Southwest Airlines will require passengers who cannot fit within a seat’s armrests to purchase an additional seat at the time of booking starting 27 January 2026, eliminating the option to request an extra seat free of charge at the airport. The second ticket will be refunded only if the flight departs with at least one empty seat, both seats are booked in the same fare class and the traveller submits a claim within 90 days. Customers who fail to pre-purchase may have to buy the extra seat at the airport and could be rebooked if the flight is full. The measure aligns with the carrier’s plan to introduce assigned seating on the same date and follows recent moves to add checked-bag fees, as the airline faces pressure from activist investors to bolster revenue. Separately, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are facing class-action lawsuits in federal courts in San Francisco and New York that accuse them of misleading customers by selling premium-priced “window” seats that lack an actual window. Plaintiffs say the carriers charged more than $40 for such seats on domestic flights and over $100 on some international routes aboard Boeing 737, Boeing 757 and Airbus A321 aircraft. The suits seek refunds and other damages for allegedly millions of affected passengers; the airlines have not commented on the claims.