Southwest Airlines will be an entirely different carrier in the next year or two: Offering extra legroom, allowing customers to pick their seats for a fee, and even giving them a new way to get to Europe. But it will still be Southwest.
That's the gist of a major turnaround plan unveiled Thursday as the beloved Dallas-based airline tries to get back on track after struggling in the post-pandemic travel boom. It's been in the works for months: Southwest made the monumental move to list its fares on Google Flights this spring and announced this summer its controversial first-come, first-served seating policy's days are numbered.
Now, we know more. Extra legroom seats with another 3-plus inches of legroom are coming to Southwest – likely at the expense of legroom in the rest of the plane. The ability to pick your seat after booking is on the way, too … but those changes won't take hold for at least another year or more. The airline is reducing flights in unprofitable areas like Atlanta (ATL) and some routes between the Hawaiian islands while finally giving diehard Southwest fans a way to get to Europe with a new partnership.
But other hallmarks of flying Southwest will go unchanged. Namely, travelers will still get two free checked bags with every ticket and board the plane by number. And it appears the airline will honor its former CEO's promise to never sell basic economy tickets.
There's still plenty up in the air. Southwest executives were spelling out even more details and timelines for their turnaround plan Thursday morning.
“If you don't change, you die,” CEO Bob Jordan told investors. “We're at another critical inflection point … and we're moving quickly.”
But this may not be the last word. Activist investor Elliott Management Group is calling for far more changes, wielding its massive stake in the company to try to force out Jordan and reshape the airline's entire governing board.
Here's what's changing (and what's not) for Southwest flyers in the months and years ahead.
What Stays the Same? Bags Fly Free, Free Changes & Boarding Numbers
Southwest has repeatedly assured customers that some of its most popular policies aren't going anywhere. The airline reaffirmed that commitment on Thursday.
Most importantly, the airline's incredibly popular – and increasingly unusual – “Bags Fly Free” is here to stay. All Southwest passengers will continue getting two checked bags with every ticket.
“This makes us unique. It places us in a category of one,” Ryan Green, Southwest's executive vice president of commercial transformation, told investors.
U.S. airlines made $7 billion in bag fees alone last year, but Southwest barely collects a dime. Adding fees for baggage has been a core part of Elliott Management's message to turn around Southwest.
But Southwest argues that change would lose them money in the long run, saying their generous baggage policy makes them more in additional ticket revenue than they lose by not charging for bags. According to the airline's research, 66% of travelers they surveyed said the free checked bags was the feature that mattered most to them when flying Southwest. And 82% of travelers say the policy differentiates Southwest from its peers.
So while Southwest believes it could rake in $1.5 billion in bag fees, it projects that eliminating free baggage would lose the airline $1.8 billion when passengers decide to fly with other carriers.
While the way you pick a seat will change, Southwest's novel boarding process will remain largely unchanged.
Even with assigned seats, Southwest said it promises not to do away with its boarding process – including those tall gray stanchions that are literal pillars of Southwest's airport presence. Travelers will still get boarding numbers to line-up on prior to boarding.
That orderly process will likely be crucial for one of Southwest's other, smaller initiatives: Improving turnaround times between flights.
Long before other airlines did away with change and cancellations fees, Southwest has always offered free change and cancellation – even on the cheapest “Wanna Get Away” tickets. That's not going anywhere either: Free change and cancellation on Southwest tickets will remain, according to the investor presentation.
A Glimpse At Seat Selection
Yes, the race to check in ASAP so you can board the plane is on the way out. Southwest will allow travelers to pick their seats … just not as soon as you might hope.
In its presentation, Southwest gave travelers a glimpse at its new seat assignment functionality, showing how flyers will be able to select seats on Southwest's app – including upcoming extra-legroom seats and regular economy seats.
Southwest said the lack of advance seat selection is the “#1 reason cited by lapsed customers.”
“We were stuck by how clear the message was,” Green, Southwest's executive vice president of commercial transformation, explained. “At its core, this shift is about giving customers more choices.”
Just don't expect to see this change soon. In its presentation, the airline said it won't begin selling fares with seat assignment until the second half of 2025 – and not for flights until early 2026.
Once it's live, travelers will be able to pick seat selection during the booking process … so long as they don't book the cheapest “Wanna Get Away” fare. Southwest executives said Wanna Get Away tickets will not get complimentary seat selection but passengers can pay to pick a seat or even upgrade to an extra legroom space. Wanna Get Away Plus fares will receive assignment, executives said in a question and answer question Thursday afternoon.
In its investor day presentation, Southwest said free seat selection and extra legroom benefits would be given to A-List Preferred and A-List status holders in some form. Additionally, Southwest hinted that co-branded credit cardholders will get some of these seating benefits.
Extra-Legroom Seats Are Coming, But Other Seats are Shrinking
Since its inception, every seat on the Southwest plane has been more or less identical. But as travelers increasingly want premium seats – and are willing pay more for it – Southwest is changing.
Southwest plans to install extra legroom seats on its entire, 700-plus plane fleet. Roughly 30% of each plane will feature those extra legroom seats.
On most planes, those more spacious seats will feature 34 inches of legroom – up from the standard of 31 inches. On the 737-700 planes, that seat pitch will be a whopping 36 inches.
The airline is also expected to sunset its “EarlyBird” check-in and “Upgraded Boarding” add-ons when the Premium seating options are unveiled.
