Southwest said it has broken ground on lounges in Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Honolulu; and Nashville, Tennessee, and is aiming to open those doors in late 2027. The airline is teaming up with Chase and said it intends to build on the company's Sapphire Reserve Lounge Network.
In a statement, Southwest executive vice president Tony Roach said, "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." "The introduction of a lounge network represents a strategic investment in Rapid Rewards and deepens our 30-year partnership with Chase."
Access will be granted via a Chase-issued premium card linked to Southwest's Rapid Rewards program. The airline said the card is slated to arrive next year and did not share what it will cost.
Southwest also plans to add seven additional lounges over the next several years, aiming for locations described as high-demand business and leisure markets.
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CEO Bob Jordan has been teasing this step for months; in December he told CNBC that the company was "actively pursuing" a lounge network. As he put it then, "I think lounges would be a huge, next benefit for our customers."
Southwest's push lands in a broader race as airlines including Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, and card issuers such as American Express, Capital One and Chase, expand their lounge footprints to attract and keep higher-spending travelers.
Over the last year and a half, Southwest, the nation's largest domestic carrier by passenger count, has undertaken major changes. It scrapped open seating and moved to assigned seats and introduced fees for checked bags to lift revenue under pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management.
For travelers, a lounge network tied to a new credit card signals a richer set of perks inside the Rapid Rewards ecosystem and a push for more loyalty-driven revenue. Keep an eye on the card launch next year and those late 2027 openings if you care about comfort in the airport and how airlines are competing for your business.