I ended up in Dallas for an unexpected four days in February when I was trying to avoid getting caught in the middle of a snowstorm in New York. I had some Texas barbecue, tried actual Tex Mex for the first time, and I spent a day at Southwest Airlines’ Dallas headquarters interviewing executives about Southwest’s makeover.

Compared to last year, Southwest is now a completely different airline. It has assigned seats and boarding — plus extra legroom seats. There’s no more “two bags fly free.” You can find Southwest flights on Expedia or Google Flights. The carrier is even installing Starlink and potentially considering opening lounges.

I wanted to understand how Southwest executives are thinking about the changes and how every stakeholder, ranging from customers to unions, feels about them. Southwest faced a heated activist campaign from Elliott Investment Management, which sped up the imminent makeover at the carrier. Now, Southwest is expecting a surge in profits this year. Wall Street loves Southwest 2.0. But customers are more polarized. Is Southwest still Southwest?

Allianz Partners + SKIFT

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