Southwest Airlines Starts Building Its First Airport Lounges

Southwest Airlines said on September 2, 2026, that it has begun construction on the first four lounges in its history, at the airports in Austin, Baltimore, Honolulu and Nashville. The carrier expects to welcome the first guests in late 2027 and has committed to at least seven more lounges in the years after that.

The lounges are a joint project with Chase. Access will run through a new premium Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, also issued by Chase and also launching in 2027, and Southwest says the spaces will borrow from the bank’s Sapphire Reserve lounge network, with locally themed food and seating built for work or a rest between flights.

Tony Roach, Southwest’s executive vice president and chief customer and brand officer, called the lounges a natural extension of the airline’s hospitality and a strategic investment in Rapid Rewards, the loyalty program the co-branded card feeds.

A different Southwest

For most of its 54 years, Southwest defined itself by what it did not sell. No assigned seats, no bag fees, no premium cabin and no lounges: the pitch was a single low fare and a boarding line. That model is now largely gone.

The airline began charging for checked bags in May 2025, ending a policy it had marketed for years as bags fly free. It started selling assigned seats in July 2025 and finished the switch across its fleet in January 2026, closing out more than five decades of open boarding. Extra-legroom rows and a paid seat-selection tier came with it.

The through line is unbundling. Southwest is separating its old all-in fare into pieces it can price one by one, the same move that reshaped airline pricing at the legacy carriers a decade ago. A lounge is another product to attach to a card and a fare, and another reason for a frequent flyer to stay inside the Southwest system rather than shop on price alone.

The shift followed a 2024 campaign by the activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which took a large stake and pushed for board and strategy changes. Elliott argued that Southwest had fallen behind rivals that earn billions from seat fees, premium cabins and co-branded cards, and the settlement reshaped the board and set the current direction.

What is still unclear

Southwest has not said how a traveler without the new card will get into a lounge, whether through a day pass, a fare bundle or an elite tier. It also has not explained how the four launch airports were chosen beyond describing them as high-demand markets.

Southwest is not alone in the move. JetBlue has opened its own lounges and recently unveiled a domestic first-class cabin, another carrier built on a low-fare identity now chasing premium revenue. The Southwest lounges are still years out, and the plans could change before the doors open.