Southwest to debut airport lounges in four cities, with more to come

Southwest Airlines on Wednesday unveiled plans for its network of airport lounges that it’s been hinting at for months.

The carrier said its first lounges would debut in Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Honolulu; and Nashville, Tennessee. It said construction has already begun at those airports and it expects to open those locations in late 2027.

The airline is partnering with Chase on the effort, saying it wants to build on that company’s Sapphire Reserve Lounge Network.

“Our lounges will be a natural extension of that experience, offering Customers a place to relax and experience the Southwest brand in a new way,” Tony Roach, Southwest executive vice president, said in a statement. “The introduction of a lounge network represents a strategic investment in Rapid Rewards and deepens our 30-year partnership with Chase.”

The airline said customers can get into its lounges with a new, premium Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card that Chase will issue. It said the card will launch next year, but didn’t provide any additional details about how much it would cost.

Southwest said it’s planning to open seven more lounges over the next several years “across high-demand business and leisure markets.”

CEO Bob Jordan has been talking about the airline getting into lounges for months, telling CNBC in December that it was “actively pursuing” the possibility of having a network of locations.

“I think lounges would be a huge, next benefit for our customers,” Jordan said at the time.

Southwest’s move comes as carriers from Delta Air Lines to JetBlue Airways — along with credit card companies like American Express, Capital One and Chase — have been building airport lounges to reel in and retain higher-spending consumers.

Southwest, which carries more customers domestically than any other airline, has drastically changed its business model over the past year and a half. It got rid of its famed open seating in favor of assigned seats and started charging customers to check bags to increase revenue as pressure ramped up from activist Elliott Investment Management.