Southwest’s ‘Wheelchair Crackdown’ Isn’t New At All, But Federal Rules Still Prevent Real Enforcement

By now it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Southwest Airlines is introducing assigned seating starting January 27, 2026. Even though their long-running open seating policy had some merit, Southwest is moving forward with more premium pricing model, and requires assigned seating to make this a reality.

On the upside, assigned seating cracks down on seat savers, and to some extent, wheelchair abusers. For context, anyone requiring wheelchair access automatically gets a free pass to the front of the line all the way from the check-in area. When it comes to boarding the aircraft, they also get priority over every other boarding group, giving them free reign to pick whichever seat they like (on Southwest).

The situation has become so out of control that some Southwest flights could see upwards of 50 passengers “requiring” wheelchair assistance, only to see them walk off the aircraft at the end of the flight. They’re healed! However, it’s expected once the new policy goes into effect, the removal of the incentive to fight for the best seats should significantly reduce those trying to abuse the wheelchair policy.

For whatever reason though, a number of aviation social media pages have started peddling the story as if there was another policy change specifically targeting those using wheelchairs, even using headlines suggesting that Southwest was removing wheelchair-first boarding.

This isn’t the case. Under the new system, Southwest will still pre-board those who have a disability or require assistance to their respective seats. While there would be a drastic reduction in those taking advantage of the privilege, wheelchair abuse will not go away entirely because of the current laws and regulations in place.

Credit: Southwest Airlines

Department of Transportation (DOT) disability regulations and the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) prevent carriers from questioning those claiming to require wheelchair assistance. Regardless if a person has a legitimate issue or not, passengers cannot be questioned, and are not required to show proof to back their claim. Unless these rules are revised, I suspect there will always be those passengers feigning an illness to turn their airport boarding process into a VIP experience.

The problem isn’t limited to the U.S. only. Over in India, early-2025 data showed that nearly 30% of passengers on Air India flights from India to the United States requested wheelchair assistance, to the point where Indian aviation regulators have started discussions about how to crack down on those taking advantage of the system, and making access easier for those who actually need it.

“Data from early 2025 shows that nearly 30% of passengers booking Air India flights to USA from India requested wheelchair assistance. On February 19, for instance, Air India’s nonstop Delhi to Chicago flight had 99 wheelchair bookings for almost one-third of the passengers on board. On March 20, the airline had to cater to a whopping 90 wheelchair service requests for passengers scheduled to travel on the Delhi-Newark flight. Precisely, Air India alone processes over 100,000 wheelchair requests every month from passengers, domestic and international.”

Unfortunately, U.S. regulators have not put nearly the same level of concern for abuse of the system, and have actually put more pressure on airlines to provide easier access to disability assistance. Some airline execs were not happy with the decision, citing that some of the underlying problems are still being swept under the carpet, making it harder for them to provide reliable assistance to the growing number of passengers claiming the need for it.

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