Southwest Airlines says it has updated its policy for plus-size passengers, saying they are no longer required to purchase an extra seat in advance.
Southwest Airlines allows passengers to book assigned seats, new fare classes for travel starting on January 27, 2026.
The incident occurred about six minutes after Southwest flight 1496 took off from Hollywood Burbank Airport in Los Angeles County.
The end of an era is official for Southwest Airlines passengers. The airline announced a start date for its new assigned seating, which will bring the airline's longstanding open-seat boarding tradition to an end.
Southwest Airlines will start charging many of its customers a fee to check bags beginning on Wednesday, abandoning a decades-long practice that executives had described last fall as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals.
Officials said firefighters were able to extinguish the plane engine fire and a small grass fire near the runway.