Free Premium Seats on Hawaii Flights? A Southwest Perk That Won’t Last

For a limited time in 2025, Southwest passengers flying to and from Hawaii can enjoy free premium seats with extra legroom, before the airline begins charging for them in early 2026.

These routes are among the longest in Southwest’s network. Flights from California take five hours or more, while trips from Las Vegas and Phoenix can stretch closer to six. On journeys that long, the comfort difference between a cramped back-row seat and one with added space becomes quite dramatic.

That’s where this opportunity shines. Southwest is quietly rolling out new premium seats with extra legroom on its MAX 8 aircraft—the mainstay of its Hawaii service. The surprise? They won’t be sold until next year, giving passengers a shrinking window to sit in them for free.

How to get a premium seat without paying.

Because Southwest doesn’t assign seats (yet), boarding position is everything.

Passengers with A-list status, or who buy EarlyBird Check-In, or Upgraded Boarding, have the best odds. Once onboard, head for the first five rows or the exit rows in the cabin. These are the premium seats with added space. You’ll spot them by their dark blue color with light blue accents—Southwest’s new visual cue for extra legroom.

For now, neither alerts nor seat maps will indicate if your aircraft has the new layout. It’s a soft rollout, so you’ll need to know what to look for when boarding.

Southwest isn’t advertising this. Here’s why.

The airline doesn’t yet know which aircraft will operate specific flights far enough in advance to sell upgraded seating. Selling premium seating prematurely could backfire if an unconverted plane is swapped in.

Instead, they’re quietly introducing the new layout while rapidly retrofitting planes. Up to 150 aircraft per month are expected to pass through retrofit hubs located in Houston, Phoenix, Denver, and Atlanta. Most Hawaii-bound aircraft should be among the first to see the changes.

That means your chances of getting a plane with premium seats—and not having to pay for them—will rise throughout 2025. For now, Southwest’s silence benefits passengers who pay attention.

But here’s the tradeoff.

To make room for premium rows, Southwest is reducing pitch in standard seats at the back of the aircraft. Previously offering 32 inches of pitch, standard seats in the rear will now have just 31.

For passengers boarding late—especially on long Hawaii flights—that loss of space could mean a noticeably tighter squeeze. The gain in the front comes directly at the cost of comfort in the back, as we had previously indicated would be the case.

No additional seats are being added—just a reshuffling of who gets what.

This is just the beginning of bigger changes.

The premium seats are part of a broader shift in Southwest’s business model. More changes are on the way, including:

• Assigned seating is scheduled to begin in 2026.
• In-seat power outlets and larger overhead bins are also being installed.
• Hawaii redeye flights (dreaded by some and loved by others) have been added to the schedule, and the airline is planning new partnerships with international carriers that we expect will include flights from Hawaii.
• Meanwhile, free checked bags for most may be on the chopping block, and unused travel credits are now set to expire.

For travelers flying to Hawaii, these shifts may signal a move away from the airline’s long-held simplicity and affordability. What started as a low-cost disruptor now faces the same pressures as legacy carriers and is beginning to resemble them more every day.

Will these changes make Southwest a better airline for Hawaii? Or will longtime loyalists begin looking elsewhere? We hear both from you in comments.

Please let us know when you have flown to Hawaii on one of these new Southwest planes. And whether you landed one of the front-row or exit-row seats. We look forward to hearing from you!