Southwest Airlines is undergoing major changes at the moment, as the airline introduces assigned and extra legroom seating, eliminates free checked bags, and much more. There’s a lot changing, all at once, and it can be hard to keep up.
Along those lines, the airline has today revealed plans to fully rebrand its fare bundles. We already knew the airline would introduce basic economy, but there’s even more that’s changing.
In this post:
Details of Southwest’s new & rebranded fare bundles
Currently, Southwest’s fare bundles are known as Wanna Get Away, Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime, and Business Select. Over the coming months, we’ll see the airline replace those fare bundles with Basic, Choice, Choice Preferred, and Choice Extra. This coincides with the airline rolling out assigned and extra legroom seating.
So, what will be included with each of those fare bundles? Below is a chart comparing the new fares, and then go over them, from the most basic, to the most premium (thanks to Sean Cudahy for flagging the details).
Separately, I’ve covered the details of Southwest’s updated elite status and credit card perks.
Details of new Southwest Basic fares
Basic fares (replacing Wanna Get Away fares) will go on sale as of May 28, 2025, and will be the most affordable fares. These fares:
- Won’t include complimentary seat selection, and a seat will be assigned at check-in
- Won’t include checked bags
- Will earn 2x Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent
- Will offer the lowest boarding priority
- Will allow flights to be canceled for a non-refundable travel credit that’s valid for six months
Details of new Southwest Choice fares
Choice fares (replacing Wanna Get Away Plus fares) will go on sale in the third quarter of 2025, for flights in 2026. These fares:
- Will include complimentary standard seat selection
- Won’t include checked bags
- Will earn 6x Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent
- Will offer standard boarding priority
- Will allow flights to be canceled for a non-refundable travel credit that’s valid for 12 months
- Will allow same day changes and standby
Details of new Southwest Choice Preferred fares
Choice Preferred fares (replacing Anytime fares) will go on sale in the third quarter of 2025, for flights in 2026. These fares:
- Will include complimentary preferred or standard seat selection
- Won’t include checked bags
- Will earn 10x Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent
- Will offer higher boarding priority
- Will allow flights to be be fully refunded, or canceled for a non-refundable travel credit that’s valid for 12 months
- Will allow same day changes and standby
- Will allow priority security access
Details of new Southwest Choice Extra fares
Choice Extra fares (replacing Business Select fares) will go on sale in the third quarter of 2025, for flights in 2026. These fares:
- Will include complimentary extra legroom, preferred, or standard seat selection
- Will include two free checked bags
- Will earn 14x Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent
- Will offer the highest boarding priority
- Will allow flights to be be fully refunded, or canceled for a non-refundable travel credit that’s valid for 12 months
- Will allow same day changes and standby
- Will allow priority security access
- Will include a premium drink and inflight Wi-Fi
My take on Southwest’s updated fare bundles
Ultimately this latest announcement is mostly about rebranding, rather than any major changes to what’s included in fare bundles, beyond what we previously knew. The biggest change is coming with the introduction of Basic fares, though that’s something we learned about several weeks ago.
We know that Southwest is currently changing so many things about its business model. But what stands out to me with this latest announcement is that obviously Southwest is just trying to completely reinvent itself, and the new airline will look nothing like the old airline.
People were familiar with Southwest’s fare bundles more than comparable bundles with other airlines, and those are now being retired. I guess Southwest doesn’t want people to remember any of the legacy inclusions with these fares.
What’s going to be next — will Southwest stop capitalizing “Employees” and “Guests?”
Bottom line
In the coming months, Southwest will overhaul its fare classes, which coincides with the airline introducing assigned and extra legroom seating. As part of this, we’ll see the airline retire its popular “Wanna Get Away” branding, replacing it with “Basic” and “Choice” branding. It’s clear that Southwest wants to ditch its entire history, and be viewed as a totally new airline.
What do you make of Southwest rebranding its fare bundles?
I think Southwest is becoming a low cost carriers. And the LCC are going bankrupt right now. I look at the changes and don’t want anything to do with Southwest going forward. Southwest flies out of the most inconvenient airports. It was fine with no baggage fees and no loss if I cancelled flights. Everything bad now. I don’t see how I even get value anymore flying Southwest . Unless Southwest gonna underprice all competitors...
