DALLAS -- Customers will begin noticing Southwest Airlines planes reconfigured with extra-legroom seats as soon as the first quarter of next year. But the seats won't be sold as a separate product until sometime during the first half of 2026.
In the interim, customers with early boarding will get the first shot at an extra-legroom seat if their plane is equipped with the seats.
"It takes time to implement any significant initiative. We've been wired for 53 years to do open seating," CEO Bob Jordan said Thursday.
Elliott Investment Management, the 11% stakeholder in Southwest that is calling for Jordan's removal, said implementation should be faster.
"Today's announcement that adding assigned seating and premium products will take multiple years to implement -- when peers have implemented similar changes in much shorter time frames -- is further evidence that Mr. Jordan lacks the vision and capability to execute on these initiatives," Elliott said in a statement.
Elliott said it will press forward with plans to call for a proxy vote as soon as next week.
Making room for extra legroom
The extra-legroom seats will offer 34 inches of space between rows. To make room, Southwest plans to reduce the space between rows on its larger aircraft, the 737-8, by one inch for standard seats. That will leave those seats with a spacing of 31 inches, which is what Southwest's 737-7 planes have.
The airline expects to retrofit planes at a rate of 50 to 100 aircraft per month and to finish the retrofitting job by the end of next year.
Speaking at the carrier's Investor Day near Love Field, both Jordan and Ryan Green, Southwest's executive vice president of transformation, said technological updates will be the primary challenge for selling an extra-legroom product. The airline must update more than 60 platforms as it transitions from open seating to assigned seating. That work will take about as long as the aircraft interior work.
Attempting to sell assigned seats, including an extra-legroom product, on some planes while doing open seating on others would increase the chance of a screw-up. Both executives said they are prioritizing a clean rollout.
"There's a lot of risk if we do this poorly," Jordan said.
The look of a retrofitted Southwest plane
Southwest unveiled a retrofitted 737 Max 8 interior in Dallas to members of the media. The aircraft has 68 extra-legroom seats split across various parts of the cabin. They're located in rows 1-5, 17-21 and in exit rows.
The Southwest extra-legroom seats will have 34 inches of pitch, three inches more than the carrier's standard seats. Photo Credit: Robert Silk
Southwest plans to merchandise the plane in four segments. The first five rows will have the most expensive seats, followed in price by the extra-legroom seats further back. The standard seats between row 6 and the exit rows will be sold as preferred seats. Standard seats beyond row 21 will be the least pricey. Also, seats on the aisle or window could cost more than middle seats, Green said.
When Southwest makes the transition to assigned seats, they'll be sold through the carrier's existing fare categories. For example, the Wanna Get Away fare, which is Southwest's lowest fare, won't include a seat assignment. The Wanna Get Away Plus fare will include an assigned seat.
Also, Southwest said customers who buy the lowest fare will be able to purchase a seat assignment as an add-on.
The carrier's other fare products, Anytime and Business Select, will offer graduated perks, with Business Select likely including an extra-legroom seat, though Green declined to confirm that detail.
Southwest's Icelandair partnership
Southwest announced a series of initiatives Thursday that they said will provide $4 billion in annual incremental revenue by 2027. Among other items, Southwest will make Icelandair its first partner in a long time, resuming an alliance the carriers first launched in the 1990s but had long since ended.
Green expanded on Southwest's Icelandair partnership. It will launch out of Southwest's Baltimore base. Southwest expects the partnership to expand to other U.S. cities over the course of the year. In the first phase of the partnership, Icelandair will begin selling ticket segments on Southwest.
Southwest won't begin selling Icelandair segments in its booking channels until it makes the move to assigned seating.
A loyalty program partnership is likely to be a later step.