July 2024, Southwest announced plans to introduce assigned and premium seating on flights, ending the carrier’s decades-old policy of having open seating. This feature has now been implemented for flights as of early 2026, so we have our first look at what pricing will be like… In this post: Southwest Airlines is introducing both assigned seating and

Most Southwest flights are pretty ordinary. This one wasn’t. That wasn’t because of where we were going, or because Southwest suddenly started offering lie-flat seats and champagne. It was because of the airplane itself. While we were waiting at the airport, I noticed something had changed with our flight to Austin. The aircraft that had originally been listed as still en route was now already sitting at the gate. That usually means an equipment swap. Normally, that wouldn’t matter much on Southwest. The airline’s fleet is made up entirely of Boeing 737s, and for most passengers, one

When Southwest moved to assigned seating, one problem was almost guaranteed to show up sooner or later: what happens when a passenger pays extra for a “window” seat…and there isn’t actually a window? Under Southwest’s old open seating system, this was annoying, but it was also part of the game. If you boarded early, you picked whatever mattered most to you. Maybe that meant an aisle seat. Maybe it meant sitting together as a family. Maybe it meant grabbing a window seat, sitting close to the front, or heading toward the back because that’s what you prefer. And