I think Southwest is becoming a low cost carriers. And the LCC are going bankrupt right now. I look at the changes and don’t want anything to do with Southwest going forward. Southwest flies out of the most inconvenient airports. It was fine with no baggage fees and no loss if I cancelled flights. Everything bad now. I don’t see how I even get value anymore flying Southwest . Unless Southwest gonna underprice all competitors which isn’t gonna happen. Hope Elliot and its investors lose their shirts on this maneuver.
I throw out a contrary opinion and say I'm looking forward to the changes at Southwest. I usually purchase more comfortable seats for traveling including economy plus and first class. Now that deeper seats are available, I would be more inclined to purchase a Southwest ticket (and I would be willing to pay more for these comforts). I also think one of the remaining gaps in this new airline business model is that there is...
I throw out a contrary opinion and say I'm looking forward to the changes at Southwest. I usually purchase more comfortable seats for traveling including economy plus and first class. Now that deeper seats are available, I would be more inclined to purchase a Southwest ticket (and I would be willing to pay more for these comforts). I also think one of the remaining gaps in this new airline business model is that there is no way to guarantee an empty seat next to you, or between you as two passengers traveling together. If a POS is reserved next to you while flying on a 3-6 hour flight, it's just not comfortable. This happened to me on more than one occasion while flying Southwest in the past, and it became the main reason I choose other carriers.
And how many people with children will book basic fares then hold up flights since they are not sitting with their children. That is my big fear with the changes.
Another TWA on the way? Greedy Bastar*s have done it to so many wonderful industries. Thank you Elliott Investment. Who were the other investors? Bernie Madoff Family or the Milken Family? These Guys are not happy Buying up all the sports Teams and raising rates on TV and the venues. They all seem to come from a small country in The Middle East that is currently running the show in the USA.
One thing that nobody has mentioned yet is that what used to be known as Business Class isn’t *guaranteed* to get you a desirable seat in the new fare class & reserved seat system. It used to be simple: Pay for Business Class, Check In early enough to get A group boarding, and then board early enough to get a seat you want. This strategy might very well fail in the new system due to...
One thing that nobody has mentioned yet is that what used to be known as Business Class isn’t *guaranteed* to get you a desirable seat in the new fare class & reserved seat system. It used to be simple: Pay for Business Class, Check In early enough to get A group boarding, and then board early enough to get a seat you want. This strategy might very well fail in the new system due to desirable seats having already been explicitly reserved. “Last Minute Business Class” seats will probably not exist in the way that they used to. Really. Look very closely at the seat selection language.
Psst, here's a secret, you can look at what seats are available to choose from *before* you buy your ticket.
None of the bottom 3 fares include a checked bag? Yeah, I'm out. I wouldn't even have minded sitting at the back of the bus, I already end up there anyways, but the entire reason I flew Southwest to begin with was because of the free checked bag.
On a side note, with the new extra legroom seating, are they doing this with the new longer MAX aircraft, taking out some seats, or reducing legroom in the back?
If free checked bag is your breaking point, where are you going to find that? (without a credit card, which I bet will do the same thing for WN)
My interpretation was that Southwest isn't on a no-fly list for @Dusty but it's not the preferred choice anymore
Yeah, I may still fly them if they considerably undercut Delta like they did for my ski trip this year, $400 with a connection instead of $800 direct, but usually they aren't nearly that competitive.
Nowhere by default anymore. I liked Southwest because occasionally they undercut Delta in price out of ATL, sometimes at the cost of requiring a connection, which I was typically ok with, but the bag also flew free without needing a card or status. But now I have to pay an annual fee to get the free bag, so the value proposition is less going forward.
I have a Delta Reserve card because even though I...
Nowhere by default anymore. I liked Southwest because occasionally they undercut Delta in price out of ATL, sometimes at the cost of requiring a connection, which I was typically ok with, but the bag also flew free without needing a card or status. But now I have to pay an annual fee to get the free bag, so the value proposition is less going forward.
