This morning, in a press release, Southwest Airlines announced it will soon end its open seating policy. While this has been rumored for a while, I’m still in shock it’s actually happening.
Three upcoming changes on Southwest Airlines include:
- Assigned seats
- Premium seats with extra legroom (and additional cost)
- Red-eye flights
The press release has no mention of charging for baggage. There is no specific timeline for these changes, but the premium seats won’t go into effect until 2025 after planes have been reconfigured.
Open seating is one of the main reasons passengers avoided Southwest Airlines. Not knowing if you can sit with your family on flights is stressful. The current open seating model forces you to check in at exactly 24 hours in advance to get a decent boarding number or pay extra for EarlyBird check-in.
What do you think of this announcement? Are you sad to see open seating go away?
Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
And the world rejoiced. Hallelujah
It’s about time. Maybe I’ll give them a try.
@fit2ravels Yes! I’ve enjoyed most of my flights on Southwest.
This long time SW flyer has no problem with open seating. But I like the change because it will end the recent emergence of Jetway Jesus passengers who board in a wheel for the best seats and then run off at landing. I saw a good 20 of these on a flight and maybe five also used wheelchair after landing.
@Steve It will be interesting to see if there is a sizable difference in the number of pre-boarding passengers.