Over the past year, Southwest Airlines customers have heard a lot about the company’s transformation, from the end of “bag-free flights” to the coming dawn of assigned seating.
Now, if you’re on the right plane, you can almost predict the future.
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to fly on Southwest Airlines’ first plane equipped with all the changes the Dallas-based airline has been talking about for more than a year.
Remember those new seats the airline planned to deploy? They were traveling on this brand new Boeing 737 MAX 8 jet, along with three other similar aircraft.
Rowing for extra legroom? Look for navy blue seats highlighted with light blue.
Bringing bigger overhead bins for passengers to avoid the airline’s new baggage fees? Check.
Free Wi-Fi and ubiquitous heart badges? Yes.
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Sean Cudahy/Scoring Expert
After a year of headlines signaling a spiritual shift at one of the most customer-friendly airlines in U.S. history, Southwest executives see the plane as the best physical evidence of a transformation they believe customers ultimately want.
“These things take years to come together piece by piece,” chief customer and brand officer Tony Roach told TPG. “Seeing it all on an aircraft, with all the pieces coming together, you can see all the vision we’ve been thinking about.”
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Read more: Southwest Airlines’ ‘big milestone’: First aircraft with new, modern cabin debuts
driven by numbers
Leaders say many of Southwest’s latest changes stem from data.
For example, at least 80% of customers prefer assigned seating to the historical first-come, first-serve model, according to its survey.
What about those new seats? The airline says more than 1,000 people have already tried the products – something you’ll see on all new aircraft deliveries.
Then there’s the issue of financial metrics.
After decades of success, Southwest’s profits since the COVID-19 pandemic have lagged far behind those of archrivals Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, which benefit from their premium seats, long-haul international route network and lucrative loyalty programs.
Starting last year, Southwest, facing rising costs and pressure from activist investment groups, began working to revamp its business model, which has historically been free of annoying add-on fees but also without the bells and whistles that generate revenue for network airlines.
“The old model wasn’t working, so now we’re transitioning,” Chief Operating Officer Andrew Watterson told analysts in April.
Southwest Airlines “center of gravity”
Customer wallets are already getting a taste of this shift. Checked bag fees went live in May, and the airline updated its credit card lineup in July.
However, the real restart will begin in earnest on January 27, 2026, when assigned seating becomes available on every aircraft and flight in the Southwest network. The date also marks the airline’s first rollout of an improved boarding process and Extra Space Row, the raised seat option adopted by Southwest Airlines.
Standing in front of Phoenix Airways’ newest MAX 8 jets last month, Watson said Southwest’s changes were a logical evolution.
That’s despite the concerns of countless industry experts that the brand once represented by co-founder Herb Kelleher will be diluted, and many passengers bemoaning the end of some of Southwest’s standout benefits and policies that were unique in the airline industry.
“As our environment has changed, we have changed at different times in our history. As our customers’ desires and expectations have changed, we have changed,” Watson said. “Every time we changed, people told us we were doomed.”
Are Southwest lounges, first-class seats, and long-haul flights next?
Southwest’s evolution won’t end with the postponement of its first seat-assigned flight in late January.
Next year, the airline expects to strengthen its fledgling network of partner airlines with international fast award redemptions, a move it hopes will enhance the appeal of its loyalty program and in turn inspire more members to apply for its co-branded credit card.
Beyond that, it seems increasingly likely that the airline will seek to add more premium products, something that was once unthinkable for Southwest.
Chief Executive Bob Jordan has spoken publicly about the possibility of adding long-haul international flights and true first-class seats — the latter of which has been targeted by leisure-focused rivals JetBlue and Frontier Airlines.
“We are actively pursuing ongoing changes to expand the range of products we offer our customers,” Jordan said during the company’s earnings call late last month.
“Including things,” he added, “like premium seating, airport lounges and long-haul international destinations.”
“What do our customers want?”
At least one of those things appears to be about to happen. Last month, the state of Hawaii gave Southwest permission to build a lounge in Honolulu.
It’s the latest sign that the changes Southwest has made so far may be just the beginning.
“We’re not going to fall into a pattern of, ‘This is how Southwest does it and we’re always going to do it this way,'” Roach told me. “Our models 1762271846 It’s ‘What do our customers want?’ ‘”
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