Southwest Airlines is charging for checked bags. Will loyal flyers stick around?

USA Today

14-03-2025

Southwest Airlines is charging for checked bags. Will loyal flyers stick around?
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Southwest Airlines to end its free checked bag policy
The new policy will affect tickets purchased on or after May 28.
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Southwest Airlines is adding a new Basic fare and will begin charging for baggage on May 28.
The airline has also recently made changes including assigned seating, offering fares on Expedia, adjusting its loyalty program, launching red-eye flights and partnering with Icelandair.
Some customers are considering switching airlines due to the changes, feeling Southwest is losing what set it apart from other airlines.
Maddi Bourgerie always chose to fly Southwest Airlines, even when there were more direct flight options on other carriers.
For the last five years, the Austin-based marketing director and travel expert at RVshare and her husband have been committed to the carrier, even having a Southwest credit card and a companion pass.
"I just fell in love the way they ran their airline, like open seating, the way they boarded the aircraft as well as the free bag policy," Bourgerie said, adding that these features made the carrier stand out against others. "It mitigated the decision paralysis of where am I sitting, how much is it gonna cost, how much is the baggage fee?"
Southwest Airlines ends free checked bags for most travelers—here's what it means for you
However, those perks are going to become a thing of the past. Southwest announced Tuesday it will add a new Basic fare and start charging a baggage fee on May 28, marking a shift from its long-standing policy of allowing two free checked bags. This is the latest of several significant changes the airline has set in motion.
What changes has Southwest made?
Just a few months prior, Southwest revealed it would take away open seating – a longtime staple – in favor of assigned seating with the offer of premium seating in early 2026. The airline also recently made its fares available on Expedia, adjusted its loyalty program, launched red-eye flights, and partnered with Icelandair.
Bourgerie is one of many Southwest customers who are blindsided by the new policy changes and feel the airline has lost the qualities that once set it apart, which is now driving them to reconsider their loyalty to the airline. "We'll see, only time will tell," she said. "They're making a lot of changes at one time, which could be detrimental."
Does Southwest still have a differentiator?
With this latest baggage fee change, the airline is stepping into new territory. For longtime loyalists, the question looms: Is Southwest still Southwest?
'It's a massive change,' Mario Matulich, president of Customer Management Practice, told USA TODAY. 'When you build up a level of customer loyalty around a differentiator like free bags, shifting away from that creates friction. Southwest is now playing on the same field as Delta and American ‒ but without the same loyalty infrastructure.'
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Robin Taylor, a Las Vegas-based nurse and content creator, has flown with Southwest for around 20 years, always picking the carrier over others because it was more affordable and the "free baggage really helped," especially as she often travels for mission trips and one suitcase is exclusively filled with medical supplies.
"The final straw was the bags," she said. "First, it was the pricing, it became more expensive, then the seating, which is not too big of a deal ... but what else is saying this is Southwest Airlines anymore?"
Why is Southwest making all these changes?
Southwest is undergoing a three-year transformation plan called "Southwest. Even Better" to increase profitability and better serve its most loyal customers.
"We have tremendous opportunity to meet current and future customer needs, attract new customer segments we don't compete for today, and return to the levels of profitability that both we and our Shareholders expect," Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said in a news release regarding the baggage fees.
The pressure to increase revenue is clear, but it might come at the expense of customer experience. 'You see companies do this all the time,' Matulich, a leading expert in customer experience, added. 'They adopt a 'penny-wise, pound-foolish' mentality ‒ alienating customers for short-term financial gains. In the end, it's the brands that prioritize ease, personalization and speed that win.'
For Southwest, the challenge now isn't just matching legacy carriers ‒ it's proving to its core customers that it still offers something different. 'If Southwest wants to stay competitive, it needs to think beyond this policy shift. What are they doing to make life easier for customers? What new differentiators can they introduce? Because if they don't, they're simply stepping into the same race as every other major airline without a strong competitive advantage to win over travelers.'
What's next for Southwest customers?
Such a "massive change," as Matulich put it, is bound to cause friction among Southwest's customer base. Customers will pay up, but only if they're confident they'll get a better experience.
In the past few days, Taylor has been shopping around for flights – and this time, she's considering flying with another airline. "Several times, Southwest has been priced out, and now to add baggage fees," she said.
She's not the only passenger thinking about switching airlines. Tanisha Long flew with Southwest Airlines about every other month. In addition to personal travel, she asked her employer to book flights with the carrier.
'I actually enjoy the Wild West style of boarding,' the 35-year-old told USA TODAY. 'I used to get a little thrill out of, like, gaming out how I would find a good seat.' Perks like two free checked bags kept her coming back.
After the airline revealed it would start charging for bags, she was annoyed. 'I felt like it's just another way to squeeze money out of people who have been loyal to Southwest,' said Long, who lives in Pittsburgh and works for a human and civil rights law firm.
'I'm just really not sure why they've moved away from the things that make Southwest Southwest,' Long said.
Once the changes take effect, she said she'll probably return to flying with Delta Air Lines, which she previously flew with frequently. She likes the seats on Delta, she said, and the airline offers features that Southwest does not, such as free Wi-Fi on many flights (though Southwest does offer free messaging as well as complimentary Wi-Fi for Business Select and A-List Preferred passengers).
'Little inconveniences that I was willing to put up with, I'm not anymore, so there's literally no reason for me not to go back to Delta,' Long said.