One of the things people love about Southwest airlines was the company's lack of seating assignments. That means that people can pick their seats as they board, allowing you to get first dibs on those high-demand window seats, or perhaps cruise right on by the seat that would have you sitting next to a crying child. At least, people used to love that option until Southwest announced it was doing away with unassigned seating.
And apparently, folks were very vocal about their displeasure. So much so that Southwest heard the complaints and says they now plan to tweak the new assigned seating rule to hopefully win back some of the customers who said they would no longer fly Southwest after the change.
Executive Vice President Chief Customer and Brand Officer Tony Roach wrote a letter to customers saying that they would refine the boarding process, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
In the February 2026 letter, Roach said they would begin allowing people to board in assigned groups. Additionally, they would be implementing new changes to improve "overhead bin availability" near passenger's seats to improve the speed at which they can board and deplane. Roach says that new and improved upgrades are also on the agenda, and the company plans to update it's fleet with new overhead bins that will hold 50 percent more luggage. It sounds like this upgrades will be made on "at least 70 percent" of the airline's planes.
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People Have Been Vocal About Southwest's New Changes
All you have to do is Google "Southwest airlines" and plenty of angry posts will pop up from people who are frustrated over the company's decision to do away with the open seating arrangements, which has forced people to store their bags in bins that aren't near their seats. Additionally, many people said they were frustrated by now non-preferred passengers were being able to gain access to the plane ahead of time, giving them first dibs on all the overhead bins.
And while there are plenty of Reddit comments blasting the airline's decision to make these changes—like Redditor @flyingaround806, who said "The major issue is southwest went away from its identity. Simple as that, they were a cheap airline, open seating and bags fly free."—there are those who took their frustrations directly to the airline itself.
View this post on InstagramMost of the posts Southwest has been making on social media are full of comments from people who hate the changes. Including a seemingly harmless Instagram meme about Punch the monkey, which brough complaints from unhappy flyers.
"Way too soon I’ve now taken four flights since the change and it is chaotic," one person wrote in part.
"Miserable experience since seat and bag policy changes, switching to other options after 15 years of SWA being our go-to," another person added.
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“As we’ve transitioned from open seating to assigned seating, the feedback we’ve received has been invaluable,” Roach's letter continued. “We’ve already made several enhancements and will continue refining the experience to reward your loyalty while delivering the industry’s best operational reliability and hospitality.”
Hopefully it's enough to win back Southwest's loudest critics.
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