Latest news with #BagsFlyFree
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Tinder's New Chief Is Out to Change Its Hookup-App Reputation
Tinder, the app that revolutionized online dating for millennials, is falling flat with Gen Z. Its new leader wants to change that. His plan? Shake off Tinder's reputation as a site to go to mostly for hookups. North Korea Infiltrates U.S. Remote Jobs—With the Help of Everyday Americans Wall Street Bets the Worst of Trump's Trade War Is Behind It GM Invests in V-8 Engines as It Backpedals on EVs The End of Southwest's 'Bags Fly Free' Threatens Its On-Time Record The Self-Driving Truck Startup That Siphoned Trade Secrets to Chinese Companies 'Think of Tinder like a bar where people come together to meet new people,' Spencer Rascoff, chief executive of Tinder parent Match Group, said in an interview. 'We have to innovate to drive more people into our establishment, and that means renovating our bar.' Just a few months into running Match, Rascoff said last week that he would take on the top job at Tinder, too. Faye Iosotaluno, appointed as Tinder's CEO last year, wrote on LinkedIn that she would step down in July. Rascoff, 49, laid out his vision for the app in an internal memo late Tuesday. He called on staff to speed up new product changes, leverage artificial intelligence and bake in features that boost user safety. Employees should focus on improving people's experiences on the app, even at the expense of short-term revenue, he said. 'Users don't want more matches, they want better ones,' Rascoff wrote in the memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal. Tinder's team is also creating low-pressure ways for people to meet on the app, aimed at wooing Gen Z. One example: Tinder has been testing a 'double dating' feature in Europe where users can pair up with friends and match with other pairs for dates. Early results have been encouraging, and the feature will be rolled out globally on Tinder this summer, Rascoff said. Rascoff has said that fixing Tinder, which makes up more than half of Match's revenue, is one of his biggest priorities. 'This generation of Gen Z, 18 to 28—it's not a hookup generation. They don't drink as much alcohol, they don't have as much sex,' he told investors this month. 'We need to adapt our products to accept that reality.' Rascoff, co-founder and of home-listing portal Zillow Group, explained more of his vision for Tinder and Match's other apps such as Hinge in an onstage interview in New York at the Journal's Future of Everything event Wednesday. Better technology can make online dating more enjoyable, Rascoff said. The company has rolled out a feature that prompts users to reconsider their messages to a match if it detects that the message might be off color or distasteful. 'We pop a prompt that says, 'Are you sure you really want to send this?'' Rascoff said. 'Many tens of thousands of times a day, that little speed bump that we introduced improves the way people behave.' When Tinder made its debut nearly 13 years ago, the app changed online dating. With a simple swipe, users could express interest in a match. Millennials embraced it, and growth soared. Tinder became a top dating app in dozens of countries worldwide. But the pandemic boom in dating apps has since waned, and Gen Z users appear more skeptical of online dating. Some users have grown fatigued of swiping, bemoaning a rise in bad etiquette such as 'ghosting' or fake accounts. Others simply prefer meeting people through in-person gatherings such as running clubs. Match has been contending with pressure from activist investors to increase sales and revive its growth. The company this month said it would cut 13% of its workers, or about 325 employees, a move estimated to save $100 million annually. The cuts will also reduce management layers, including around one in five managers overall. The less bureaucratic approach extends to Tinder. Rascoff said he wants employees working on the Tinder app to operate in small product pods instead of large teams. 'Small teams are more nimble than large ones,' he wrote in the memo, 'and can innovate rapidly with accountability.' Write to Chip Cutter at Vail Resorts Shakes Up Leadership After Rocky Ski Season Salesforce Strikes $8 Billion Deal for Informatica Salesforce Deal Buys It Some Time in AI Race Chevron Gets Narrow License to Preserve Oil Assets in Venezuela General Mills Expects $130 Million in Charges from Transformation Initiative Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Honeywell Adds Elliott Executive to Its Board Ahead of Breakup
