Southwest First To Fly With Secondary Cockpit Barriers – Almost 24 Years After 9/11

Over the past year, long-unique Southwest Airlines has been announcing big changes to its boarding and checked-baggage policies that will make it much like every other airline. However, the carrier distinguished itself from the field on Friday by pioneering the use of secondary cockpit barriers — something pilots, flight attendants and 9/11 family members have been demanding since 2001.

In 2023, the FAA issued a final rule requiring that all newly-delivered commercial aircraft be equipped with a secondary barrier on the flight deck, to bolster security when the main cockpit door is opened during flight for food service and lavatory breaks. The rule only applies to new aircraft — there’s no requirement for airlines to retrofit their existing fleets. To comply with FAA regulations, the so-called „installed physical secondary barriers” must delay would-be hijackers from advancing into the cockpit „long enough so that an open flight deck door can be closed and locked before an attacker could reach the flight deck.”

One concept for a secondary cockpit barrier (via Air Line Pilots Association)

While the original FAA deadline was set at Aug 25, 2025, last month the FAA moved the deadline back by a year, to Aug. 25, 2026. The trade group that represents major US carriers had requested a two-year delay, pointing in part to the fact that the FAA had not yet certified any secondary-barrier designs. While the Air Line Pilots Association had pressed the FAA to „reject this latest stalling tactic,” the FAA granted a postponement.

On Friday, however, an aviation-safety milestone was achieved when a Southwest flight from Phoenix to Denver used a brand-new Boeing 737 MAX 8 equipped with a secondary barrier. While Southwest’s design and location specifics haven’t been publicized, the broader concept centers on lightweight, retractable security gates that separate the passenger cabin from the area outside the cockpit door and lavatory door. „We felt like we could get it done and put it in production as soon as the aircraft was ready,” said Southwest EVP for operations Justin Jones.

Captain John Testrake aboard TWA Flight 847, which was murderously hijacked in 1985 shortly after takeoff from Athens and forced to crisscross the Mediterranean for 17 days as terrorists demanded the release of prisoners from Israeli custody

Ever since terrorists took over the cockpits of four airliners on 9/11, pilot and flight attendant unions — bolstered by activism of women who became widows when their husbands were killed as they piloted airliners on 9/11 — have been pressuring Congress and the FAA to institute a secondary-barrier requirement to counter cockpit vulnerability when reinforced cockpit doors are opened in mid-flight. In the meantime, flight crews have been creating secondary barriers of their own, using galley carts to block the aisle on the front of the passenger cabin. However, as this dramatization from a CBS „Seal Team” episode demonstrates, a galley cart is far less effective than a floor-to-ceiling gate:

Last year, under pressure from investors, Southwest announced it will abandon its decades-long open-seating policy, by which passengers take whatever seat is available when their boarding group enters the plane. Assigned seats are now in force for flights on or after Jan. 27, 2026. In another move that erased a major differentiator, the Dallas-headquartered carrier next killed its „bags fly free” policy, by which all passengers could check two bags at no charge. „Free” checked bags will continue as a perk for certain ticket classes and rewards-club members.

Southwest last week announced it will stop being the airline of choice for fat people, requiring them to buy a second seat if their blubber or limbs „encroach on the neighboring seat.” That change also takes effect on Jan. 27. Southwest has been giving plus-size passengers an option of either buying an extra seat in advance and requesting a refund for it later, or asking for a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new rule, they’ll still have some chance of being refunded, but only if the flight wasn’t fully booked at departure, and only if both tickets are in the same booking class.

Tigress Osborn, executive director of the Western civilization-corroding National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, told the New York Times the change is „devastating” for her people, lamenting that “Southwest was the only beacon of hope for many fat people who otherwise wouldn’t have been flying, and now that beacon has gone out.” If so, that could translate into fuel savings for Southwest.

Smith College product Tigress Osborn, of the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, finds Southwest’s new plus-size passenger rules hard to swallow

Having imposed that visual on our treasured readers, let us compassionately conclude with a stark contrast from Southwest’s glorious past: