FORT MYERS, Fla. — For 50 years, Southwest passengers boarded in groups for open seating but not for too much longer.
Richard Slater flies with his dog Martini on Southwest regularly at RSW. He backs the company's history making change.
"The research seems to indicate that passengers will like it," Slater says. "I'm in that group. I'm sure I'll like it."
Southwest found in their surveys, "80% of Southwest customers, and 86% of potential customers, prefer an assigned seat."
Southwest adds it's all about improving customer experience, financial performance and shareholder value.
For Slater, it makes his travel day a little shorter.
"It's gonna be a little bit easier. We're not going to have to rush to be at the airport," he says.
The Jones Family, who travels on Southwest as well, feels the same.
"I like that fact that if I travel and I arrive to a flight a little bit later, I know my seat is my seat," Melvin Jones says.
His wife, Tira Jones, says assigned seating makes it easier to travel with their family.
For the flight they're about to catch, they're worried if their two boys can sit with at least one of them.
"He's checked in separately, and now we kind of have to figure out how the kids are going to sit with a parent because he's in A Group, and I'm in C Group, so I'm excited about the change," Tira said.
While most people at RSW say they like the change, some longtime fliers say they're worried for the flights they already booked for 2025 including A-list Preferred passenger Derald Bogs.
"We're frequent fliers. We already booked in 2025 for January, February and March, and we're concerned how they're going to make changes so that we get our seat selections," Bogs said.
He adds that he understands business models change, and this will help the airline financially, but he wants to know how the change will impact them.
"We're hoping they allow us to have the first seat selection that we can get," Bogs says.
Southwest plans to start assigned seating in 2025.
