Southwest reveals when and how it will get rid of open seating [Video]

Southwest Airlines’ substantial changes to its business and boarding process are coming – but not for a while.

Open seating isn’t going away for more than a year. The airline said on Thursday that its passengers will be able to book a reserved seat in late 2025 and those seats will start to become available on flights in early 2026.

Southwest announced in July it would move away from the open seating model it has been known for throughout its 53-year history. It also announced it would offer premium seating for the first time. It currently has the same class of seats throughout its cabins.

Part of the reason Southwest isn’t rolling out its assigned seating model sooner is that premium seating will take some time to reconfigure in the planes. But reserved seating is available on virtually every other airline and could have started much sooner. Southwest pushed back the expected start date in …