Southwest Airlines considering making changes to boarding, seating policies

Southwest Airlines is looking into the possibility of changing its seating and boarding policies in the future for higher revenue but first, it has to continue doing some research.

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Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said that executives are studying seating and how passengers board planes in a call with investors on Thursday, according to The Washington Post.

“It’s been several years since we last studied this in-depth, and customer preference and expectations change over time,” Jordan said, according to the Post. “We are also studying the operations and financial benefits of any potential change.”

The reason Southwest may consider changing its open-seating cabins to drive up revenue, Jordan said, according to CNBC.

“We’re looking into new initiatives, things like the way we seat and board our aircraft,” Jordan said per CNBC.

However, Jordan said that if changes are made, there were would need to be a significant revenue made, The Associated Press reported. The new changes would also not slow down flights.

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Currently, to board a Southwest Airlines plane, passengers line up in a gated area based on who checked in first or paid extra, according to the AP. Those who paid more or were lucky enough were in Group A followed by Group B and lastly by Group C.

The extra fee started in 2009 by the airline and it’s called “EarlyBird,” the AP reported. The fee is about $15 a flight and that amount tends to go up depending on how many people are on the plane.

“We are committed to a set of new strategic initiatives. I have hinted at boarding and seating and the cabin, and we’re going to share those with you at investor day” which is in September, Jordan said, according to the AP.