Southwest Airlines is making a handful of improvements to its customer experience just in time for the busy holiday travel season.
On Monday, the Dallas-based carrier announced that its team has strategically and creatively designed its November 2025 schedule to match capacity with demand during the week of Thanksgiving, following FAA cuts prompted by the government shutdown.
Additionally, Southwest is expanding its participation in TSA PreCheck Touchless ID, making travel more seamless at airports in Atlanta, New York (LaGuardia), Portland, Seattle, and Salt Lake City. This comes after a successful pilot program launch in Denver last month.
Meanwhile, Rapid Rewards Members enrolled in TSA PreCheck with valid passports can opt in to TSA PreCheck Touchless ID on the Southwest app.
Southwest has also managed to turn a loss into a win by delaying the extra legroom retrofits of its Boeing 737-700 aircraft to January. This move maintains six additional seats on each airplane through the holidays.
Customers checking baggage will be happy to know that Southwest is returning the ability to digitally check bags before arriving at the airport. Once checked in, users can check and pay for up to three standard bags using payment options such as Apple Pay, PayPal and credit cards.
This week's encouraging news comes after the airline debuted free Wi-Fi and made a host of other key changes, including plans to unveil assigned seating in January.
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