While Southwest Airlines started flying out of Dallas in 1971 as one of the earliest low-cost airlines in the country, the carrier has gone through multiple transformations alongside industry changes and shifting travel trends over the decades.
The decades-old open seating and two-bags-fly-free policies were scrapped in 2025 after investment firm Elliott Investment Management acquired $1.9 billion in shares and started making major cost-cutting decisions.
With the two things that made many stick to Southwest over the years now gone, the airline needs something else to stand out from competitors. One of these has been building a greater network of flights to different Hawaiian islands from various U.S. cities and the other has been launching lounges.
Southwest confirms that it is bringing lounges to four U.S. airports
With speculation that Southwest was going to build lounges first starting to swirl in early 2025, the airline just officially confirmed that it will open its first lounges at airports across the country by late 2027.
Construction has been taking place at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Nashville International (BNA) and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL) in Honolulu.
The goal is to eventually expand the network to 11 lounges across the country. The locations that will open first were chosen due to traffic partners or, in the case of Honolulu, their importance to the airline’s plans to build out its network.
Related: We got a peek inside the fancy new Capital One airport lounge
Tony Roach, the executive vice president and chief customer brand officer for the airline, called “the introduction of a lounge network represents a strategic investment in Rapid Rewards and deepens our 30-year partnership with Chase.” (The signature Southwest credit card allowing customers to build loyalty points is done through the New York bank).
Access will be gained through a new premium Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card that will launch sometime before the first lounges open in 2027. Details on things like annual fees and any conditions will also be announced closer to the date when its becomes available.
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Southwest calls new lounge network “the beginning of a broader footprint” as more locations are in the works
“This is just the beginning of a broader footprint across the Southwest system, with at least seven more lounges planned to open over the next several years across high-demand business and leisure markets,” Southwest said further in announcing the new offering.
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Very few other details about what the lounges will look like and what little treats they will have have at this moment been released by the airline. It has previously been reported that the Department of Transportation (DoT) approved a 12,00-square-foot space inside Terminal 2 of Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL).
Airlines and credit card issuers will generally try to add nods to the city where the lounge is based through things like food, drink offerings and design. A new 13,750-square-foot American Airlines Flagship lounge in Philadelphia International (PHL) that opened in 2025 serves hoagies and both vegan and meat versions of the Philly Cheesesteak while the new JetBlue lounge is designed entirely to look like a New York apartment and recreated the iconic celestial mural in the main concourse of Grand Central Station.
