by Krish Patel

Recently, Southwest’s executives revealed a massive overhaul, which includes plans to add extra legroom seats and get rid of its open seating policy. The assigned seats are planned to go on sale in late 2025 for flights that will depart in the first half 2026. However, the extra legroom seats will appear on some aircraft before 2026. Before the airline’s greatest changes are live, the Texas-based carrier will shift the way it prices some of its boarding products.

Extra Legroom Seats to Appear on Flights in 2025

Southwest Airlines won’t start selling assigned seats until later in 2025. However, some aircraft sporting the more luxurious Economy seats are expected to appear during the course of the next year. From now up until later next year, the airline has a huge undertaking, as it has to retrofit its fleet of approximately 800 Boeing 737s. The airline will work down by starting with the 737-800s and MAX 8s and then the 737-700s and hopes to retrofit 50 to 100 jets per month, slowing the pace during the summer so that fewer planes are out of service during a peak travel season. The good news is that an aircraft that has just been reconfigured won’t just sit around and will rejoin the fleet by returning to the airline’s flight schedule. So, a few lucky travelers will get to enjoy the premium seats before the open seating era ends. 

A Dynamic Pricing Model will be Used for the Airline’s on-the- Ground Products

Southwest has also reported that they will be dynamically pricing ancillaries such as EarlyBird check-in and Upgraded Boarding. The changes will go live sometime in late 2024 or early 2025.

It’s worth noting that Southwest already uses a pretty fluid pricing model for both EarlyBird and Upgraded Boarding. Earlier this year, the airline raised the fees on both offerings. 

Note that this might be temporary, as EarlyBird and Upgraded Boarding are unique to Southwest’s open seating policy, and they could either change or disappear as the airline’s shift towards assigned seating commences. 

For now, Southwest customers can expect some big changes in the next year when flying the airline.