Southwest Airlines has been making a range of changes, with the carrier now charging for checked luggage and eliminating its famous open seating policy in favor of assigned seats.
From Jan. 27, 2026, passengers will now have assigned seats — but they’ll be boarding differently from most other carriers.
Per the Wall Street Journal, Southwest fliers will have a boarding pass that contains a boarding group and a number from 1 to 8 — unless they booked priority boarding.
After priority boarding, Southwest will mostly follow the WILMA method — window, middle and aisle — for boarding.
Passengers in window seats will board first, followed by those in middle seats and aisles, starting at the back of the plane.
“If queuing isn’t good, boarding isn’t good,” Lisa Hingson, managing director of innovation, told WSJ. “So we spent a lot of time studying queuing.”
This method isn’t new — United Airlines switched to this kind of method a couple years ago, saying it was more efficient.
But flyers with perks will automatically get an earlier boarding group, no matter where their seat is.
Perks can include frequent-flier status, ticket type, seat type or credit card — and these people will be in group 1 or 2 regardless of their seat.
This means that those sitting toward the front of the plane that aren’t in first class or priority boarding could have trouble with overhead bin space for a carry-on bag. They’ll also be in later boarding groups.
The Journal noted that they saw a boarding pass for a passenger seated in 12C, which is considered to be a good economy seat on any airline — and the passenger was put in group 7.
However, Southwest also plans to offer a last-minute Priority Boarding option with dynamic pricing, WSJ said, so those who pay can join the priority boarding group, which boards before group 1.
While the pricing will vary per flight, the Journal noted that it cost $93 one-way on a recent Phoenix-Dallas flight.
Passengers with disabilities and active-duty military members will also board first.
Boarding passes will also clearly state whether the passenger is sitting in a window, middle or aisle seat, so those new to this system won’t need to stress.
“Since we’re moving away from boarding positions, we wanted to be very clear about the difference between a boarding position and a seat,” Hingson said.
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