Southwest’s New Assigned Seating Policy: A-List and Companion Pass Perks Revealed

Updated: December 16, 2024, 4:37pm CST

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Southwest Is Ditching Open Seating
New Southwest Elite Boarding Benefits
Final Thoughts

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We’ve been waiting for information about how Southwest Airlines’ new assigned seating policy will work since the announcement that it was ditching the open seating policy earlier this year. While we still don’t have all the details, we now know what boarding benefits A-List, A-List Preferred, and Companion Pass members will have.

Let’s get to the details.

Southwest Is Ditching Open Seating

In 2024, Southwest announced it would eliminate its sometimes loved, sometimes hated open seating policy in favor of more traditional assigned seating. Flights with seat assignments will begin to be sold in the second half of 2025 for travel in the first half of 2026.

At that time, you’ll be able to pay to choose your seat at booking (including new extra-legroom seats), or a seat will be assigned to you the day before departure.

New Southwest Elite Boarding Benefits

Southwest Airlines hasn’t announced all of the details of the new assigned seating policies yet, but we now know the seating benefits for A-List, A-List Preferred, and Companion Pass members.

Seats on a Southwest plane — Beginning in 2026, you’ll have an assigned seat on Southwest. Image Credit: Katie Seemann

A-List status is earned after flying 20 qualifying one-way flights or earning 35,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. Members with A-List status will enjoy the following seating benefits:

“Up front” standard seat at the time of booking
Complimentary extra legroom seat beginning within 48 hours of departure, when available
Same-day changes come with better seat options

A-List Preferred status is earned after flying 40 qualifying one-way flights or earning 70,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. Members with A-List Preferred status will enjoy the following benefits:

Select any seat, including extra legroom seats, for free at the time of booking
Same-day changes come with better seat options

Hot Tip:

Currently, select Southwest credit cards come with Upgraded Boarding or EarlyBird Check-In credits, and these undoubtedly will be changed. We expect an announcement about new credit card benefits in spring 2025.

A Southwest Companion Pass is earned after flying 100 qualifying one-way flights or earning 135,000 qualifying points. Companion Pass holders will be able to select an available seat for their companion, although it’s not clear when the seat selection can be made or at what cost (seat selection will incur an added cost for members without A-List or A-List Preferred; Companion Pass holders won’t necessarily also have A-List status).

If the Companion Pass holder also has A-List or A-List Prefered status and can select premium seats free of charge, those benefits will apply to the companion as well.

Currently, if you have A-List or A-List Preferred status, Southwest will automatically check you in, almost guaranteeing an A boarding position. In the event you don’t get an A boarding position, members with elite status are invited to board before the B group regardless of boarding number. Companion Pass holders don’t currently have any boarding benefits.

Bottom Line:

Southwest announced seating benefits for elite members that will go into effect when tickets with assigned seats go on sale in the coming months. Southwest A-List members will be able to choose an up front seat at the time of booking and will be eligible for a complimentary extra legroom seat 48 hours before departure, when available. A-List Preferred members will be able to choose any seat free of charge at the time of booking.

Final Thoughts

We now know a bit more about what Southwest’s new assigned seating policy will look like, specifically for members with A-List, A-List Preferred, or Companion Pass status. What we don’t know is what (if any) seating perks will be offered on the Southwest credit cards and how this will all look in practice.

The good news is that some things — including 2 free checked bags, free changes, free cancelations, and no expiration date for travel credits — aren’t changing.