In September 2024, Southwest Airlines announced that it would introduce assigned and extra legroom seating, as one of the biggest changes to its business model in decades. In the meantime, the company has of course gone way more extreme than that, and plans to start charging for checked bags, introducing basic economy, and much more.
Continue reading: Southwest Extra Legroom Seats Coming To Entire Fleet By End Of 2025
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
All of this could have been avoided if:
- the FAs had made an announcement during the boarding process, “There are no reserved seats! Please take the first available seat nearest you. “
- Jesus Jetway and his Disciples had been boarded after group “B”.
All this grief because Gary Kell was too hardheaded to change and Bob Jordan didn’t have the gumption to stand up to him.
Southwest is going to become a much more profitable airline.
Hatred of Elliott Management is 100% driven by "they hate us because they ain't us." This is especially true if the hater is Northeast US born and raised (where Elliott was founded and headquartered until their recent move to Florida).
The Northeast US, moreso than any other region of the country, runs on CREAM. Cash Rules Everything Around Me. Everybody who grows up here wants to make money and everybody knows the way to do that is through high finance. High finance isn't rocket science and a genius level IQ is not required (save for those quant/algo positions at HFTs and the like, but even then, those autists make an order of magnitude or two less than the actual high flyers). What is required are two traits that are common and coachable. One is work ethic. The other is charisma. Both are necessary to reach a position where shittons of wealthy entities trust you to handle their shittons of money from which you can profit.
What I'm saying is if you grow up in the finance capital of the country, you know what it takes to make it and you have a real shot of making it as long as you work hard and are likable. In other words, if you're not a loser. You can be at Elliott or you can be at any number of funds, investing in and managing all kinds of assets, earning $20-200MM++ annually which is frankly what it takes to be comfortable in such an otherwise charmless part of the country.
But if you are a loser? Then you can't make it, and we all know what losers do. They hate. The median income in NYC is only about $70-80k which is extreme, complete, thoroughly sore loser territory. These losers find their purpose in life by hating on high finance which actually knows how to turn a profit.
WN's generous 32 inch legroom in economy will be missed. It was good while it lasted.
If they're going full legacy model, they're going to need a proper premium cabin at some point.
As Watson said below, a traditional domestic premium seat . . . assigned. Meaningful lounge access. Until then, it's not competitive.
I suspect initially the number of wheelchairs on each flight will increase to snatch up all those good seats, at least during the remainder of 2025....
I feel a back issue coming on, get me a wheelchair.
That Coke Zero must have been a magic elixir, my back feels as good as new.
For me, the legroom has never been a problem. It's the seat width that's sometimes the problem. If you have a real fatty sitting next to you it's hard to get comfortable!
Watson, you post:
“They're going to need a proper premium cabin”, what does that mean?
Are you referring to First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy or whatever?
Premium is a word that is creeping into Ben’s articles and the posts of the readers, however, it is meaningless to most.
You got that right. All of those miraculous healings occur on Southwest flights. They start needing a wheelchair and to board first. And sometime during the flight, they are healed. No more wheelchair needed.