For more than 50 years, Southwest Airlines stood apart from nearly every other major carrier with its famous (or infamous, depending on how you saw it) “open seating” system.
Instead of selecting a seat when booking, passengers were assigned a position at the gate—typically in the order of when fliers checked in. Once they boarded the plane, they could select any seat that was available. There was no first-class cabin, no seat-selection fee, and no guarantee you’d sit next to your travel companion, unless you boarded early enough to grab adjacent seats.
That system is now gone.
As of January 27, 2026, Southwest has introduced assigned seating and a tiered boarding process, aligning the airline’s approach to competitors like American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines. Travelers now receive specific seat assignments (including newly created extra-legroom seats), and boarding order is determined by fare type and loyalty status, with premium customers and elite frequent fliers boarding first and basic-fare passengers boarding later.
The shift marks one of the biggest changes in Southwest’s history—and raises a surprisingly complex question: What’s actually the best way to board an airplane? And why did Southwest decide to go this route?
Why Southwest changed its policy
Under Southwest’s longtime policy, passengers never chose a seat in advance. Instead, they were assigned a place in line to board the plane.
After checking in—typically 24 hours before departure—each traveler received a letter and a number, such as A23 or B47. The letter indicated a boarding group, and the number indicated their position within that group. When boarding began, passengers lined up in numerical order and walked onto the plane, where they could sit in any available seat on a first-come, first-served basis.
The earlier you boarded, the more choices you had. Check in late, and you might end up in a middle seat or separated from your companion. Southwest also sold options like EarlyBird Check-In, which automatically checked travelers in earlier to secure a better place in line.
But when Southwest decided to move away from that open seating approach, it wasn’t just about simplifying the boarding process—it was about catching up financially with competitors. Rival airlines generate billions from seat-selection fees, premium seating, and bundled fare options, and investors have pushed Southwest to adopt similar revenue streams. Analysts say Southwest expects the new model to dramatically boost earnings, potentially quadrupling profits in the coming years.
The airline also argues that customer preferences have shifted. Surveys showed most travelers now prefer assigned seating, according to Southwest.
“Southwest will broaden its consumer appeal and boost demand through an assigned seating model,” read a statement released by the airline in September 2024, when the change was first announced. “Airline passengers now have a clear preference for seat assignments: 80 percent of Southwest customers and 86 percent of passengers who choose other airlines want assigned seats.”
Southwest’s new boarding process
Under the newly implemented system, Southwest customers will now choose from three seating options:
- Extra Legroom: These consist of front of the cabin seats and exit row seats with up to five extra inches of legroom, plus complimentary premium beverages and a selection of higher-quality snacks
- Preferred: Standard legroom seats near the front of the cabin
- Standard: Standard legroom seats at the back of the plane
And the Southwest boarding process is now divided into eight boarding groups
- Preboard and Priority: Customers needing extra time or assistance, active-duty military, and customers who purchase priority boarding
- Groups 1 and 2: For those with A-List Preferred status (Southwest’s top-tier status), as well as those who purchased an Extra Legroom seat or a Choice Extra fully refundable fare
- Groups 3 through 5: Those with A-List status (Southwest’s lower status tier) or Choice Preferred fare (meaning they paid for a Preferred seat), plus Rapid Rewards Credit Card members
- Groups 6 through 8: Choice fare (meaning they paid for a specific standard seat) and Basic fare tickets
The science of airplane boarding versus reality
The airplane boarding process has long been studied by physicists, engineers, and operations researchers, who have modeled everything from human behavior in narrow aisles to the physics of stowing luggage. Typically, airlines board planes front to back, with passengers who’ve purchased the more premium tickets or who’ve flown the most miles with the airline boarding first.
However, in 2008, astrophysicist Jason Steffen proposed a sequence (known as the Steffen Boarding Method) designed to eliminate aisle congestion: alternating window seats first (left side odd numbers, followed by right side odd numbers, then left side even numbers, before right side even numbers), followed by the same method for middle and then aisle seats. Simulations showed it could be twice as fast as back-to-front boarding and 20 to 30 percent faster than random boarding. The downside: It requires those who are traveling together to split up during the boarding process and it requires following complicated instructions in an orderly fashion.
A more realistic approach is to board window seats first, then middle seats, then aisle seats (often called the WILMA method). Studies show this reduces seat interference and can outperform traditional zone-based boarding, but aisle traffic jams are still an issue.
Even before Steffen, airlines were experimenting with other approaches. Following an influential Boeing study on boarding efficiency, AirTran Airways (which was later acquired by Southwest) tested a “rotating zone” system in 2005, alternating boarding between the back and front of the plane in five-row chunks. Around the same time, US Airways (which later merged with American Airlines) worked with engineers at Arizona State University on a complex approach dubbed the Reverse Pyramid, which called for passengers to be seated in a staggered pattern across the cabin to minimize aisle congestion.
The debate even reached pop culture. In 2014, the TV show MythBusters tested a variety of boarding methods and found that random boarding with no seat assignments—the way Southwest used to handle boarding—was the fastest, although the hosts noted it was also the least appealing to passengers, who value predictability and the ability to sit with companions.
Ultimately, boarding isn’t just about speed. It’s about revenue, customer expectations, and operational reality. Priority boarding, seat selection, and premium cabins are major profit drivers. Elite travelers expect to board first. Families want to sit together. And real-world passengers arrive late, carry oversize bags, and ignore instructions—conditions that break even the most well-planned boarding algorithms.
Southwest’s shift suggests the industry is converging on a single model: assigned seating with tiered boarding privileges that reward loyalty and generate ancillary revenue. Airlines may continue experimenting with data-driven boarding orders, but few are likely willing to sacrifice premium upsell opportunities and elite perks for pure efficiency.
