Southwest’s new earlier boarding time is live — see what it means for your travel day

Southwest passengers will need to book it to their booking a few minutes earlier.

The budget airline is attempting to beat back unnecessary delays by asking customers to arrive at their departure gate exactly 5 minutes earlier than the previous protocol stated.

The new procedure comes as an increasing number of passengers are bringing carry-on luggage onto planes — after Southwest began charging for checked bags last year.

As of Aug. 1, the Dallas-based carrier now requires all flight attendants to report to their assigned gate no less than 35 minutes (up from 30 minutes) before departure on all domestic flights for Boeing 737-800 NG and 737 MAX-8 series aircraft — which make up about 65% of its total fleet, according to airline blog Paddle Your Own Kanoo.

This means that domestic flights will now begin the boarding process 5 minutes earlier on a majority of flights. However, flights operated by smaller Boeing 737-700 aircraft will continue to board at the previously stated 30 minutes ahead of flight time, while international and Hawaii flights will begin 45 minutes prior.

In May 2025, Southwest ended its “Two Bags Fly Free” policy, including one checked and one carry-on bag, resulting in more passengers attempting to squeeze as much as possible into the one piece of luggage that remains free to bring on board.

As the new rule applied only to new bookings, the effects of this change took months to take hold — but when the airline introduced assigned seating in January of this year, crew members really began to feel the change. Passengers were taking more time to board as they searched for overhead bin space within reach of their newly assigned seats.

At 35 minutes, Southwest’s boarding times remain relatively short compared to other major US carriers. American Airlines, for example, boards its Boeing 737s and Airbus A321s at 40 minutes before departure, and 35 minutes prior for its smaller Airbus A319 and A320 narrowbody jets. Delta and United Airlines, too, usually start about 40 minutes ahead of wheels up.

Southwest was once famous for its rapid turnaround time upon landing — deplaning, cleaning, re-catering and boarding again within 25 minutes. Their competitive approach is matched only by Ryanair, which reportedly foregoes cleaning between flights to give them the edge on potentially the fastest boarding time in the world.