OVER THE PACIFIC OCEAN — The 112 passengers on this Southwest Airlines red-eye from Honolulu to Los Angeles were the last in the airline’s more than 54-year history to scramble for a seat on board.
Before dawn on Tuesday, Southwest ended its quirky (or anxiety-inducing, depending on the traveler) open-seating policy in favor of assigned seats for all customers as the carrier that prided itself on marching to its own drum becomes more like its rivals, under pressure to increase revenue.
The change means that all Southwest passengers will know exactly where they will be sitting before they board, and some of them will pay more than $70 per leg to have a new, roomy spot up front. Prices vary.
CNBC flew on the last open-seating flight and hopped on one of the first with seat assignments to talk to passengers and crew about how they felt about the change. Their feelings were mixed.
“It’s overdue, honestly,” said Lisa Tate, 33, a teacher from Honolulu, who was traveling to Atlanta via Las Vegas on Monday. “I like the reassurance that I can sit with my loved ones. It makes the situation less stressful.”
Vicki Economou, a 68-year-old based in Houston, who is in the process of retiring from running a family restaurant, felt otherwise. “Now they’re like everybody else, and nothing is setting them apart,” she said.
Economou said she might consider flying other airlines after years of Southwest loyalty because she doesn’t want to pay for seats.
“I’m not real happy about it,” she said. “I think that there are people that are getting money hungry.”
‘If you can’t beat them, join them’
Several Southwest flight attendants in Los Angeles said they were relieved about the change. One told CNBC that she is so happy she wants to cry because having customers roam up and down the aisle looking for a seat was stressful for crew members.
Other airline employees greeted the last open-seating passengers with applause though, serving them coffee and handing out commemorative bag tags and other souvenirs.
Southwest has been training employees for months, including offering suggestions on clear announcements that remind customers, especially in the early stages of assigned seating, how boarding will work.
CNBC heard some of the first eight-group boarding calls moments after landing at Los Angeles. Gate agents reminded customers several times that seats were assigned and told them where on their boarding passes they could find that information. Customers lined up next to the posts that used to designate the boarding groups just hours before, though the numbers were no longer there.
Digital boarding screens showing two lanes are already installed and will replace the metal stanchions at airports to instruct travelers when they can get on according to the new boarding order.
A new Southwest Airlines boarding sign at Los Angeles International Airport debuted Jan. 27, 2026.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Until Tuesday, Southwest was the the last U.S. carrier to board customers with an open seating policy that meant passengers could pick any seat they wanted once they got on the plane. Flyers would get assigned an A, B or C group and then a number to line up at the gate, and the higher the boarding group and number, the better their shot of getting a coveted aisle or window seat, largely depending on when they checked in.
The end of open seating is a casualty of today’s consumers, who Southwest executives have said are looking for more certainty on where they’ll sit as the airline’s once Texas-only network now sprawls from Hawaii to Costa Rica.
Eighty percent of Southwest customers prefer an assigned seat, market research found, CEO Bob Jordan told analysts in July 2024, when the airline announced the change.
The new seating policy comes after a push from investors who are hungry to see the airline capitalize on fees and catch up to rivals’ profit margins.
From 2018 through 2023, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines and United Airlines brought in $12.4 billion in seating fees, according to a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations report in 2024.
It’s not the only policy Southwest is changing. Less than a year ago, the airline ended its “two bags fly free” policy for all passengers and began charging for checked luggage. Bag fees brought in $5.5 billion for U.S. carriers in the first nine months of 2025 alone, according to the Transportation Department.
There are exceptions for big spenders on all fronts, as is the case with other airlines. Customers with certain credit cards, elite status or those who buy the most expensive tickets can forgo some fees and select the best seats.
Some of the first passengers to fly with assigned seats on Southwest Airlines on the new policy’s debut day Jan. 27, 2026.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
“What it shows is that Southwest has basically said if you can’t beat them, join them, and I actually think this is going to be a positive move for Southwest,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of the Atmosphere Research Group travel consulting firm. “This is a positive move for both what travelers want and for Southwest’s revenue and profitability. One reason why Southwest has struggled to attract more frequent travelers and poach customers from other airlines is its lack of assigned seating.”
Stock flies higher
Investors are already excited for the top-performing airline stock.
Southwest told investors on Thursday that it expects earnings to more than quadruple this year from 2025 to an adjusted $4 a share, at least, more than what analysts expected, sending shares surging by almost 20%, the biggest one-day percentage gain since 1978.
The stock is up more than 53% over the last 12 months through Thursday’s close.
Other initiatives could be on the way, but Southwest declined to provide details this week.
“We’re not done,” Southwest CFO Tom Doxey said in an interview after the carrier reported results. CEO Bob Jordan told CNBC last month that Southwest is exploring airport lounges.
On Thursday, however, Jordan acknowledged in an interview that this year’s expected spike in profits “would be difficult to duplicate in 2027” because it would be a comparison of two years with the same policies.
All aboard
The airline’s original plastic boarding cards have long been replaced with digital boarding passes, but customers for years set alarms to check in at the earliest moment they could — 24 hours before a flight — to make sure they got the best possible spot in line.
Comedian Adam Mamawala’s Southwest check-in alarm went off during a set in September 2022.
“I’ll tell you why,” he told the audience. “Tomorrow, at exactly 8:10, I’m flying home on Southwest,” he said. “You think I am going to end up in the C Group because I’m doing a show? Are you kidding me? I’m checking in right now.” He informed the audience that he got A51, and the crowd cheered. (He said he missed a Southwest check-in during a show the previous year and didn’t want it to happen again.)
Assigned seating is the last of the major policy shifts Southwest, which carries more customers in the United States than any other airline, has announced in the last two years.
The last Southwest Airlines passengers to fly without seat assignments line up at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu on Jan. 26, 2026.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Southwest in 2024 reached a settlement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which had called for management changes and noted in one presentation that the carrier had long eschewed what are now airline industry standards: restrictive basic economy tickets, baggage fees, premium products and seat assignments. Elliott declined to comment.
But there might be some growing pains for the airline as customers adapt to the changes.
Mamawala said he’s become a “loyal Delta man” because he flies the carrier more frequently now and that he has an American Express card that gives him access to the lounge at LaGuardia Airport.
But he still flies Southwest on occasion.
“Frankly I’m surprised that so many Southwest devotees are seemingly heartbroken,” he said. “We’re moving from chaos to order.”
— CNBC’s Erin Black contributed to this article.
