Southwest Airlines is getting rid of open seating, starting sometime in 2025. By changing its airplane cabin configurations, Southwest Airlines can offer assigned seats and higher-cost premium seating with extra legroom.
The announcement about Southwest getting rid of open seating might be good news for some credit card customers and frequent flyers. But I feel kind of sad about it — when I heard the news, my heart sank a little.
Maybe it’s strange to be sentimental about an airline. But by getting rid of open seating, I feel like Southwest Airlines is losing something important that made its brand and culture unique — and getting to upgrade your seat on Southwest Airlines might not be enough to make up for it.
Let’s look at a few reasons why it might be a bad thing for Southwest Airlines to get rid of open seating.
What if Southwest’s seating and ticketing gets more complicated — and expensive?
One of the unique charms of Southwest Airlines is that every seat on the plane is the same. Southwest offers simpler pricing with fewer fare classes; it’s not so confusing to find a cheap plane ticket on Southwest, compared to some other major U.S. airlines that have multiple higher-priced fare classes within each flight.
By getting rid of open seating, Southwest is bringing a new level of complexity and cost to its airplane cabins. We don’t know yet what the future will look like — but Southwest will likely start charging more for seats at the front of the plane.
The company’s press release says that approximately one-third of seats will become “premium seating” with extra legroom. The standard economy experience on Southwest might stay “the same,” but will likely feel slightly worse relative to the extra legroom and perks of the higher-cost tickets on the same flight.
Will the new Southwest Airlines in-flight experience with assigned seats be worth paying extra? Or will Southwest’s new policies drive away its existing customers? (The airline says it has survey data showing that 80% of its customers want assigned seats.)
Can Southwest’s IT systems handle more complexity?
During Christmas 2022, Southwest Airlines’ IT systems suffered a huge crash that caused 16,700 flights to be canceled, impacting holiday travel for 2 million customers. Perhaps this is a naive question and the Southwest technology problems are solved now, but is this airline ready to handle a more complex ticketing and seating process?
If changing the in-flight seating options requires upgrades to the IT infrastructure, is Southwest able to handle that — or could this change to open seating open up new problems in the airline’s technology stack?
Could Southwest’s on-time performance and service get worse?
One big reason why Southwest Airlines has done open seating for so long is that the airline believes it helps the boarding process go faster — and that means more flights take off on time. Open seating (arguably) has helped improve the Southwest air travel experience and has kept costs lower for everyone.
With assigned seating, what if Southwest Airlines loses that competitive edge, and its operations get worse? What if the airline sees a reduction in on-time departures, higher costs, lower efficiency, and less-satisfied customers?
Southwest is “just like the other big airlines” now
This last reason is hard to measure, but it’s real. Southwest Airlines is known for its unique, customer-friendly culture. This company doesn’t do business in the same way as every other airline, and open seating was a big part of that experience. Southwest didn’t have the same complicated hierarchy of fare classes and rigid, uptight policies about “which airline passengers get to board in a special VIP row” before everyone else.
Instead, the Southwest Airlines experience was more egalitarian and quirky. It was a low-cost airline that didn’t take itself too seriously. Families could afford to fly on Southwest. Some of my happiest family vacation memories happened because of Southwest Airlines. I could afford to take my young family with two little kids on a plane, and we didn’t have to worry about being split up by some profit-obsessed airline’s assigned seating policy.
Southwest never felt like you were getting nickel-and-dimed and upsold for every last thing — you even got two free checked bags! (Fortunately, the two free checked bag policy is not changing as part of this assigned seating announcement.) But by getting rid of open seating, Southwest is losing a big part of that unique culture.
Maybe the company’s market research shows that it’s the right business decision, but I worry that Southwest Airlines is making a mistake by getting rid of open seating. People who care a lot about VIP airline perks and first-class seats didn’t seem to fly on Southwest as often; it was an airline that felt more welcoming to students, budget travelers, and families.
Will all those cost-conscious travelers — young families like mine used to be — still feel so welcome and at home on Southwest?
Bottom line
Southwest Airlines getting rid of open seating might be good news for people who own Southwest stock. Southwest Airlines credit cards might become a better deal if you can redeem points for upgrades on the new Southwest premium seating with extra legroom. But this decision, while understandable for business reasons, might be a bad idea for Southwest’s customer experience in the long run.
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Why It’s a Bad Thing That Southwest Got Rid of Open Seating was originally published by The Motley Fool
