How many boarding positions does Southwest have?

Southwest has three boarding groups, A, B, and C, and each group has 60 'positions. ' Upon checking in, you'll be assigned one of these 180 positions, determining when you can board and choose your seat. In addition to these three, the carrier also offers preboarding and family/military/extra boarding groups.



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If you check in exactly 24 hours ahead of time, you'll usually end up somewhere in the B group. If you have a B group boarding position, the chances are good that you'll still be able to get a window or aisle seat or find 2 seats together if you're traveling with a companion.

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Purchase a Business Select fare or upgrade to Business Select: Customers who purchase a Business Select fare will get guaranteed A1-A15 boarding. If a Customer did not originally purchase a Business Select fare but wants guaranteed A1-A15 boarding, they can upgrade their flight to Business Select.

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As such, we do not publish flight loads. If for any reason you're uncomfortable traveling in the current environment and would like to discuss the flight load of your upcoming flight, we strongly encourage you to reach out to our Customer Service Department via any of the options below. Email here.

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If a flight has few seats left, Southwest's website will show the number of seats left below the price in small, red text.

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Check the airline's app Many airlines provide information such as seat maps that are accessible via their apps and websites before the day of travel. These maps will show you the layout of every seat on the plane and whether it's been booked or not.

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A ticket upgrade may make sense if any of the following are true: You like the idea of boarding the plane quickly so you can choose your preferred seat and are guaranteed an A1 through A15 boarding position. You want to maximize the Rapid Rewards points that you earn.

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Customers who purchase an Anytime fare will automatically be checked in to their flight 36 hours prior to scheduled departure—that's 12 hours before our traditional 24-hour check-in. You will receive an earlier boarding position, improved seat selection, and earlier access to overhead bins.

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If you're looking for a more comfortable flight experience, then upgrading to A1 15 may be the right choice for you. It will give you priority boarding and access to the best seats in the plane, so if that's important to you then it could be worth it.

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Those assigned Zone A (listed on your boarding pass) are the first group of passengers to board the plane, but EarlyBird DOES NOT guarantee you Zone A boarding.

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On Southwest it is an open seating policy meaning you can sit in any open seat. With B1 you should have no problem getting a window or aisle at mid cabin or towards the back of the plane.

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Re: Saving Seats Unfortunately, there's no policy to enforce. Officially, Southwest has no policy for or against seat saving, and in practice actively allows it. Reps will even suggest that passengers save seats for later boarding companions.

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Seniors do not get priority boarding on Southwest. There is priority boarding for customers who have a specific seating need to accommodate their disability or who need assistance in boarding the aircraft or stowing an assistive device. In that case, you'll board before Family Boarding, between the A and B groups.

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Purchase Upgraded Boarding You can purchase a Southwest Upgraded Boarding — and guarantee an A1 through A15 boarding position — starting 24 hours before departure. The cost is variable and starts at $30 per flight segment, reaching as high as $80 per segment.

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Since its inception, Southwest Airlines has almost exclusively operated Boeing 737 aircraft (except for a brief period when it operated a handful of leased Boeing 727-200 aircraft). Southwest is the world's largest operator of the Boeing 737, and was the launch customer of the 737-300, 737-500, and 737-700.

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At Southwest, we let you sit where you like. We don't assign seats on our flights, so feel free to sit in any available seat once you board the plane. We have a quick, easy, and efficient boarding process. Look at your boarding pass to find your assigned boarding group (A, B, or C) and boarding position (1 - 60).

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The airlines decide how seats are numbered. Generally rows are numbered from low in front to high in back such as 1–42. Sometimes numbers are skipped or start at a higher number than 1. Seats within a row are letters.

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Southwest Airlines has long argued that its unassigned seating policy is popular with passengers and facilitates speedier boarding. That means planes spend less time at the gate and more time in the air generating Southwest money. Over the years, the airline has tinkered with the no-system boarding system.

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