Southwest Airlines announces new premium seating and redeye flight options

Details on a potential basic economy product replacing the cheapest Wanna Get Away fare are yet to be disclosed. This new fare class may include last boarding priority, limited seat choice, change restrictions, a small personal item allowance, and one free checked bag.

Southwest has quietly added its first redeye flights into the system. Discovered routes include:

- Las Vegas – Baltimore

- Las Vegas – Orlando

- Phoenix – Baltimore

- Los Angeles – Baltimore

- Los Angeles – Nashville

Hawaii redeye flights are also anticipated since current connections often require overnight stops without redeyes.

Extra legroom seats are expected soon, with four rows at the front of cabins plus exit row seats available only for pre-assigned passengers. Reconfiguration could begin as early as September, aiming for February 1, 2025, for selling these assigned seats. This move partially abandons Southwest's open seating policy and restricts preboarding passengers from sitting in the first four rows.

There are also rumors that Southwest will eliminate seat saving practices where passengers reserve multiple seats for others with lower boarding orders using personal items like bags of donuts.

A passenger was seen saving an entire row of plane seats behind her with donut bags.

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If Southwest further monetizes its boarding process, allowing one member of a large party in basic economy to reserve seats would contradict this strategy.