Southwest Airlines makes big business model changes after 53 years — and you might get more legroom

PREPARING for a trip? Thanks to a new change at Southwest, it’s time to spread your wings — and your legs.

The airline has announced plans to eliminate open seats and offer extra legroom on its planes.

The move comes as pressure mounts on Southwest to change its 53-year-old business model and increase revenue.

The airline hinted in April that it was considering cabin changes.

CEO Bob Jordan told CNBC that they were considering single-class, open-seat cabins to increase profits.

“We are looking at new initiatives, such as how we seat and board our aircraft,” Jordan said.

Southwest currently offers a single cabin in economy class with no seat assignments.

Seats are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis, although the airline offers early boarding for an extra fee.

Southwest customers are placed in one of three boarding groups and then assigned a number, which puts travelers in a race to get on the plane.

Over the past two years, the budget airline has made changes such as improved WiFi, in-seat power and larger, larger bins in a bid to boost revenue.

“Moving to assigned seating and offering premium legroom options will be a transformational change that touches nearly every aspect of the company,” Bob Jordan said in a statement. declaration.

“While our unique open seating model has been a part of Southwest Airlines since our inception, our careful and extensive research makes it clear that this is the right choice at the right time for our customers, our people and our shareholders.”

In addition to the assigned seats, the airline explained that the premium portion of the cabin would upgrade “around one-third of the fleet’s seats to offer extended legroom, in line with that offered by industry peers on narrow-body aircraft.”

Fortunately for loyal Southwest passengers, the company won’t be making any changes to its two-free checked bags policy.

The airline will also add new flights to its program, introducing night flights.

Southwest plans to reinforce its 24-hour operation with night flights starting on Valentine’s Day 2025.

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Redeye’s first flights will include routes from Las Vegas to Baltimore and Orlando, from Los Angeles to Baltimore and Nashville, and from Phoenix to Baltimore.

“Right night flying, along with continued reductions in delivery time through new technologies and procedures, is expected to provide incremental revenue and cost savings,” Southwest explained.

[It will enable] Southwest will finance nearly all of the new capacity over the next three years without incremental capital deployment on aircraft.”

Customers can purchase early flights to offer extra legroom starting next year.

The airline is expected to provide more details on these changes at an investor day in September.