I have a Delta Reserve card because even though I may only fly Delta once a year, the BOGO ticket is typically worth the annual fee and I also get the ancillary lounge benefits and free checked bag. The SW card gives none of that except the bag, and if I'm only flying SW once a year because Delta is more convenient and priced competitively the rest of the time, I'm not even breaking even on the card and I may as well just fly Delta.
When this "transformation" is complete, what will differentiate Southwest from American, Delta, or United, other than their branding and paint jobs?
Their inability to get you to Europe, Asia, or any other place you might want to go
Only their less-than-nationwide network and lack of partners
No first class, no lounges.
While all of the above are correct, one thing that still differentiates them is their point to point network (vs. the hub to spoke model of the big 3). From the passenger side, you get a lot more direct flights and from the airline's side, they have a lot more routing options to connect 2 cities. They'll sometimes even route passengers through non-focus cities (like Columbus OH) to fill flights that have spare space.
This is the big difference (the point to point network). I sometimes fly southwest because of the direct flights not offered by any other carrier.
Honestly don't know what to make of these changes, other than to say only time will tell. A lot of what differentiated WN from every other carrier will be gone and it will be just another airline in a year. The only thing keeping me "loyal" is having a glut of RR points and some credits from the covid days in my account. But even then, I've been prioritizing schedule, and where 85% of my...
Honestly don't know what to make of these changes, other than to say only time will tell. A lot of what differentiated WN from every other carrier will be gone and it will be just another airline in a year. The only thing keeping me "loyal" is having a glut of RR points and some credits from the covid days in my account. But even then, I've been prioritizing schedule, and where 85% of my flying may have been on WN that's down to probably 40% now. When the same flight is nearly twice the price as the competition it's hard to justify being loyal. Lately out of DEN, there has been hardly anything "low cost" on WN except a flight to Des Moines in January at 5am.
Ben, I have noticed that you tend to write things out in long word form and paragraphs and bullet points, even when a simple table would very clearly summarize the information. For example, each of the benefit tiers here versus what it includes is a repeated list with the same words each time, differing only by a number or "yes/no". You also tend to do this with things like lounge access rules, other airline benefit...
Ben, I have noticed that you tend to write things out in long word form and paragraphs and bullet points, even when a simple table would very clearly summarize the information. For example, each of the benefit tiers here versus what it includes is a repeated list with the same words each time, differing only by a number or "yes/no". You also tend to do this with things like lounge access rules, other airline benefit levels and criteria, etc.
Do you do this because of search engine optimization for webpages? Or so that when you're linked/quoted, someone has to include more of your text? Can you just summarize with easier to read tables (in addition to the written text if needed)? This would be visually more sensible.
@ Eric Schmidt -- Totally fair point! The short answer is that most people read on mobile, and tables, especially with multiple columns, get a little complicated to read on mobile. Once Southwest publishes the chart, I'll post a screenshot of it in the post, which is useful on both mobile and desktop.
Anyway, that's the short answer, but I'm always open to evolving.
Ben, I have a laundry list of changes I need you to make to keep your blog more compelling to me, from topics that interest me to the layout of your posts. Sit tight, I'll send them along once I finish, I'm on 2,500 words so far but I'll try and edit it down to 2,400. It will keep your site fresher and more engaging to me.
You sound like a dick, Willy.
“Hey Ben, here’s 12 pages explaining why your blog is shite….”
UncleRonnie,
Apparently your sarcasm detector needs new batteries.
I have been a real Southwest fan. I knew how to play their game and enjoyed it. It works great from my home airport. But going forward, I am booking away from Southwest. My next trip is on United and once my Southwest credit is used up, I will use other airlines.
Why are you ditching Southwest? Because of the assigned seating and bag charge? It will be the same at United.
It sure will be interesting to see if southwest will be able to survive being just another airline; if their loyalty base rejects these changes or continues to seek out WN as they do currently. Time will tell.
They were not going to survive sticking to their classic business model. They had no choice. These changes gives them a shot at remaining a viable airline.