Southwest Takes Next Step Toward Major Change

Amid several other major changes, Southwest Airlines confirmed this week that it planned to expand its international offerings. And it sounds like Southwest is already taking the next step toward making that a reality.

Throughout the past several months, Southwest Airlines has announced some sweeping changes, ending longstanding policies like free checked bags and its open-seating policy as it instituted bag fees and assigned seating.

Now, it looks like the airline, which has typically prioritized domestic routes, is looking to expand its international offerings and is taking the necessary steps to get there.

Major Recent Changes

It's safe to say that Southwest Airlines looks a lot different now than it did even just a few months ago, thanks to a variety of high-profile changes.

Here's a brief rundown of some of the more significant changes the airline his made in recent months:

• New Bag Fees: Beginning in May, Southwest Airlines officially began charging passengers for checked baggage, charging $35 for the first checked bag and $45 for an additional bag. This ended the airline's "bags fly free" policy.
• Assigned Seating: Earlier this year, Southwest announced that it would be ending its long-standing open-seating policy in favor of an assigned seating model, which is expected to begin in January of 2026.
• Ending Some Direct Flights: Southwest has long operated with a point-to-point model, prioritizing direct flights between cities regardless of distance, compared to a hub-and-spoke model, which connects cities through central hubs. Southwest seems to be looking to move forward with a hybrid model, borrowing aspects of both models, which means ending some direct flights.
• Revamping Credit Card Rewards: Last month, Southwest announced that it would be revamping its credit cards, increasing the annual fees on all of its reward credit cards while updating the perks and rewards.

Southwest has also made it pretty clear that these changes are just the start of the airline's rebrand and that more changes could be on the horizon.

Southwest Looks to Expand Internationally

Over the years, Southwest Airlines has prioritized domestic travel, offering few international routes that were typically limited to more local vacation destinations like Mexico and the Caribbean.

In contrast, other carriers like Delta, United, and American all offer flights to a slew of international destinations in Europe, South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa.

This week, however, Southwest confirmed that it was looking to expand its international routes to better serve its customers and compete with those carriers.

“Southwest Airlines is continuing to consider ways to grow our business as we evolve to meet the needs of our current and future customers,” Southwest said in a statement this week. “One of the things we are exploring is the potential to expand our network to new international destinations on our Boeing 737 aircraft.”

It's not clear where Southwest will look to fly, but this is a rather significant shakeup for the airline.

Southwest Takes the Next Step

Before Southwest Airlines is able to expand its international routes, there is one thing that the airline must do first: renegotiate its contracts with its flight attendants and pilots.

“There are several dependencies that would have to be considered to make that a reality, including changes to our pilot and flight attendant contracts,” Southwest said in its statement.

However, it sounds like Southwest has already started that process.

Captain Jody Reven, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said in a statement that Southwest has already informed the union about its desire to renegotiate the contracts.

“Southwest Airlines has informed SWAPA that they wish to re-open our Collective Bargaining Agreement in order to add limited international flying on Southwest 737-MAX aircraft outside of the regions of North, Central, and South America,” Reven said via the Dallas Morning News.

It's not clear how long this process could take, but Southwest is actively moving toward that goal.