Sure, Southwest Airlines isn’t planning to “hard launch” extra-legroom seats until January 2026. But the soft launch is well underway.
About a quarter of Southwest’s airplanes have now been configured with the new extra-space rows, executives shared Thursday.
That means, if you’re flying with the carrier, you have roughly a one in four chance of being on a jet that has the new rows with more legroom. And, because open seating hasn’t ended yet, you don’t (technically) have to pay extra to score one of those seats.
Why extra-legroom seats are available early
Southwest will officially start selling extra-legroom seats on July 29, when assigned seating goes live in its booking channels. That’ll apply for flights taking off about six months from now, starting Jan. 27, 2026.
To prepare, though, the Dallas-based carrier started retrofitting its fleet of around 800 Boeing 737s in early May, setting up cabins with the new, more premium rows.
Clearly, Southwest can’t just keep its planes out of service until January. So, once crews finish reconfiguring a cabin, the aircraft returns to service.
As of Thursday, roughly 200 of those planes were flying with the new extra-legroom rows, chief operating officer Andrew Watterson said — even as the airline continues with its final six months of open seating.
Scoring a Southwest extra-legroom seat
How do you know if you’ll be on one of those newly updated jets when you book a flight?
For now, the short answer is: You won’t.
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Airlines (especially Southwest, with its all-737 fleet) frequently swap aircraft slated for a particular flight, so it’s hard for the airline to predict months in advance what jet it’ll use on a specific flight from, say, Nashville to Orlando.
Upgraded Boarding becomes more tempting
However, Southwest has started giving passengers a heads up about the pseudo-premium seats once it confirms the plane they’ll be on, closer to departure — in part hoping they’ll purchase its Upgraded Boarding option, which guarantees a passenger a priority boarding position and an early crack at its (for now) first-come, first-served seats.
“We’ve already started to monetize those retrofitted aircraft by notifying customers who will be on a flight with extra legroom seats, and inviting them to take advantage of our existing Upgraded Boarding product,” Watterson told analysts on Thursday, speaking on the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
What to know about Upgraded Boarding
Upgraded Boarding on Southwest, an optional add-on customers can purchase, guarantees an A1 through A15 boarding position under the airline’s unique, single-file boarding process.
Customers who aren’t happy with their boarding position can purchase Upgraded Boarding within 24 hours of departure. Prices start at $30 but can range quite a bit higher on a particular flight.
I purchased it in February when I wasn’t happy with the boarding position I’d secured for the airline’s inaugural red-eye flight from Las Vegas’ Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) to Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), not wanting to get stuck in a middle seat for the cross-country flight.
I did this right through the mobile app. You could also use Southwest’s website to purchase this add-on, or click on a link the airline sends you if you get notified that your flight will have the extra-legroom seats.
Upgraded boarding on the outs
Upgraded Boarding isn’t long for Southwest, though. It’ll disappear in January when the airline launches assigned seating and shifts to a more traditional eight-group boarding process.
But for now?
It could be your ticket to scoring an extra-legroom seat before those rows technically launch as the airline’s first premium product in January.
Credit card perk reminder
It’s also worth noting: Existing customers with the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card (see rates and fees) or the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (see rates and fees) get four Upgraded Boardings per year as a card perk.
While a card refresh (just announced Thursday) will spell the end of that perk, those boarding upgrades are still usable between now and the end of this year.
Bottom line
Your chances of scoring a Southwest extra-legroom seat in 2025 will keep growing as the year goes on, as the airline hopes to reconfigure all of its planes before its assigned seating era kicks off early next year.
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