Starting Tuesday, customers on Southwest flights will have assigned seats and the option to pay more to get their preferred seat closer to the front of a plane or seats with more legroom. The airline started selling tickets based on the new policy in July.

Here’s what travelers can expect if Southwest takes off another signature on it features and become more like other airlines:

Goodbye, A/B/C groups

Under the open-seat system, Southwest customers can check in starting exactly 24 hours before departure to secure places in the boarding lines at the departure gates.

Early check-ins are placed in the coveted “A” boarding group, which guarantees them an open window or aisle seat. Some landed in “B” or “C,” the probability of only being in the middle seats increases the longer they wait to check in.

The Dallas-based airline’s unusual seating process began as a way to quickly get passengers on planes and thus reduce the time spent on planes and ground crews. earn money. This helped Southwest operate more efficiently and squeeze a few more flights into the daily schedule; the system is also a major factor in the Southwest remains useful every year until the coronavirus pandemic.

The open-seating arrangement became less democratic over time, however, as Southwest also began allowing passengers to pay more for places near the front of the line.

Hello, assigned seat

An eight-group boarding structure replaced the find-your-own-seat scrum. Instead of numbered metal columns at the departure gates, passengers file into two alternating lanes once their group has boarded.

The airline said its gate areas will be changed in phases starting Monday night, a process that could take about two months to complete. Columns that remained standing last Tuesday will have their numbers removed or covered in the meantime.

Southwest sells tickets on fares with a variety of seat choices, including standard seats assigned at check-in or paid preference and extra-legroom seats selected at booking. For some flights, passengers also have the option to pay for priority boarding starting 24 hours before departure.

How it works

The newly designed boarding passes will show seat assignments and boarding groups, according to Southwest. A reservation made for nine or fewer people, including families, will assign passengers to the same boarding group.

Southwest says boarding groups are based on seat location, fare class, loyalty tier status and airline credit card reward benefits. Passengers who purchase seats with extra legroom will be placed in groups 1-2. Customers with premium fares and the airline’s “most loyal travelers” will also have access to preferred seats and earlier boarding, the carrier said, while those with basic fares will likely be placed in groups 6-8.

Other changes

Along with the shift in assigned seating also comes a change in the airline’s policy for customers who need extra room. Under the new rule – also effective Tuesday – travelers who cannot fit inside a seat on the armrests must purchase an additional seat in advance.

That represents a change from the airline’s previous policy that allowed passengers to choose to buy a fully refundable extra seat before arriving at the airport, or request a free one at the gate. Under the updated policy, refunds are still possible but no longer guaranteed and subject to seat availability and fare class.

In May 2025, Southwest also ended its decades-old “bags fly free” policy, replacing it with baggage fees for most travelers.

The change marks one of the biggest changes in airline history, as it changed long-standing customer benefits to bring them more in line with the practices of other major US carriers.

Why all the change?

The transition comes between pressure from investors to increase profits.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to meet current and future customer needs, attract new customer segments we don’t currently compete with, and return to the level of profitability we and our shareholders expect,” Southwest CEO Robert Jordan said last year.

When the Texas-based airline first announced plans in 2024 to switch to assigned seating, it said study seating options shows that customer preferences have changed over the years, with most travelers saying they now want to know where they were sitting before they reach the airport.

Jordan said at the time that open seating was the main reason travelers were surveyed and cited for choosing another airline than Southwest.