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The introduction of Southwest Airlines' extra-legroom seats on its planes is set for May 1, 2025. These seats will be available for free initially, a move confirmed by the Dallas-based airline. The aircraft chosen for the first upgrade are the Boeing 737-800 and 737 MAX 8 models. "Southwest expects to deploy its first newly retrofitted aircraft sporting the more spacious rows May 1," the airline stated.
This shift toward more spacious seating is part of Southwest's transition to assigned seating, a plan introduced last year following customer research. Extra-legroom seats will be fitted in the first five rows and surrounding the exit doors in the middle section of the aircraft.
Southwest aims to complete all cabin reconfigurations by the end of 2025, allowing ticket sales under the new seating model to commence by early 2026. "Technically, the airline doesn't plan to start selling tickets under its assigned seating model until the third quarter of 2025," the report noted.
