Southwest adding assigned seats, red eye flights amid profit loss

( NewsNation ) — Southwest Airlines is doing away with its trademark open boarding amid a raft of changes after a recent plunge in profits.

The Texas carrier announced the change Thursday, alongside the future introduction of assigned seats, premium seating with extra legroom and red-eye flights, among others.

Southwest’s second-quarter profit dropped by more than 46% from 2023, now worth 58 cents a share.

NewsNation travel editor Peter Greenberg believes the drastic changes are being made with a clear objective in mind.

“This is a major cultural change for Southwest but it’s being driven by one thing, they’ve got to generate some revenue,” Greenberg said on “Morning in America.”

“That’s going to happen with new seats, new spacing, and new prices,” Greenberg said. “So, if you want to sit in the front of the plane with a little bit more legroom, be prepared to pay up. And there are no more A, B and C boarding possibilities. It’s all going to be assigned seating.”

There is no timeline publicly available for when these changes are coming to pass, but Greenberg expects them to occur as early as the start of 2025.

Red-eye flights will begin on February 13, 2025 with flights out of Los Angeles and Las Vegas available to select East coast destinations.

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