Everything you need to know about Southwest Airlines’ redesigned cabins

October 29, 2025Last Updated: October 29, 2025

2 9 minutes read

Everything you need to know about Southwest Airlines’ redesigned cabins

By Grace Snelling | Published: 2025-10-24 17:00:00 | Source: Fast Company – co-design

Southwest Airlines this month unveiled a new cabin design that has already been rolled out to new planes across its fleet. That includes slimmer seating, updated amenities, and lots and lots of blue

The new cabin was unveiled on October 14, and there are currently six aircraft in operation with the revamped design. For Southwest, this design is part of what it calls a larger “transformational plan.” So far, this plan has involved eliminating some of its most popular brand features – such as its “bags fly free” policy and open-flat seating arrangements – in order to compete in an airline industry that increasingly relies on charging additional “premium” fees to boost profits.

Starting in January 2026, Southwest will offer a new, higher-priced seating option that comes with extended legroom (ELR). These ELR seats are expected to occupy a third of each aircraft’s total seats, and in order to implement the new dedicated seating process, the airline is replacing seats across its fleet. In the coming months, each new plane Southwest receives from Boeing will be equipped with a completely updated cabin, while older planes will be updated with new seats.

According to Julia Mele, Southwest’s director of brand and content, the new cabin design aims to offer new experiences for the expanded “affluent” consumer base, while keeping core customers in mind.

“After the pandemic, we took a look at the data, and there’s a richer audience growing across the category,” Mele says. “We wanted to be able to make sure we gave our core and affluent customers more choices than ever before, and that includes an upscale experience within our cabin.”

1761749263 937 Everything you need to know about Southwest Airlines redesigned cabins — (Image: Southwest)

Very blue cabin design

The main change guests may notice when they enter the updated southwest cabin is the big blue color

Throughout the customer search process, Millie says, her team found that passengers were primarily looking for a “quiet, comfortable and friendly environment.” To achieve this, the design team filled the cabin with a range of blue tones, from sky blue on the headrests to navy blue on the seats and swirling blue on the carpet. Even the lighting system has been modified to fully suit the blue tones.

“We had red appearing for a certain part of the ride, along with blue, and now the color scheme is all blue,” Milley says. She adds that the new lighting system also has fewer options available, which simplifies the process for the flight crew when selecting the lighting setup for takeoff, cruise and landing.

1761749263 758 Everything you need to know about Southwest Airlines redesigned cabins — (Image: Southwest)

Thinner seat

Southwest’s new seats are a model designed by Recaro Aircraft Seating, which faced some backlash earlier this year when internet critics dubbed it the “Ozempic Seat” due to its slim profile. The seats are designed for “maximum comfort” through customer feedback and product testing, from how they “maximize seat width” to the specific upholstery materials, Mele says. Each seat comes with a personal electronic device holder in the back and a headrest that can be adjusted up and down or folded toward the face.

The new ELR seats will provide up to 5 inches of additional space for passengers to stretch out, while the seat redesign will maintain standard seat pitch in economy class, according to a Southwest spokesperson. To make this work on older planes, Southwest is removing six seats from its Boeing 737-700 planes. The Boeing 737 MAX 8 and 737-800 will retain the same number of seats.

Everything you need to know about Southwest Airlines redesigned cabins. All new Southwest delivery a — (Image: Southwest)

In addition to these aesthetic changes, the new cabins also include larger overhead bins, additional cup holders on the tray tables, and USB-A and USB-C ports on each seatback. And for those traveling in ELR class, Southwest will now offer a new, exclusive snack of honey-roasted pistachios or salted pistachios (deluxe!).

Overall, the updated cabin doesn’t completely reinvent the wheel. However, for Southwest, customer reactions to the design will serve as an important data point to welcome the airline’s broader brand transformation.

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(tags for translation) interior design

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