Southwest to Offer Assigned and Premium Seating and Redeye Flights
Southwest Airlines plans to drop a long tradition and start assigning seats and selling premium seating for customers who want more legroom. It will also offer redeye flights for the first time.
The airline said Thursday that 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.
Assigned and Premium Seating
Southwest will soon assign seats and offer premium seating options on all flights. This is a big change for the airline that has been known for its unique open seating model for more than 50 year.
In addition to assigning seats, Southwest will offer a premium, extended legroom portion of the cabin. While specific cabin layout details are still in design, Southwest expects roughly one-third of seats across the fleet to offer extended legroom.
“Moving to assigned seating and offering premium legroom options will be a transformational change that cuts across almost all aspects of the Company,” said Bob Jordan, President, CEO, & Vice Chairman of the Board. “Although our unique open seating model has been a part of Southwest Airlines since our inception, our thoughtful and extensive research makes it clear this is the right choice— at the right time—for our Customers, our People, and our Shareholders. We are excited to incorporate Customer and Employee feedback to design a unique experience that only Southwest can deliver. We have been building purposefully to this change as part of a comprehensive upgrade to the Southwest experience as we focus on Customer expectations – and it will unlock new sources of revenue consistent with our laser focus on delivering improved financial performance.”
Redeye Flights Now for Sale
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.
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