Southwest’s New WILMA Boarding Process
Beginning Jan. 27. 2026, Southwest Airlines will ditch its quirky boarding method and move to assigned seating. But the airline will still not do things like most other domestic carriers.
Southwest is adopting a modified version of the WILMA method, which stands for “window-middle-aisle” as reported by The Wall Street Journal. The process is supposed to be faster than the typical boarding process used by most airlines.
Southwest Airlines tickets will include the boarding group number, the seat number and whether the seat is a window, middle or aisle seat.
The airlines will have boarding groups numbered 1 through 8 and passengers with priority boarding will board first. After that, it moves to WILMA where window seats will get first priority. Next up is middle seats, followed by aisle, with boarding going from the back of the plane to the front. That is bad news for aisle seat-lovers who may lose access to overhead bins.
And because of that, Southwest will also have two lines. While waiting to board the plane, the current boarding group and next-up boarding group will line up side-by-side. This will be done to avoid the usual horde of passengers at the gate.
Southwest plans to offer a last-minute Priority Boarding option for those who don’t want to last top board. The airline has not disclosed any details for pricing but says that it will be dynamic, as is the case with its current Upgraded Boarding. The asking price for a Phoenix-Dallas flight which was cited on the WSJ article was $93 one way.
