Southwest Unveils Details on Assigned Seating, Premium Cabin, and Its First Partner

Southwest Airlines revealed the first details about its plans to sell assigned seats and introduce “premium” extra-legroom seats to its planes in 2025. The carrier has also added its first airline partner.

The move is an attempt to increase customer satisfaction as well as the financial performance of the company.

Let’s take a look at all of the details.

Premium Seating and Assigned Seats

Southwest Airlines announced new details during its “Investor Day” to improve the customer experience and improve financial performance. Details included rollout timelines for assigned seating, premium seating, and a new boarding model.

Southwest plans to begin selling assigned seating in the “second half of 2025,” the airline said.

Currently, Southwest has an open-seating policy. Passengers must check in exactly 24 hours before their flight if they want any chance of scoring an early boarding group.

The popular — and often heavily criticized — boarding process will be modified slightly. Guests will continue to board using position numbers and following gate signage. However, Southwest’s most loyal customers and those who purchase premium seating will be assigned to a higher boarding group, allowing them to board earlier.

In addition to assigning seats, Southwest will also introduce premium, extended-legroom seats that will account for roughly 33% of seats across its fleet.

“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 of Southwest Airlines. “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.”

These changes are just some (albeit the biggest) of the many that the airline has introduced lately, including in-seat power, larger overhead bins, and faster Wi-Fi.

Southwest Adds Icelandair as Its First Airline Partner

Beginning in 2025, Southwest Airlines will partner with Icelandair, marking Southwest’s first partnership with another carrier. The initiative aims to link Southwest customers with a broader range of global destinations while also fostering increased travel demand throughout the Southwest network.

Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI) will serve as the initial U.S. gateway for this new partnership between the 2 airlines, marking the beginning of their collaboration. While details regarding this newly formed partnership are scarce at the moment, we do know that its goal is to widen both airlines’ global networking connections. This news comes as Icelandair announced flights to Nashville, starting in 2025.

Southwest is also set to introduce a second international partner in 2025, although the airline has not yet revealed details regarding the timing of this announcement or the identity of the new partner.

Final Thoughts

Southwest released more details about the significant changes it intends to introduce next year. These include the ability for passengers to choose their seats in advance, an updated boarding procedure, and a new premium seating option.

In addition to the numerous changes from Southwest, the carrier has revealed that Icelandair will be its inaugural airline partner. The partnership is set to commence with connections in Baltimore (BWI), with plans to expand to other gateways in the future.