After more than five decades, Southwest Airlines plans to drop its tradition of open seating policy and start assigning seats and selling premium seating for customers who want more legroom.
Southwest became known for having a single economy-class cabin with open seating assignments. Currently, passengers are assigned a boarding group but once they are onboard, they can choose any available seat. Customers can pay extra to board early to get their preferred seat.
As per Southwest, it has been studying seating options and is making the changes because passenger preferences have shifted. The moves could also generate revenue and boost financial performance.
Southwest made the announcement on the same day that both it and American Airlines reported a steep drop in second-quarter profit despite higher revenue.
"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 Thursday release.
"By moving to an assigned seating model, Southwest expects to broaden its appeal and attract more flying from its current and future customers."
Dallas bsed Southwest said it plans to offer a premium, extended legroom portion of the cabin and expects roughly one-third of seats across the fleet to offer extended legroom. That's in line with what industry peers offer on narrow-body aircraft.
Airlines are struggling with higher costs and reduced pricing power, especially on flights within the United States, as the industry adds flights faster than the growth in travel demand.
Southwest said its second-quarter profit fell 46% from a year earlier, to $367 million, as higher costs for labor, fuel and other expenses outstripped an increase in revenue. The results met Wall Street expectations.
Southwest’s unique boarding process started decades ago as a way for the airline to save money by reducing the amount of time it took for a plane to land, load fresh passengers, and take off again — the turn around time.
Most airlines assign each passenger to a seat when they buy a ticket. Southwest requires customers to check in exactly 24 hours before departure unless they pay extra to guarantee a better place in the boarding line. Many loved this “cattle call” but others hated the system.
The airline said in surveys 80% of its customers — and 86% of “potential” customers — want an assigned seat. It said open seating is the top reason that travelers stop flying Southwest and choose another airline.
As per the announcement, Southwest will start offering redeye flights for the first time. Southwest said that its first overnight, redeye flights will land on Feb. 14, 2025, on nonstop routes including Las Vegas to Baltimore and Orlando; Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville; and Phoenix to Baltimore. It plans to add more redeyes over time.
Its press release read,
Southwest also announced it is adding 24-hour operation capabilities with the introduction of overnight, redeye flights. Booking on initial routes is available today through Southwest.com, with the first overnight flights landing on Valentine's Day 2025 in five initial nonstop markets: Las Vegas to Baltimore and Orlando; Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville; and Phoenix to Baltimore.
Southwest plans to phase in additional redeye flying in the carrier's coming schedules as part of its multi-year transformation to a 24-hour operation. Redeye flying, coupled with continued reductions in turn-time through new technologies and procedures, is expected to provide incremental revenue and cost savings, enabling Southwest to fund nearly all new capacity over the next three years without incremental aircraft capital deployment.
Booking is now available on the following overnight routes: Las Vegas to Baltimore and Orlando, Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville, and Phoenix to Baltimore. Southwest mentioned it will be adding more of these routes in the coming year.
“We have the aircraft, it’s a great way to use an asset that you already have and use it more productively which means more hours in the day,” Jordan said in March. “So, we will be doing red-eyes."
It's obvious, the changes in seating policy and redeye flights come as Southwest is under pressure from Elliott Investment Management. The hedge fund argues that the airline lags rivals in financial performance and has failed to change with the times. It wants to replace CEO Robert Jordan and Chairman Gary Kelly.
Gary Kelly, Executive Chairman of the Board, said,
"The Board fully supports these efforts to usher in a new era for Southwest Airlines, and we have the ultimate confidence in Bob and our Leadership Team to design and deliver an experience that is unique and true to our Southwest Legacy."
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The airline said it will provide more details about its upcoming changes at an investor day in September.
