"Is this now the new frontier airlines???" said one Southwest flyer on X.

As of January 27, 2026, Southwest Airlines no longer has an open seating policy. Here's how Southwest now boards its aircraft and why it chose to go this route.

Starting Tuesday​, customers on Southwest flights will have assigned seats.

The airline said its new policy, rolled out on Tuesday, responded to passengers’ preferences, but some customers said the ...

Southwest Airlines officially announced Monday that its open seating policy will end on January 27, 2026. Passengers can begin selecting specific seats starting July 29, 2025, for flights departing on ...

Southwest Airlines replaces its open-seating policy with assigned seating to align with industry norms and boost profits.

Southwest Airlines is ending its open seating system, in the biggest change it has ever made in its 53 years of flying. The Dallas-based airline announced the decision in a press release on Thursday, ...

Southwest Airlines unveiled big shifts in how it does business Thursday, saying it will throw out the open-seating model it has used for decades and introduce redeye flights. Here, an employee and ...

This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. Southwest Airlines’ assigned seating is ...