Honeywell International is adding an executive from activist investor Elliott Investment Management to its board ahead of the industrial conglomerate's split into three companies. The company appointed Marc Steinberg, a partner at Elliott, as an independent director and audit committee member, effective at the end of this month, confirming an earlier report by The Wall Street Journal. North Korea Infiltrates U.S. Remote Jobs—With the Help of Everyday Americans Wall Street Bets the Worst of Trump's Trade War Is Behind It GM Invests in V-8 Engines as It Backpedals on EVs The End of Southwest's 'Bags Fly Free' Threatens Its On-Time Record The Self-Driving Truck Startup That Siphoned Trade Secrets to Chinese Companies The appointment comes with a cooperation agreement between the industrial conglomerate and Elliott. The agreement will give Honeywell standard protections around confidentiality and other matters for a set period. Elliott revealed late last year that it had amassed a more than $5 billion stake in Honeywell and called on the company to break itself apart. Honeywell Chief Executive Vimal Kapur said Wednesday that he appreciated the constructive insight Steinberg has shared with the company in recent months. Steinberg has been at Elliott since 2015 and is responsible for public and private-equity investments across a number of industries. Steinberg previously worked at the boutique investment bank Centerview Partners. He currently sits on the boards of Etsy and Pinterest, as well as two private companies, Syneos Health and Nielsen Holdings. In a letter sent to Honeywell's board late last year, Elliott called for many changes centered on simplification that could create greater value for shareholders. It didn't explicitly ask for board seats. Honeywell, which has a market value of around $145 billion, is separating its aerospace division from its automation business, and spinning off its advanced-materials arm. The breakup is expected to be wrapped up by the second half of next year. Kapur has been pursuing a string of smaller acquisitions to bolster certain Honeywell divisions, particularly in aerospace and defense, which has experienced stronger growth lately. (Elliott has said a stand-alone Honeywell aerospace business could be worth well over $100 billion.) Honeywell in late April raised its full-year guidance for earnings per share, saying it will use pricing and other actions to protect its bottom line in President Trump's trade war. Elliott, meanwhile, just wrapped up a heated boardroom battle at the oil refiner Phillips 66, winning two of the four board seats it wanted. Elliots's stake in Honeywell is one of the firm's largest investments ever. Write to Lauren Thomas at Vail Resorts Shakes Up Leadership After Rocky Ski Season Salesforce Strikes $8 Billion Deal for Informatica Salesforce Deal Buys It Some Time in AI Race Chevron Gets Narrow License to Preserve Oil Assets in Venezuela General Mills Expects $130 Million in Charges from Transformation Initiative
Skift
6 days ago
- Business
- Skift
Southwest Reveals Pricing Plan for Checked Bags
Southwest is framing this as offering "choice," but the move marks a clear pivot toward industry norms, potentially alienating loyalists and opening the door for rivals to poach disillusioned travelers. In March, Southwest Airlines announced it would scrap its decades-long 'Bags Fly Free' policy. We knew the change would come into effect on May 28, but details around pricing remained a mystery until now. Less than 24 hours before it goes into effect, details of the pricing structure have started to emerge. From Wednesday, the low-cost carrier will charge passengers $35 for one checked bag, and $45 for a second. Exceptions will apply for some customers. The figures, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, were shared with Southwest staff in a company memo. However, no formal public statements regarding the new pricing plan have yet been made. The airline's FAQ page continued to read as of Tuesday morning: 'Our checked bag fees will align with industry standards, and we will share more details as we approach May 28, 2025.' There are a handful of carve-outs for the new charges. Southwest Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred members and passengers traveling on Business Select fares will continue to have an allowance of two checked bags. Those flying on other Select fares and A-List status members will be able to check in one bag without extra charge. Customers booking Southwest's top fare category will also be allowed to bring two checked bags at no additional charge. The $35 and $45 fees are broadly in line with Southwest's domestic competitors. All Change at Southwest In March, Southwest said the move would create choice for customers, as well as 'support business objectives.' To coincide with the changes, Southwest is also launching a new Basic fare for its lowest-price tickets booked on or after May 28. This will be the most restrictive option and comes ahead of the carrier introducing assigned seating on its aircraft. Competitor reaction to the original announcement in March focused on an opportunity to win over disillusioned Southwest loyalists. Delta president Glen Hauenstein said he believed there are now Southwest customers that are "up for grabs." "We'll see how that plays out over the next period of time as they continue to implement multiple changes to their products," he said at a JPMorgan conference. Meanwhile, United CEO Scott Kirby said bag fees would make Southwest "more competitive," but will impact "low-end customers." "I think it will raise the tide for Southwest across the board," Kirby said at the same event. "The relative margins will be worse in competitive markets because it will cause some customers at the margins to switch to competing airlines." However, Kirby added that he believed