Whether it’s something you “luv” or hate, the absence of assigned seats on Southwest Airlines has become a decades-long fixture. However, the more than 50-year-old legacy of open seating for the Dallas-based carrier will soon end.
Southwest announced on Thursday that it will do away with its longtime egalitarian, choose-your-own-seat adventure, all in an attempt to boost revenue and adapt to shifting traveler tastes.
The airline’s distinctive group-boarding model, whereby passengers race for a seat once on the aircraft, will bid us adieu. In its place, Southwest will assign seats and unveil “premium seating options” that offer extra legroom. In its announcement, the carrier said it expects about one-third of all seats across the Boeing fleet to have additional legroom eventually. No precise timeline was provided for these changes.
“Moving to assigned seating and offering premium legroom options will be a transformational change that cuts across almost all aspects of the company,” Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said in a statement.
While the airline said research indicated that 80 percent of its current customers preferred an assigned seat, it’s not the case for some Southwest loyalists like Benét J. Wilson, an aviation journalist and self-proclaimed Southwest “superfan.”
“It’s quirky and not everybody was into it, but I loved open seating, and I’m sad that it’s going away,” Wilson said. “Southwest needs to make more money, sure, but this change makes the airline similar to the legacy carriers, and it removes a sense of uniqueness.”
The company will follow in the footsteps of every other major U.S. airline with dedicated seat assignments and separate extra legroom positions, which will likely be offered for an additional fee. According to the airline, that will help draw in new customers.
“When a customer elects to stop flying with Southwest and chooses a competitor, open seating is cited as the number one reason for the change,” Southwest said in its news release. Indeed, it’s the precise reason I—despite having flown on all other major U.S. carriers and on numerous international carriers as an aviation reporter—haven’t flown the airline to date when traveling for pleasure. The stress of finding a seat was simply too much for me.
However, Michelle Baran, deputy news editor for Afar and mom to two kids, believes in Southwest’s existing seating process.
“I actually came to appreciate the model when I became a mom traveling with children,” Baran said. “I could place them on the seat next to me and had a chance at some added space if the flight wasn’t full. Not being crammed in is a game changer for parents traveling with small kids and also a relief for others who maybe don’t want to sit next to a screaming
The website maxtravelz.com is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.
I've flown and loved Southwest Airlines since 1992 — yes, that long. Even as other travelers raved about their favorite airlines where frequent flyer programs could unlock lie-flat seats and fancy upgrades, I favored Southwest. I might have even been the only TPG staffer who ranked Southwest first on their airline preference list when I started in 2019.
France's rail network has been thrown into chaos today following a series of arson attacks, just hours before the nation officially opens the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Southwest Airlines just announced a monumental shift in its passenger experience. The Dallas-based carrier said on July 25 that it plans to soon introduce seat assignments, as well as premium extra-legroom areas on board its fleet of narrow-body aircraft.
Southwest Airlines will start assigning seats to passengers, ending its longstanding policy of allowing passengers to pick their seats once they have boarded, the airline said on Thursday.
Planning and booking a fall or winter getaway just got cheaper. Southwest Airlines recently announced a new Wanna Get Away fare sale with airfares as low as $49 one-way to popular destinations. Best of all, travelers can snag discounted tickets to Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and other warm destinations throughout the winter. The fare sale ends on July 29, 2024 at 11:59 PM PST, and is valid on travel through January 29, 2025. The sale may be especially helpful for anyone planning a vacation to Hawaii, as inter-island travel is also discounted. Passengers can score $49 one-way flights from Honolulu International Airport to Hilo (Hawaii Island), Kahului (Maui), and Kona. Travel + Leisure spotted a variety of the $49 one-way fares available including:
Southwest Airlines is ditching open seating, one of the hallmarks of its brand over the last half-century. Southwest is moving forward with plans to add assigned seating, the airline announced Thursday. It's also planning to add extra-legroom seats to its cabin for the first time.
Southwest reported a major decline in its profits for the second quarter as it announced that it will roll out premium seating in a bid to boost its declining revenues.
Southwest Airlines announced a radical shake-up of its decades-old business model on Thursday. The low-cost carrier is transforming its boarding policy and adding premium seating in an effort to stay relevant to changing consumer preferences.
Sandals Resorts International invites travelers to feel the vibrant rhythms and stunning ombre blues of the Caribbean Sea with incredible savings across eleven (11) Sandals Resorts and three (3) Beaches Resorts with the “Rhythm and Blues” sale. The limited-time offer rewards guests who want to bask in paradise just a little longer with up to $1,000 in air credit to be enjoyed this summer and through mid 2025 at select resorts. As an added benefit, for a limited time, booking online at sandals.com or beaches.com earns guests an additional $100 off their stay.
Affiliate links for the products on this page are from partners that compensate us and terms apply to offers listed (see our advertiser disclosure with our list of partners for more details). However, our opinions are our own. See how we rate credit cards to write unbiased product reviews.
During United’s second-quarter earnings call on Thursday, chief commercial officer Andrew Nocella declared that low-margin rivals have “largely run their course.”