Southwest Airlines unveiled details of its major transformation plan as part of its Investor Day programming. Southwest Leaders outlined next steps in a three-year plan that retools aspects of the airline’s unique business model while leaving some aspects of it in place.
The airline is transforming its approach to provide more choices and greater comfort for passengers. This is being done to drive revenue growth and return the carrier to industry-leading profitability amid a push for change from an activist investor.
Bob Jordan, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Vice Chairman of the Board, had this to say about the upcoming changes:
“We’re now ushering in a new era at Southwest, moving swiftly and deliberately to transform the Company by elevating the Customer Experience, improving financial performance, and driving sustainable Shareholder value.”
Southwest Transformation Changes
As part of the airline’s transformation plan, there are some big changes coming. There are also a number of things that are staying the same. Here’s how Southwest describes the updates:
- Assigned Seating: Southwest will broaden its consumer appeal and boost demand through an assigned seating model. Airline passengers now have a clear preference for seat assignments: 80 percent of Southwest Customers and 86 percent of passengers who choose other airlines want assigned seats. Southwest flies farther than ever, and seat assignments are a higher priority on long-haul flights. The Company expects to begin selling assigned seats in the second half of 2025, with its first flights operating with the new model in the first half of 2026.
- Premium Seating: Market research shows that the preference for an assigned seat with extra legroom offers broad appeal for both business and leisure travelers. Southwest will offer extra legroom options with up to five additional inches of pitch for approximately a third of its seats while maintaining a standard economy seat pitch among the best in the industry. New seating product options will drive demand and are expected to generate more revenue per passenger.
- Southwest Boarding with Upgrades: Southwest will evolve its boarding process with seat assignments while focusing on operational efficiency and improving the Customer Experience. The updated boarding process will maintain Southwest’s unique and popular approach in boarding through position numbers and signage displayed on stanchions within the gate area. The carrier’s most loyal Customers and those who purchase premium seating will continue to be among the first to board.
- Bags Continue to Fly Free: Extensive research reinforces Southwest’s bags fly free policy remains the most important feature by far in setting Southwest apart from other airlines. Based on Southwest’s research, the Company believes that any change in the current policy that provides every Customer two free checked bags would drive down demand and far outweigh any revenue gains created by imposing and collecting bag fees.
There are a couple of key items here that I want to discuss, the first being assigned seating. This was something that everybody knew was coming based on an announcement earlier in the year. It’s interesting to see that, even with assigned seats, the airline will continue to use a modified version of its current boarding process. I feel like it would have been better to do away with this altogether in favor of zones as I believe it will lead to confusion amongst passengers.
Southwest is also planning to offer extra legroom seating on all aircraft, taking up roughly 1/3rd of the seats. These seats will have up to 5 inches of extra pitch and the airline is also committed to maintaining its Economy seat pitch. This leads me to believe that they will be removing seats from their aircraft.
One of the biggest questions around the upcoming changes was whether or not the airline would still offer two free checked bags. Well, overpackers rejoice because the airline has committed to keeping free bags in place!
New Partnerships and Rapid Rewards Enhancements
On top of the changes outlined above, the airline is also branching out with a new international partner. Icelandair will become the first international airline partner for Southwest since its Volaris partnership ended back in 2013. The two carriers are expected to launch the partnership in 2025 through Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). Additional connecting routes are expected to come online in recent years. Southwest also expects to add at least one more international partner in 2025.
Next year, Southwest intends to launch a new product, Getaways by Southwest, which will offer vacation packages that are “unique to the industry”. The airline didn;t provide any extensive details but I can’t imagine that they’re bringing anything revolutionary to the vacation package industry.
Finally, Southwest is planning upgrades to its Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program though they haven’t yet announced what those changes will be.
Summary
Southwest has announced the details around its transformation plan that was first announced back in July. While there are some questionable choices, like keeping its cattle-call boarding even though they’re moving to assigned seats, overall the changes are positive.
As a passenger who values extra-legroom and assigned seating, these changes can’t come fast enough. Being based in Austin, I look forward to the opportunity to take more direct flights that I would have avoided in the past.
(Some images courtesy Southwest Airlines)
From my understanding the 800s and Max 8s will keep the same number of seats, but they’ll reduce the standard seat pitch to 31 inches from 32. Also, the extra legroom seats on these planes will be pitched at 34 inches.
As for the 700s, I wonder if they will be removing a row of seats – my understanding with these is that the leg room will stay at 31 inches on them for standard seats, but extra legroom seats will be at 36 inches.
Thanks for the insights. Seems wild that they’ll go with 34″ of pitch on their newer aircraft while putting 36″ of pitch on the -700s