We have known for a while and can already book Southwest’s new extra legroom seating for flights starting on January 27th of next year. As that date approaches, more and more of the fleet with be retrofitted with the new seats. For anyone traveling between now and then, with open seating still in effect, you can try it out for free if you are one of the first ~ 45 people to board the plane.
For my flights in June and July, as far as I could tell none of the planes I was traveling on had been retrofitted yet. But last weekend, 2 of my 3 flights did have it and I was able to try it out on my flight from St Louis to Houston. That flight was on a 737-800 and what I found interesting is that the seats were not marked in any way. On the second leg of my return trip, my connecting flight in Dallas was in a new 737-MAX8 plane that also had the extra legroom seats, and while I wasn’t able to snag one, they were clearly marked with the Southwest “heart” logo on the headrest.
It will be interesting to see if all of the seats are eventually marked, if only to make it easier for flight attendants to prevent self-upgraders. For my flight to Houston, it was a noticeable amount of extra legroom, but if I had to guess, it was only 3 to 3.5″ total. If that pushes the pitch to ~ 35″, it would be on par with the exit row and most other carriers’ extra legroom economy. It also checks out with some quick math. If there are 30 rows for the -800 and -MAX8 planes, and 7 will need to get extra legroom (assuming exit rows will stay as-is), then you could steal 1″ from 22 rows and give the remaining 7 rows 3.1″ extra each. That might vary a little based on the bulkhead row, etc, but for those planes I think it is a good guess. Southwest has said the older -700 series planes will have up to 5″ extra, so it will be interesting to see how they do that – taking out a row, new/thinner seats, or some combination.
Free WiFi coming next month
Southwest was also out with news this week that beginning October 24th, all Rapid Rewards members will have access to free WiFi courtesy of T-Mobile. You do need to have your Rapid Rewards account tied to your confirmation number, which is free and something you should do anyway, so it should be pretty easy to join.
For me personally, the timing is great because I am going to be cancelling my Chase Southwest Business Performance card this month which currently offers (but is losing) free WiFi as a perk of having the card. After some flights next weekend, my next flights are actually in late October so I will be able to test drive this new feature right away.
Overall, this is good news for travelers in what has otherwise been a pretty rough year in terms of “enhancements” by Southwest. Hopefully WiFi speeds continue to improve as I have personally experienced a very mixed bag this year. I will say on my last flight (on the new -MAX8 plane), the Viasat WiFi was fast and I never lost connection.
What about elite members?
One thing this WiFI announcement has me thinking about again is that, when taken together, all of the changes this year have really eroded the value of having elite status with Southwest. Free WiFi is a perk of A-List Preferred status currently. Yes, there is still bonus points earning, free drinks and access to extra legroom seats at time of booking for A-List Preferred. However, if you are consistently able to choose extra legroom seating at 48 hours before takeoff by having the Chase Southwest Priority card, that’s not much of a difference vs simply having the credit card.
One of the subtle changes lost in the outrage of losing free checked bags was that A-List and A-List Preferred members no longer could do a free same-day change on Wanna Get Away (now Basic) fares. This benefit is available on the next fare class higher, Choice, but is available to ALL passengers who buy that ticket, so no incremental benefits are gained from having elite status. Plus, when making a same day change (as I did last Sunday), you are less likely to be able to get an extra legroom seat since the pool of people who may be in the same situation will be higher.
In the grand scheme of things perhaps these are not major issues, but I do think Southwest is underestimating the erosion of value for their most loyal customers who actually spend money to fly the airline regularly. Simply having the Priority card is 95% of having A-List in my opinion. On the bright side, is this a signal that selling points to Chase to fund the credit card sign-ups and spend is so attractive to Southwest, that is what they want to prioritize? If so, that likely bodes well for the current incarnation of Companion Pass. If the goal is to cater to Chase card holders, why would you make the Companion Pass harder to achieve in 2026? Only time will tell.
What about you – have you been able to take advantage of the extra-legroom seats so far?
TL:DR: Southwest announced free WiFi for all Rapid Rewards customers, effective October 24th. You are also increasingly likely to find extra legroom seats on your next flight, as the fleet retrofit must be complete before January 27th of next year.
Indications are (frequent miler and others) that status will become a component of getting companion pass in 2026. So that non-status loses a ton of marginal value.
It’s possible and there are good arguments for it. I am just trying to share a counter-perspective. If A-List is essentially the same as having the credit card, Southwest must highly value selling points to Chase. If that’s true then why would you make the card less attractive to get, i.e. if you have to get 135k points and fly min 50 segments. That would thin the herd of CP holders for sure, but it would also likely reduce credit card signups significantly. Only time will tell.