But that comes at a cost. Because Southwest is adding extra legroom seats “with minimal impact to aircraft density,” it means other seats on the plane will get a bit more tight. Southwest's consistent legroom of 32 inches or more will decrease to 31 inches.
According to Southwest, this new configuration should be installed in short order by utilizing existing seats – not unveiling a new product altogether. An exact timeline for this rollout was not unveiled, but it will begin next year, with Southwest looking to retrofit about 50 to 100 planes per month.
The new extra-legroom seats will go on sale in 2025 and begin flying in 2026, according to Southwest's investor day presentation.
Travelers with A-List and A-List Preferred status will have “extra legroom benefits” according to Thursday's investor day presentation. Travelers with co-branded Southwest credit cards will also see some yet-to-be-defined seating benefits, too.
Fare Names Won't Change, But Benefits Will
Don't call it basic economy. Southwest's plan calls for some changes to what benefits each of its four fare types get, but their names won't change.
Exactly what each fare will get remains unclear, as Southwest's investor presentation is quite vague. Southwest executives didn't spell out concrete details to investors Thursday morning, either.
Here's what we know each fare class will get based on executives' statements during Southwest's investor day Thursday:
Wanna Get Away: No seat selection
Wanna Get Away Plus: Free seat selection at booking
Anytime: No details unveiled
Business Select: Extra-legroom seats at booking and priority boarding in the A group
Partnering with Other Airlines
While other major U.S. carriers partnered up with dozens of other airlines and formed alliances, Southwest has gone it alone for decades. That's finally changing.
Southwest made waves first thing Thursday morning, announcing it was partnering with Icelandair. That solves a glaring weakness for Southwest as American travelers increasingly look to travel abroad, finally giving Southwest flyers a way to get to Europe.
Soon, travelers will be able use Southwest's website and app (and redeem their Rapid Rewards points) to book flights to Reykjavik (KEF) and throughout Europe. That starts sometime next year on a limited scale, with flights to and from Baltimore (BWI) on Icelandair.
It's a major shift in Southwest's strategy, and the airline said it's not done yet, with plans to “add at least one more partner in 2025,” according to the investor day presentation.
Read more: Southwest Pairs Up with Icelandair for Flights to Europe, Says More Partners are Coming
Southwest Getaways
Southwest is also getting into the vacation package business with the reveal of Southwest Getaways.
Like many airlines already have in place, Southwest is offering travelers the ability to package flights, hotels, and rental cars all in one booking. That's easy for consumers who want a one-stop shop but also a revenue driver for airlines to partner with online travel agencies to sell these packages and take a cut.
The airline gave travelers a quick peek at the functionality of Getaways in its investor presentation Thursday.
Route Cuts, Additions & Red-Eye Flights
Airlines all over the U.S. are restructuring where and when they fly in order to catch up with demand. If you've gotten used to seeing domestic airfare under $200 or even $100 roundtrip, it's because there is too much capacity – too many seats flying.
To right-size its own operations, Southwest said it has already started cutting short-haul flights, reducing capacity on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and is culling its flying during the shoulder seasons (i.e. not summer, holidays, and spring break).
In the second wave of changes, the airline has announced several city closures, pulling all Southwest flights out of places like Houston-Intercontinental (IAH), Syracuse (SYR) in New York, Bellingham (BLI) in Washington, and several others. Now, it's also reducing flights in and out of places like Atlanta (ATL), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), and Chicago-O'Hare (ORD).
Southwest finally made its way to Hawaii in 2019 … with mixed results. The airline will reduce several intra-island routes while adding some new frequencies between the mainland and Hawaii.
If those planes aren't flying to Atlanta or Hawaii, where are they going? Many of them will head to Nashville (BNA) – the airline unveiled brand-new routes between the Tennessee airport and destinations like Albuquerque (ABQ), Memphis (MEM), Providence (PVD), and more.
Next year, Southwest will finally begin its long-planned expansion into overnight redeye flights, starting with routes like Las Vegas (LAS) to Baltimore (BWI). This change to a 24-hour service model will help travelers better connect all over the country.
It's a huge win for travelers looking to fly Southwest back home from from Hawaii, where getting home from the islands to anywhere beyond the West Coast was nearly impossible. Southwest is even adding red-eye flights between Las Vegas and Honolulu (HNL).
Changes to Rapid Rewards & Credit Cards
In Thursdays presentation, Southwest also teased some upcoming changes to Southwest Rapid Rewards and the Chase Southwest Credit Cards.
While details were especially scarce in this section, the other changes the airline is making all but guarantee an overhaul of both frequent flyer products.
For Rapid Rewards, Southwest simply hinted at an “enhanced Rapid Rewards program.” We already know travelers will be able to use Rapid Rewards to book Icelandair flights when that partnership takes flight in 2026.
As for the credit card suite, Southwest said it will soon share an “update to our credit card program, including how assigned seating will make being a Southwest credit card holder even more valuable,” said Ryan Greene, the executive vice president of commercial transformation for Southwest.
The airline said some cardholders will have some seat selection and premium seating benefits when those changes take place in 2026.
Bottom Line
Big change is in the air for travelers flying Southwest … but it may take some time to see it.
The airline will begin allowing passengers to pick their seats in advance and even introduce extra-legroom seats, but you may not see them until Southwest flights taking off in 2026. Meanwhile, the airline is cutting or reducing many flights, partnering with Icelandair to provide Southwest fanatics a way to get to Europe, and more.
Most importantly, however, Southwest said it won't touch its popular free checked bags and free changes policies.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
