Southwest Airlines sets a date for seat assignment launch, lays out new boarding order

Southwest Airlines passengers volition alert successful assigned seats for the archetypal clip connected Jan. 27, the bearer told CNBC. Customers tin commencement buying tickets with assigned seats connected July 29.

The determination ends much than fractional a period of open seating connected the airline, a argumentation that has acceptable it isolated from rivals for decades — on with 2 escaped checked bags. Both things are changing arsenic Southwest's leaders question caller gross streams to support up with more profitable rivals.

Southwest said successful March that its big of initiatives would adhd $800 cardinal to net earlier involvement and taxes this twelvemonth and $1.7 cardinal successful 2026.

The hose archetypal announced it would end its unfastened seating a twelvemonth ago, but it had yet to acceptable a date.

The changes are portion of Southwest's monolithic overhaul of its concern model. The bearer successful March besides said it would commencement charging galore customers to cheque bags and announced caller fare types this spring. Top-tier customers are exempt from galore of the caller restrictions and fees.

Southwest utilized machine models and unrecorded tests to guarantee the caller policies wouldn't dilatory down boarding and would get planes backmost successful the the money-making aerial quickly.

"We wanted to marque definite that, arsenic we designed a boarding conception that benignant of paired good with assigned seating, that we were optimizing for efficiency, but besides the 2nd priority: balancing that with making definite that we're taking attraction of our astir loyal customers, truthful tier members, cardholders and customers who bargain our astir premium products," Stephanie Shafer Modi, managing manager of fares and ancillary products astatine Southwest, told CNBC.

Come Jan. 27, the hallmarks of Southwest's open-seating argumentation — mounting an alarm to unafraid a spot successful the boarding line, the A-B-C groups, the large stanchions marking disconnected boarding bid and the on-board scramble for a favourite spot — volition beryllium gone.

That each volition beryllium replaced by 8 boarding groups, based connected spot selection, presumption and different factors. The astir loyal and biggest spenders volition get connected first, but spot determination volition find boarding position. Here's the order:

• The archetypal 2 groups volition see the apical tiers of elite predominant flyers, and those with apical classes of tickets.
• Groups 3 done 8 volition beryllium for "Choice" and "Basic" ticketholders depending connected their spot location.
• Credit paper holders and Rapid Rewards recognition paper members volition committee nary aboriginal than Group 5.

There volition beryllium 2 queues.

The hose didn't disclose prices for spot assignments arsenic an add-on fee, which connected rival airlines, tin alteration depending connected way and demand. Access to immoderate seats volition beryllium connected the benignant of fare, and Southwest volition merchantability modular seats, preferred seats and extra-legroom seats.

Southwest has been engaged reconfiguring its Boeing planes to see extra-legroom seating. About 200 craft are complete, oregon astir 25% of the fleet, a spokesperson said. While those seats aren't connected merchantability yet, the hose has been selling earlier boarding to customers earlier their flight, which would summation their chances of getting extra-legroom seats.

Southwest customers person shown that sitting unneurotic is simply a priority, Shafer Modi told CNBC, portion acknowledging that it volition look antithetic with the caller boarding process.

"I deliberation that if families privation that consciousness of control, they person the optionality to prime their seats done … our existing products that we're selling," she said. "We volition effort to bash our champion to marque definite that families are seated unneurotic nary substance however they bargain a ticket."