After 50 Years Southwest Is Ending Open Seating For Colorado Flights

For over five decades, Southwest Airlines, which flies hundreds of planes out of Denver International Airport each day, has been known for its famous open seating policy. Now, 50 years later, that policy is about to change.

Southwest Airlines Open Seating Policy To End

Flying usually means that you're headed somewhere fun, in most cases anyway. The behind-the-scenes of booking flights can be incredibly stressful, especially when it comes to seating.

Southwest Airlines is a go-to for many flyers because of the value, the free bags, and the way they seat you on the plane. Instead of charging more to pick an assigned seat, you walk on the plane and pick any available seat of your choosing.

To most, that has been a pretty popular option, as sitting wherever you want gives customers flying with Southwest a lot of freedom to sit where they're most comfortable, like near the restroom for example. Now that's all changing...

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Southwest Airlines Announces The End Of Open Seating

After studying their customer's habits, and surveying their likes and dislikes about their Southwest flight experiences, the airline giant found that people's flight preferences have changed, and the opener seating concept isn't as appealing as it previously was.

What they're seeing is that the majority of the passengers want to know where they're sitting, so it takes away the added pressure of hoping to find a seat in their preferred location.

I've certainly been on the anxious side while waiting to hop on a flight. Mostly because I fly deep with my family and it's easy to get separated. They now make children over the age of 7 board just like everyone else (no early family pre-boarding), with the possibility of not sitting with a family member, and for most younger kids, sitting alone is a deal breaker. I'd assume the person sitting next to them wouldn't be amused either.

When asked about the change by CNBC, Southwest Airlines CEO, Robert Jordan, said:

“I know there are going to be customers who say, ‘I want to stay with open seating.' It’s a minority. But we had the same thing when we switched from plastic boarding passes. We had the same thing when we took peanuts out of the cabin. I’m convinced we can win them over.”

They have yet to announce when the new policy will take effect, nor the price structure of the change. Safe to assume it would be a 2025 thing though based on their flight calendar already being out through the end of 2024.

Many other airline companies make you pay if you want to pick your seat as opposed to a random seat being picked. With this change, Southwest also plans to offer extended legroom options, as well as red-eye flights. Hopefully, the free bags aren't next...