After more than 50 years, Southwest Airlines is getting rid of its unique open seating model and will now assign seats.
The airline made the move to meet the evolving preferences of customers who say they want seat assignments. Southwest also said it conducted testing that included live and more than 8 million simulation-based boarding trials before making the change.
Research from the airline shows 80% of Southwest customers and 86% of potential customers prefer an assigned seat. And when customers opt to stop flying with Southwest in favor of a competitor, the No. 1 reason they cite leaving is open seating.
The major shift comes as the airline faces mounting pressure to increase revenue.
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With open seating, travelers would board according to their boarding group and seat selection was first come, first served on the plane. The seating model was unique to Southwest. With the switch, seating will be determined in advance, following suit with other airlines.
Southwest did not yet provide details on when the change will take effect.
Southwest said it will also offer a premium section of the plane with extended legroom, which research shows customers “strongly prefer.” About a third of the cabin will have seats with extended legroom.
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Joining Scripps News live, Sarah Kopit, editor-in-chief of the travel website Skift, said the change “sent shockwaves through the airlines industry.”
“What they hope its going to do, is it’s going to make them more money,” Kopit said.
She said the changes will likely result in customers paying more to reserve their preferred seats or upgrade to new seating with more legroom.
“This is what Southwest has been missing out on for 53 years, and so they’re really hoping that they can turn around some of their economic woes by charging customers to have the better seats,” said Kopit.
Also on its menu of changes, Southwest will introduce overnight, redeye flights in February 2025.
"Moving to assigned seating and offering premium legroom options will be a transformational change that cuts across almost all aspects of the company," said Southwest CEO Bob Jordan, in a press release.
"Although our unique open seating model has been a part of Southwest Airlines since our inception, our thoughtful and extensive research makes it clear this is the right choice— at the right time—for our customers, our people, and our shareholders,” Jordan said. “We are excited to incorporate customer and employee feedback to design a unique experience that only Southwest can deliver. 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."
Over the past two years, the airline has offered faster Wi-Fi, in-seat power, and larger overhead bins.
