My Experience of Flying Southwest Airlines Assigned Seating on Day 1
If you missed the news... this week Southwest Airlines changed their boarding and seating process from open seating (which started in 1971) to assigned seating. The previous boarding process involved A, B, and C boarding groups and a group position such as A4 or B30. The groups and position were assigned by checked in order, your status, and even later offering the Upgraded Boarding option for purchase that would move you to the front of the A group. This previous method was, in my opinion, a bit of controlled chaos. I never really liked having to look at or ask others what their group number was to determine if I was in front or behind them. Well, as of January 27, 2025, this all changed with the adoption of assigned seating and 8 boarding groups.
I decided to be brave and try out the system on Day 1. I flew from Austin (AUS) to San Diego (SAN) with a connection in Las Vegas (LAS) and an overnight in San Diego; in total I flew 4 segments.
Since I am a Chase Southwest Priority card member, I was able to get free upgrades into the Extra Legroom section from my original seat of 9A 48 hours before departure.
Overall, the process was pretty painless and went well, but below are some of my thoughts on the upsides and downsides of the new assigned seating.
Upsides
- I personally like knowing where my seat is. This new process allows picking the best seat that matches my fare class.
- I was very lucky that my Chase Southwest Priority Card allowed me to upgrade every segment for free 48 hours prior to departure. During my flights, I sat in rows 3 and 6, all window seats. This saved me $240!
- Although there were some confused people, the new system really seems to be a bit more organized.
Downsides
- Paying for seat upgrades was crazy expensive: $48 to $84 per segment. I have seen first-class upgrades on Delta for less.
- Overhead space in your section might be full. Especially since (inconsiderate) people will place their luggage 5 rows ahead of their actual seats. My flight crew actually closed some of the bins to prevent people from putting their luggage up front and sitting in the back. This was especially useful up front, where the flight crew gets one of the overhead bins.
- Some A-list members are not happy since they now have to compete with all Chase Priority Credit Card holders for the 48-hour upgrade.
Strange Things
- On all flights, I heard an announcement for those sitting in the exit row; they needed to check in airside with the gate agent before boarding. I was told this was a bug in the app, not asking people the required questions when sitting in an exit row.
- In Vegas the gate agent talked about how they "no longer need to balance the cabin". Meaning they don't need to spread people out for weight and balance, etc. To be honest, my load factor was so high on all 4 flights that it would not have been a problem.
- The same gate agent announced the seating status; she would say, "We are missing 3 people in Group A and 2 people in Group B, please look at your boarding pass."
- A flight attendant on my last flight asked to scan my boarding pass during the flight; she also asked others seated in the front area the same. STRANGE.
Learn more about Assigned Seating on Southwest Airlines
Closing Thoughts
Overall, it was not too much of a difference considering the process is how all other airlines do boarding. I really would have loved to sit in the new RECARO seats, but none of my flights had them. I do like the extra legroom section; since I am 6 feet tall, the extra room is very nice. I flew on the 2017 inaugural 737 MAX flight from DAL-HOU, which sadly had a mechanical issue after the first hop. It was still an amazing experience. I wish Southwest would have done something special at the gate for this flight, but it was nothing exciting was done, no custom-printed boarding passes or water cannons in Austin.