In Southwest Airlines’ new Super Bowl ad, boarding looks more like the Hunger Games than an orderly process. Set in an airport that’s been reimagined as a dense jungle, passengers rush to secure their preferred seats before it’s too late: a woman swings on a giant vine to cut her fellow travelers; a grandma shoulder-checks a passerby; and a man creates a dummy seatmate out of twigs to convince other fliers that his aisle seat has already been snagged.
The ad is a parody of Southwest’s former open boarding policy, which, since the airline’s official founding in 1971, allowed passengers to choose their own seats in a system that aimed to reduce the hierarchy of tiered seating. In January 2024, Southwest announced that it would be nixing open seating in favor of a more standard assigned seating system, citing the time pressure involved in the open seating process and a new focus on premium seating options as the main reasons for the change. Assigned seating officially rolled out across the airline’s operations on January 27.
Southwest describes its new spot, “Boarding Royale,” as a “self-aware clap-back” at its former boarding policy. And, at surface value, the ad is funny, well-executed, and accurate for anyone who’s ever traveled with a nervous flier (or is one). But, taken alongside Southwest’s brand moves over the past two years, the ad feels less like a light-hearted self-own, and more like the hypocritical creative output of a brand that’s seriously lost the plot.
“Boarding Royale” pokes fun at open seating
“Boarding Royale” was directed by the creative agency GSD&M, Southwest’s longtime agency of record. According to Julia Melle, director of brand and content at Southwest, the ad is designed to “introduce assigned seating in a way that recognizes we understand it’s a category norm” and “feels authentic to our brand.”
“Within the spot, there are nods to the various traveler behaviors associated with Southwest’s open seating, such as the traveler who checked in too late, the one who creatively saves seats, and the young families with children who will do anything to ensure they sit together,” Melle says. “Our most loyal customers have probably witnessed these behaviors more than anyone, so we believe the exaggeration will give them a chuckle.”
Indeed, the ad does a good job at poking lighthearted fun at the kinds of exasperating, head-scratching behaviors one tends to encounter at the airport. This strategy might’ve worked perfectly well if it was, say, making a silly joke at the expense of a rival airline. But it falls flat when it’s directly making fun of a feature that was a pillar of Southwest’s brand for decades—and was, until recently, a system that the company touted again and again in its own marketing materials.
Southwest’s boarding about-face
From its inception, Southwest cultivated a reputation as a quirky, low-cost airline for the everyman. Three key features sat at the heart of that brand positioning: open seating, a staunch stance against hidden fees, and an iconic “Bags Fly Free” policy. Over the past several years, the company has shaved away all of those commitments.
Some of Southwest’s earliest ads tout the airline’s unique boarding process, which it promised at the time would take less than 10 minutes total. In the ‘80s, a series of print advertisements promised, “Unlike assigned seating, you’re free to sit next to someone just like you.” For years, the brand’s unofficial slogan, oft repeated by flight attendants, was “You can sit anywhere you want—just like at church.” In 2007, backlash to the concept of Southwest eliminating open seating was so strong that the company published a blog titled, “You Spoke and We Listened—Southwest Says Open Seating is Here to Stay!”
Southwest’s marketing often used its open seating model—which meant no ticketed class divisions in the cabin—to tout its lack of hidden fees compared to competitors. In the early 2000s, many of the brand’s ads parodied other airlines by showing passengers getting charged additional fees for small luxuries like using the overheard compartments, reclining their seats, or enjoying a snack. In one 2015 campaign titled “Transfarency,” the company promised, “Transfarency means we don’t dream up ways we can trick you into paying more.”
A brand that’s lost the plot
To say that these spots have aged poorly would be an understatement. When it announced its new assigned seating policy in 2024, Southwest also introduced a category of “premium” seats which come with extra legroom, faster Wi-Fi, and larger overhead bins—for an added cost. It’s currently in the process of renovating its cabins to make room for these seats, which will take up one third of each aircraft’s total seating. In August 2025, it also announced a new policy that requires travelers who don’t fit within the armrests of their seat to pay for an extra one in advance.
The brand’s most egregious move by far, though, came in March 2025, when it announced that it would kill its “Bags Fly Free” policy, which allowed travelers to check two bags without added costs. “Bags Fly Free” was a mantra that Southwest repeated in its marketing for decades, including spots in 2009, 2011, and one in 2023 that has since been made private by the company on YouTube.
As recently as September 2025, the company said on an earnings call that ending the signature program would be a “destructive” step too far. Southwest has also removed a 2024 study from its website which found that eliminating “Bags Fly Free” would “destroy value.”
This isn’t to say that brands aren’t allowed to change their minds or their business strategies. But Southwest hasn’t just evolved with the times; it’s sacrificed some of its most closely held brand attributes values in pursuit of profit. With just a bit of context on Southwest’s repeated capitulations to market pressure, “Boarding Royale” starts to feel less like a silly ad, and more like a betrayal of the company’s purpose.