the change made Southwest "a results-driven airline than it's been before. I think the far bigger thing is like it's the slaying of a sacred cow," Kirby said. Southwest's Broader Overhaul The changes mark the latest phase in a transformative year for Southwest. The low-cost airline is upending its business model following a bitter battle with activist investor Elliott Investment Management. After building a nearly $2 billion economic stake in Southwest, the hedge fund pushed for a senior leadership overhaul. Ultimately, the two companies reached a settlement to give Elliott five board seats — just short of control — while Bob Jordan remained as CEO. The baggage changes are widely seen as a signal of the hedge fund's influence on the carrier. Other distinctive features such as its open seating system and boarding method are also changing. Other moves include the addition of extra legroom seats and the introduction of red-eye flying on select routes. Speaking at the Skift Aviation Forum last November, CEO Bob Jordan emphasized why the carrier's approach made it distinctive from competitors: "We have had the industry's best set of customer-leaning, customer-friendly policies forever,' he said. Policies mentioned by Jordan at the time included Southwest's credits and Rapid Rewards points that don't expire and no fees for checked bags – all areas that have since been overhauled. 'We have been the champion for the consumer and the customer from the start, hands down, period,' Jordan told Skift. Skift has contacted Southwest Airlines for additional details about the new baggage fees. Watch Southwest CEO, Bob Jordan, at the Skift Aviation Forum 2024: recorded november 2024. What am I looking at? The performance of airline sector stocks within the ST200. The index includes companies publicly traded across global markets including network carriers, low-cost carriers, and other related companies. The Skift Travel 200 (ST200) combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. See more airlines sector financial performance. Read the full methodology behind the Skift Travel 200.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Southwest Airlines Has Lost What Set it Apart
Throughout the past several months, Southwest Airlines announced a number of controversial policy changes as the airline ended its longstanding "Bags Fly Free" and open seating policies. But while the moves were designed to boost profits for the airline, there's a chance the plan could backfire. Over the years, Southwest Airlines has built a reputation as a customer-friendly budget option for travelers, offering two free checked bags for every passenger and an open seating plan with no premium seats or packages. However, with all of these changes, it's clear that Southwest is changing its identity. As Kyle Stewart of Live and Let's Fly points out, these short-sighted changes could actually pose a major problem for Southwest in the long run since the airline has done away with all of the things that set it apart from the other major airlines without any major advantages. "Change fees? Technically still free, but now they'll gladly keep your fare difference as a travel credit (and if you forget about it? Their gain as they have reduced the eligible period for those credits). Wanna get early boarding? Pay for EarlyBird. Seat assignments, baggage charges (something a few choice commenters said would never happen when I called it out months ago) are all extra now just like they are at every other carrier. Southwest is no longer the rogue alternative to the majors—it is a major, and it behaves like one. What's worse is that Southwest went from underperforming but profitable to underperforming and posting losses in some of the highest demand periods on record," Stewart wrote for Live and Let's Fly. These changes actually now lead to some major disadvantages. "The charm is fading. So is the differentiation," Steward added. "Southwest is just like every other carrier in the US but it has a disadvantage: its lack of an international market. It sought to change that this week, filing for every market in which OpenSkies agreements apply, along with its recent tie up with IcelandAir. It knows the problem, but can Southwest start flying to London from Boston with its current 737 fleet? Maybe, but does the market need more capacity? Probably not." As Stewart alluded, Southwest has taken some initial steps toward expanding its international offerings. We'll have to see whether or not that is enough to allow it to be competitive with the other airlines after eliminating all of the things that set it apart. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Washington Post
11-03-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Southwest ends its trademark ‘bags fly free' policy for many customers
Southwest Airlines will stop offering two free checked bags to most customers. The curtailment of one of the airline's signature offerings — 'Bags Fly Free' is listed as a company trademark — comes as it has faced investor pressure to boost profits. The carrier said in February it would lay off 15 percent of its workforce and last year abandoned the open-seating policy that helped establish its egalitarian identity.
