when is southwest doing assigned seating

Southwest is switching from open seating to assigned seating on flights starting January 27, 2026.

Quick Scoop: What’s Changing

• Assigned seats will appear for flights dated January 27, 2026 and later.

• You can start booking tickets with assigned seats ahead of that, from July 29, 2025, for future travel on or after January 27, 2026.

• This ends Southwest’s decades‑long open‑seating “pick any open seat when you board” system.

How the New System Works (High Level)

• Seats will be chosen at booking, with options like Extra Legroom, Preferred, and Standard, tied to different fare types.

• Boarding changes to grouped/zoned boarding (Groups 1, 2, etc.), with Extra Legroom and higher fares, elites, and cardholders boarding earlier.

Forum/Trending Buzz

On forums like Reddit, people are already circling January 27 as “the day open seating dies,” and summarizing it as:

Tickets with seat assignments sell from July 29; open seating ends January 27; eight boarding groups roll out next year.

So, if you’re wondering “when is Southwest doing assigned seating?” — the big switchover on actual flights is January 27, 2026 , with assigned‑seat booking available starting July 29, 2025.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.