OVER THE PACIFIC OCEAN — The 112 passengers on this Southwest Airways red-eye flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles have been the final within the airline’s greater than 54-year historical past to scramble for a seat on board.
Earlier than daybreak on Tuesday, Southwest ended its quirky (or anxiety-inducing, relying on the traveler) open-seating coverage in favor of assigned seats for all clients because the provider that prided itself on marching to its personal drum turns into extra like its rivals, below stress to extend income.
The change signifies that all Southwest passengers will know precisely the place they are going to be sitting earlier than they board, and a few of them pays greater than $70 per leg to have a brand new, roomy spot up entrance. Costs differ.
CNBC flew on the final open-seating flight and hopped on one of many first with seat assignments to speak to passengers and crew about how they felt in regards to the change. Their emotions have been combined.
“It is overdue, actually,” stated Lisa Tate, 33, a trainer from Honolulu, who was touring to Atlanta through Las Vegas on Monday. “I just like the reassurance that I can sit with my family members. It makes the state of affairs much less tense.”
Vicki Economou, a 68-year-old primarily based in Houston, who’s within the technique of retiring from operating a household restaurant, felt in any other case. “Now they’re like everyone else, and nothing is setting them aside,” she stated.
Economou stated she would possibly think about flying different airways after years of Southwest loyalty as a result of she does not wish to pay for seats.
“I am not actual joyful about it,” she stated. “I believe that there are individuals which can be getting cash hungry.”
‘If you cannot beat them, be a part of them’
A number of Southwest flight attendants in Los Angeles stated they have been relieved in regards to the change. One instructed CNBC that she is so joyful she desires to cry as a result of having clients roam up and down the aisle in search of a seat was tense for crew members.
Different airline workers greeted the final open-seating passengers with applause although, serving them espresso and handing out commemorative bag tags and different souvenirs.
Southwest has been coaching workers for months, together with by suggesting clear bulletins that remind clients, particularly within the early phases of assigned seating, how boarding will work.
CNBC heard a few of the first eight-group boarding calls moments after touchdown at Los Angeles. Gate brokers reminded clients a number of occasions that seats have been assigned and instructed them the place on their boarding passes they might discover that data. Prospects lined up subsequent to the posts that used to designate the boarding teams simply hours earlier than, although the numbers have been now not there.
Digital boarding screens displaying two lanes are already put in and can change the steel stanchions at airports to instruct vacationers once they can get on in accordance with the new boarding order.
A brand new Southwest Airways boarding signal at Los Angeles Worldwide Airport debuted Jan. 27, 2026.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Till Tuesday, Southwest was the the final U.S. provider to board clients with an open-seating coverage that meant passengers may choose any seat they needed as soon as they acquired on the airplane. Flyers would get assigned an A, B or C group after which a quantity to line up on the gate, and the upper the boarding group and quantity, the higher their shot of getting a coveted aisle or window seat.
The top of open seating is a casualty of at the moment’s shoppers, who Southwest executives have stated are in search of extra certainty on the place they’re going to sit because the airline’s as soon as Texas-only community now sprawls from Hawaii to Costa Rica.
Eighty % of Southwest clients want an assigned seat, market analysis discovered, CEO Bob Jordan instructed analysts in July 2024, when the change was introduced.
The change in seating coverage additionally comes after a push from buyers who’re hungry to see the airline capitalize on charges and catch as much as rivals’ revenue margins.
From 2018 by 2023, American Airways, Delta Air Traces, Frontier Airways, Spirit Airways and United Airways introduced in $12.4 billion in seating charges, in accordance with a Senate Everlasting Subcommittee on Investigations report in 2024.
It isn’t the one coverage Southwest is altering. Lower than a 12 months in the past, the airline ended its “two luggage fly free” coverage for all passengers and commenced charging for checked baggage. Bag charges introduced in $5.5 billion for U.S. carriers within the first 9 months of 2025 alone, in accordance with the Transportation Division.
There are exceptions for large spenders on all fronts, as is the case with different airways. Prospects with sure bank cards, elite standing or those that purchase the most costly tickets can forgo some charges and choose the perfect seats.
Among the first passengers to fly with assigned seats on Southwest Airways on the brand new coverage’s debut day Jan. 27, 2026.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
“What it exhibits is that Southwest has mainly stated if you cannot beat them, be a part of them, and I really assume that is going to be a constructive transfer for Southwest,” stated Henry Harteveldt, founding father of the Ambiance Analysis Group journey consulting agency. “This can be a constructive transfer for each what vacationers need and for Southwest’s income and profitability. One cause why Southwest has struggled to draw extra frequent vacationers and poach clients from different airways is its lack of assigned seating.”
With the boarding race over, Southwest buyers assume they’ve gained. The inventory is up greater than 26% over the past 12 months, greater than every other airline, by Tuesday’s shut.
Southwest experiences fourth-quarter outcomes and 2026 forecasts Wednesday afternoon; Wall Avenue is anticipating Southwest to triple earnings this 12 months to $3.19 a share, in accordance with estimates compiled by LSEG.
Its new initiatives will doubtless add $4.3 billion in earnings earlier than curiosity and taxes this 12 months, Southwest forecast final October, with $1 billion coming from seat assignments and new extra-legroom seats on the entrance of the airplane.
Southwest’s CEO has been optimistic, too.
“As a result of the assigned seating, the additional legroom, kicks in, and there is plenty of worth in that, [results are] going to be higher 12 months over 12 months,” Jordan instructed CNBC in a Dec. 10 interview.
All aboard
The airline’s unique plastic boarding playing cards have lengthy been changed with digital boarding passes, however clients for years set alarms to verify in on the earliest second they might — 24 hours earlier than a flight — to verify they acquired the absolute best spot in line.
Comic Adam Mamawala’s Southwest check-in alarm went off throughout a set in September 2022.
“I am going to inform you why,” he instructed the viewers. “Tomorrow, at precisely 8:10, I am flying residence on Southwest,” he stated. “You assume I’m going to finish up within the C Group as a result of I am doing a present? Are you kidding me? I am checking in proper now.” He knowledgeable the viewers that he acquired A51, and the group cheered. (He stated he missed a Southwest check-in throughout a present the earlier 12 months and did not need it to occur once more.)
Assigned seating is the final of the key coverage shifts Southwest, which carries extra clients in the US than every other airline, has introduced within the final two years.
The final Southwest Airways passengers to fly with out seat assignments line up at Daniel Okay. Inouye Worldwide Airport in Honolulu on Jan. 26, 2026.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Southwest in 2024 reached a settlement with activist investor Elliott Funding Administration, which had known as for administration modifications and famous in a single presentation that the provider had lengthy eschewed what at the moment are airline trade requirements: restrictive fundamental economic system tickets, baggage charges, premium merchandise and seat assignments. Elliott declined to remark.
However there is likely to be some rising pains for the airline as clients adapt to the modifications.
Mamawala stated he is grow to be a “loyal Delta man” as a result of he flies the provider extra regularly now and that he has an American Specific card that provides him entry to the lounge at LaGuardia Airport.
However he nonetheless flies Southwest now and again.
“Frankly I am shocked that so many Southwest devotees are seemingly heartbroken,” he stated. “We’re shifting from chaos to order.”
— CNBC’s Erin Black contributed to this text.
