It’s not a secret that Southwest Airlines has been undergoing some serious changes in recent months, some of which have obviously been more popular than others. But it doesn’t sound like the airline is done making changes yet.
Over the past several months, Southwest Airlines has announced the end of two longstanding policies as it has begun charging customers for checked baggage and charging customers to select their seats, ending its longstanding open-seating policy.
Now, the airline has confirmed plans for another significant change, though customers will likely be more excited about this one.
Southwest Ends Free Bags
In May, Southwest Airlines officially moved forward with its checked bag fees, adding a $35 charge for the first bag and $45 for each additional checked bag after that. This marked the end of the airline’s long-standing “bags fly free” policy.
While customers were quick to express their outrage at the time, and Southwest saw its sales slump initially, it’s pretty clear that Southwest is committed to the change. In fact, CEO Bob Jordan actually appears optimistic about the early outcomes.
“The revenue contribution from bag fees has exceeded our expectations so far, and we’ve experienced no negative impact to the operation,” Jordan said earlier this month.
However, it’s worth noting that Jordan’s optimism isn’t necessarily backed up by the numbers just yet.
Assigned Seating Model
Throughout its history, Southwest Airlines has operated with a democratic open-seating model for all of its flights, allowing passengers to pick any seat upon boarding based on their check-in order. While it’s been a policy that has helped set it apart from other airlines, that policy is set to change starting January 2026.
Beginning in January, passengers will now choose from four fare bundles: Basic, Choice, Choice Preferred, and Choice Extra. Basic fare passengers will either get an automatically assigned seat the day before departure or pay extra to choose one. All other fare types will include complimentary seat selection, though they obviously
The change was obviously made to help boost the bottom line, but Southwest also made this move following customer feedback.
Ending Several Direct Flights
Southwest Airlines has long been known as the most dominant point-to-point airline in the country, prioritizing direct flights between cities, regardless of distance. This compares to the hub-and-spoke model used by most other major airlines, connecting smaller cities to larger central hubs.
While a point-to-point model is faster and generally preferred by customers, a hub-and-spoke model is much more efficient and cost-effective.
Over the past several months, Southwest Airlines has made it clear that it intends to move away from its pure point-to-point model and embrace more of a hybrid approach. The airline has seemingly already begun moving forward with this plan, cutting several direct routes from a major city, and it’s likely that more direct routes will be cut in the future.
A More Positive Change
While many of the changes Southwest Airlines has made over the past several months have been negatively received by customers, there is one upcoming change that will likely leave customers feeling a little more positive.
Southwest has long been an airline that prioritized domestic travel while employing a few international routes, usually to short-haul vacation destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean. However, it sounds like the airline is looking to expand its international offerings.
In a recent statement to CNN, Southwest Airlines confirmed that it would be looking to expand its international destinations in the future.
“Southwest Airlines is continuing to consider ways to grow our business as we evolve to meet the needs of our current and future customers,” Southwest said in a statement to CNN. “One of the things we are exploring is the potential to expand our network to new international destinations on our Boeing 737 aircraft.”
Southwest did not confirm where it was looking to expand or when these new routes might go into service, citing “several dependencies that would have to be considered,” like pilot and flight attendant contracts. However, it is pretty clear that the airline is looking to move in this direction.
