Southwest Airlines is making flight attendants arrive at the gate for departures on many of its planes earlier than ever before as the Dallas-based carrier battles to cut down delays caused by the increasing amount of hand luggage that passengers are bringing on board with them.
From August 1, flight attendants will be required to report to the gate 35 minutes prior to departure on all domestic flights operated by Boeing 737-800 NG and 737 MAX-8 series aircraft. For context, Southwest Airlines operates around 500 of these aircraft, representing approximately 65% of its total fleet.
The result of this change is that Southwest Airlines will begin boarding five minutes earlier on the majority of its domestic services. Flights within the United States operated by smaller Boeing 737-700 aircraft will, however, continue to board at 30 minutes, while all international services, as well as Hawaii flights will board at 45 minutes prior to departure.
The ability to vary flight attendant report times, and therefore increase it from the traditional 30 minutes report times, was added to the last contract that the airline signed with the TWU 556 union which represents the airline’s crew members.
At the time time, Southwest wanted the ability to dynamically alter the boarding time, up to a maximum of 45 minutes prior to departure, based on specific domestic flights that were known to take longer to board. The airline lacked the technology, however, to implement this system.
What we have seen since the contract was signed in 2024 is a radical change in Southwest’s overall business strategy, meaning that increased boarding times are no longer the exception but rather the rule.
At the end of May 2025, Southwest ended its famous ‘Two Bags Fly Free’ policy for new bookings, meaning that more and more passengers have been trying to bring increasing amounts of hand luggage on board the plane with them.
The effects of this change took some time to become noticable because passengers with existing bookings were still able to check luggage for free. It was at the end of January 2026, when Southwest truly started experiecing boarding delays with the introduction of assigned seating for the first time in the airline’s history.
Passengers were boarding the plane only to discover that all the overhead bins near their assigned seat was already full, resulting in delays as passengers hunted for space, moving up and down the packed aisle.
In March, Southwest encouraged flight attendants to start the boarding process earlier if all the required crew members were already at the gate, although the suggestion drew a sharp rebuke from the TWU 556.
Despite Southwest increasing the boarding time, flight attendants will not get paid any extra. During the last round of contract negotiations, flight attendants chose not to bargain for ‘boarding pay,’ opting instead to divert that money into creased flight time pay through Southwest’s ‘Trips for Pay’ (TFP) process.
In comparison to other major U.S. carriers, Southwest’s boarding times are still relatively short. American Airlines now boards all Boeing 737s and Airbus A321s at 40 minutes prior to departure, while smaller Airbus A319 and A320 narrowbody jets board at 35 minutes prior to departure.
Boarding times at Delta Air Lines and United Airlines generally start at the 40 minute mark for most narrowbody planes.
Southwest Airlines became famous for its 25 minute turnarounds, deplaning, clearning, re-catering, boarding new passengers, and pushing back from the gate in less than half an hour. The airline had even suggested it wanted to further improve upon this to increase aircraft effieiency, but this aspiration appears to have been permanently set aside.
Europe’s biggest low-cost carrier, Ryanair, directly copied Southwest’s fast turnaround model but then pushed it even further, rethinking everything about the turnaround process to make it as fast as possible.
The airline paid Boeing to install mobile airstairs into the fuselage of its planes, allows passengers to deplane and board from both the front and back of the plane, and skips cabin cleaning altogether if the turnaround time is at risk.
Great news! And what would really be smart would be if airlines seat the BACK of the plane first so those seated in front didnt get smacked in the arms and heads by those passing by to get to the back
I’m not entirely sure how they can start boarding early, when the plane isn’t even at the gate. 3 out of 4 flights this month were late.
The biggest problem with Southwest and the carryon luggage is that people who get on the plane put their luggage in the first available overhead bin instead of using the overhead bins that are over their actual seats. I pay for their premium seats, board in the first group, and the luggage space is gone above my seat because the FA’s allow this to happen.
I am about ready to stop flying Southwest altogether because of this nonsense.
Clearning??
Is “Clearning” like CLEANING?
Completely wrong. While flight attendants are require to be at the aircraft 5 minutes earlier, the boarding time has not changed on Domestic flights. The 5 minutes now allows the crew to complete required duties before boarding begins, instead of requiring them to do equipment and other checks while boarding. Most flight attendants just arrive early and donate their time to avoid conflicts with ground coworkers.