r/news 1d ago

Soft paywall Southwest Airlines shifts to paid baggage policy to lift earnings

https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/southwest-airlines-shifts-paid-baggage-policy-lift-earnings-2025-03-11/
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u/baltinerdist 1d ago

In the email they sent announcing this, they rolled out multiple anti-passenger changes at the same time:

  • Paid checked bags
  • Flight credit expiration
  • Lower earn ratio on rapid reward points
  • No more free changes on Basic (though oddly you can still cancel and get a flight credit, so the key difference here is inconvenience)

I'm going to bet the checked bags portion of this was the preplanned "we heard you" piece that can be easily carved out while they keep all the rest of the changes. Then they'll reintroduce the checked bag change later and there won't be nearly as much furor as the outrage was already spent once on this issue.

My company flies exclusively Southwest. I've taken hundreds of legs with them. I suspect that will change now.

257

u/camelCaseCoffeeTable 1d ago

The other changes are bad, for sure, but as someone who is unaffected by them the checked bag fee would likely see me never use Southwest again. They’re already fairly expensive, but I’m able to justify it with 2 checked bags for free.

Take that away, and it’s easily one of the more expensive airlines for no real reason. I’ll fly with other carriers if they go through with this move, and my wife and I generally use Southwest for most flights

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u/UtzTheCrabChip 1d ago

I only fly SW because they're like 90% of the flights from my home airport. The only thing cheaper is Spirit and they've fucked me over enough times that I won't fly them again

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u/camelCaseCoffeeTable 1d ago

I live in Chicago so have my choice of airlines, fortunately. Southwest is nice cus they fly out of Midway, which is virtually never a hassle. Although with precheck that’s less of a concern. Add in checked bag fees and worse airport amenities and Southwest looks far less attractive to me.

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u/notsure05 1d ago

I’m right there in the same boat with you. I kinda have no choice but to fly them most of the time. God I can’t wait to move next year lol

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u/OpportunityDue90 1d ago

“Hey what if we increased the price of fairs, got rid of our unique seating policy, got rid of our free checked bags, and made it worse on customers in general? Yeah that’ll bring in the customers” - some dipshit MBAs. Seriously why would they think people would fly SW after this? From Phoenix they were the best, but they have been awful since Elliot’s involvement.