Southwest Airlines Receives a Warning After Major Changes

Southwest Airlines is in the process of making some significant changes to its identity, ending its longstanding "bags fly free" policy as well as its open seating policy. But as the airline transitions into its new identity, one travel expert has a pretty clear warning.

Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines announced plans to begin charging for checked bags and move to an assigned seating model that allows customers to pay extra to select their seats, which could include premium seats with extra legroom.

The drastic policy changes came as the airline searched for ways to boost its profits, which have been slumping in recent years. But there's no guarantee it will work.

New Checked Bag Fees

Southwest Airlines began charging for checked bags back in May, charging customers $35 for the first checked bag and $45 for an additional checked bag. The move ended Southwest's iconic "bags fly free" policy, which it had stuck to for decades.

The early results from the changes were not great. Customers were not happy, the airline saw an immediate decline in bookings, and the move did not provide an immediate, obvious boost to profits.

Still, Southwest is committed to moving forward with the plan, and it sounds like CEO Bob Jordan is pleased with the early results.

“The revenue contribution from bag fees has exceeded our expectations so far, and we’ve experienced no negative impact to the operation,” Jordan said.

Assigned Seating Model

For decades, Southwest Airlines had a democratic, open seating policy on all of its flights, allowing passengers to simply choose any seat on the aircraft after boarding in the order in which they checked in, though the airline eventually allowed some guests to pay to board sooner than others.

Beginning in January of 2026, that's changing.

Earlier this year, Southwest Airlines officially announced that it would be ending its open-seating policy, moving to an assigned seating model. Now, guests will have to choose between four fare bundles: Basic, Choice, Choice Preferred, and Choice Extra.

Basic passengers will either receive an automatically assigned seat a day before departure or pay extra to select a seat. All other fare types will include seat selection at no extra cost.

The assigned seating model will officially go into effect beginning January 27, 2026.

More Changes on the Horizon

While Southwest has already made some rather significant changes, the airline is not done evolving yet.

Back in June, CEO Bob Jordan made it clear that Southwest was keeping its options open for future changes.

While he did not specifically indicate what the airline had planned for the future, he mentioned things like international flights and airport lounges – things Southwest's competitors currently offer, but it has never pursued.

"Whatever customers need in 2025, 2030, we won’t take any of that off the table," Jordan said back in June. "We know we send customers to other airlines because there’s some things you might want that you can’t get on us. That includes things like lounges, like true premium, like flying long-haul international. I want to send fewer and fewer customers to another airline." 

We'll have to see what's next for the airline.

A Warning About the Future

While Southwest has undergone some extensive changes already and appears to have even more changes on the horizon, there's no guarantee that this transformation will actually yield the desired results.

As Prachi Patel of Simple Flying warned the airline, it's still not clear how customers will respond to the changes or how the changes will ultimately impact the company's bottom line.

"The Dallas-based carrier’s transformation is far from over. Assigned seating is still months away from appearing on flights, and cabin retrofits to accommodate new seat types are scheduled to run into early 2026. The airline has committed to completing those updates across its fleet, but much of what comes next depends on how passengers respond to the changes already underway," Patel wrote in a post for Simple Flying this week.

"Internally, the company is working to deliver the financial results its investors now expect while trying to avoid further backlash from its customer base and workforce. Fare bundles, revised loyalty benefits, and new seating products are all part of that strategy, but none of it guarantees long-term stability. The pressure to show progress, both operationally and financially, will only increase in the months ahead," Patel added.

The transformation is well underway. But as Patel warns, there's always a chance it could backfire.