Southwest Finally Addresses Customer Backlash Over Latest Policy Changes (Here's What You Need To Know)

Long known for its "bags fly free" policy, Southwest Airlines has been making some important changes in 2025, and the company's longtime loyal customers have loudly expressed their disapproval. Under a thread titled "New policies are driving me away from SW" under the r/SouthwestAirlines subreddit, u/proudlyhumble quickly responded, "I'm pretty sure someone posts this every 25 minutes." And now, with the company's latest announcement that it will be ending its most iconic and unique decades-old feature — the open seating policy — Southwest's CEO, Bob Jordan, is speaking out about all that's been going on and the motivation behind it.

"I know we have some that are not happy," he acknowledged in a recent interview with The New York Times. The interview calls into question whether what's happening is the result of a battle with Elliott Investment Management, one of the airline's major shareholders, in late 2024, but Jordan insists this is not the case and that people are actually "excited" about what's being referred to as "the new Southwest" by its employees and loyalists. "I think you just have to play through this period of change because change is hard," Jordan explained.

Reddit users like u/Bob5451292 found this pep talk so tastelessly optimistic and contrived that they wrote in response, "CEO is drinking the Elliot Kool-Aide [sic]." Jordan did acknowledge that some of the changes seem to be in response to lower revenue caused by the decrease in flight bookings in 2025, an overall industry trend resulting from the U.S.'s unstable economy following recent tariff and trade wars. He claimed Southwest's policies had become unattractive to its customers, and so the airline is playing "catch-up" with the decades of updates made by other airlines.

Southwest's latest change to be announced is that it's phasing out the open seating policy which it held fast to for over 50 years, since the airline launched in 1967. The new assigned seating takes effect for flights departing on or after January 27, 2026. New fare bundles determine whether customers can choose their seats during booking (without needing to pay for an upgrade, that is). The highest tiers will have larger seats with extra leg room (or, again, you can pay for them as an add-on). And since the airline is refurnishing its planes ahead of the launch, you have the chance to score one of these upgraded premium seats completely free through the open seating policy until it's retired.

Lower-tier fares no longer share the same flexible booking policy as the old "Wanna Get Away" base tier. Whereas you used to be able to reschedule flights at the same tier or cancel for credit that never expires, the new "Basic" base tier fare limits passengers from rescheduling in the same fare class — you have to upgrade to "Choice," "Choice Preferred," or "Choice Extra" on your new flight. And credits are good for a maximum of six months past your original booking date (or up to 12 months for Choice).

Lastly, save for passengers who've booked the most expensive "Choice Extra" fare, first and second checked bags now cost $35 and $45. The change went into effect on May 28, 2025, and planes are already seeing an overcrowding of overhead bin space as a result. The airline has since seen a rise in delayed flights as passengers and crew adjust to the new bag shuffle, as well as having their bag size measured at check-in.