One of the biggest complaints I, and many others, had about Southwest Airlines was its open-seating policy. Thankfully, those days are in the past and now passengers know exactly where they’ll be sitting before they step on board. No more manipulating the system to get the best seats.
Southwest Overhauls Its Boarding Process
Southwest Airlines has a new boarding process which coincides with the introduction of assigned seating. As of January 27, 2026, the carrier will now board passengers in eight different groups. This replaces the carriers famous, and frustrating, cattle-call boarding where passengers lined up by number.
Liks most other airlines, Southwest will determine your boarding group based on the type of fare you purchased, your Rapid Rewards status tier, and whether or not you have a Southwest Airlines co-branded credit card. Groups are broken down as follows:
- Groups 1-2: Choice Extra fare holders, passengers who purchase an upgrade to an extra legroom seat, A-List Preferred Members, and A-List members who upgrade to an extra legroom seat.
- Groups 3-5: Choice Preferred fare holders, A-List members seated in a Preferred or Standard seat at booking, and Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card holders (Will board with Group 5).
- Groups 6-8: Choice and Basic fare holders. Basic fare holders are the last to board.
With the elimination of the free-for-all boarding, Southwest has replaced Early Bird check-in with the ability to purchase priority boarding 24 hours before departure. I’m interested to see how many passengers choose to go this route in an effort to get overhead bin space now that Southwest doesn’t allow free checked bags on most fares.
Southwest leadership believes that the shift to assigned seating will reduce turnaround times by reducing the number of passengers that pre-board. Southwest has higher than usual pre-board numbers due to the prior open seating policy as passengers would try and game the system by boarding early to get better seats. It will be interesting to see if this actually leads to any material reduction in turnaround times.
Is the Transformation of Southwest Complete?
The shift to assigned seating the the last (that I know of) of a series of major changes that have happened at the Dallas based airline. For more than 50 years the carrier operated on a model that saw open seating and free checked bags. That all began to change in 2024.
In June 2024, activist investor Elliott Investment Management L.P. took a $1.9 billion position in the airline. This represented roughly 11% of the airlines outstanding shares at the time. Since then, Elliott has pushed for, and for the most part gotten, major change at the airline.
Since June 2024 we have seen Southwest move to operate redeye flights, add assigned and extra legroom seating, slash Rapid Rewards loyalty earnings, lay off corporate staff, and eliminate bags on all but its highest fares.
For now, it appears that the transformation of Southwest Airlines is complete. While many longtime customers are upset by the changes, I welcome them. The lack of assigned seating was my biggest pet peeve with Southwest and, now that that is rectified, I may find myself of Southwest flights more often.
Summary
Southwest Airlines has officially overhauled its boarding process with the introduction of assigned seating. This change marks the end of an 18 month transformation of the Dallas based carrier, leaving travelers with mixed feelings. Are you more or less likely to fly Southwest based on these changes?