Suicide: Southwest Airlines Eliminates Free Checked Baggage
As Elliott Investment Management continues to turn Southwest Airlines upside down, the carrier’s most fundamental differentiator will soon be eliminated: Southwest will no longer offer free checked baggage.
Southwest Airlines Will Charge For Checked Bags Starting May 28, 2025
To borrow the timeless words of Vin Scully, “In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened!” While every other US carrier cut free checked baggage, Southwest has resisted the trend. Even facing fierce pressure to perform better by hostile minority shareholder Elliott Investment Management, it has maintained that “Bags Fly Free” is a core company value and that eliminating that benefit would do far more harm than help.
But the Dallas-based carrier has had a change of heart. For tickets booked on or after May 28, 2025, Southwest a new baggage policy will apply:
- Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred members + customers traveling on Business Select fares will continue to enjoy two free checked bags
- Rapid Rewards A-List members + Rapid Rewards credit card holders will receive a credit for one free checked bag
- All other passengers will face baggage fees for both a first and second checked bag
The carrier describes these changes as, “Southwest. Even Better. We’re transforming our business to offer you more choices. You can count on us to continue to offer you low fares, convenient flights to destinations you want, and a travel experience that is rewarding. Complete with our friendly, award-winning hospitality!”
Of course, CEO Bob Jordan, who appears absolutely desperate to hold on to his job, also gaslights loyal Southwest customers by trying to explain away these changes:
“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. We will do all this while remaining focused on what’s made us strong — our People and the authentic, friendly, and award-winning Customer Service only they can provide.”
I find this all so short-sighted and I am not even a Southwest customer (and will certainly not be one now). Elliott has treated Southwest like it is in bankruptcy when the carrier continues to be profitable. Rather than trying to see whether assigned seating, redeye flights, and new partnerships would bolster profitability, Southwest is essentially cutting off its nose to spite its face.
CONCLUSION
For tickets booked on or after May 28, 2025, Southwest Airlines will begin charging checked baggage fees… reversing a core promise that has set Southwest apart from its competition.
I predict that this will not end well for Southwest. Wait and see (I’d even be happy to admit that I am wrong). You cannot shed your identity–your very heart–and expect people to keep choosing your carrier. With its lack of partners, longhaul flights, and premium cabins, Southwest always had to win customers a different way. Now, under an incredibly short-sighted attempt to juice up the short-term stock price (that will not work either…), Southwest is eliminating the very features that made people fiercely loyal.
What’s next, Elliott saying that due to poor performance it will need to sell assets like slots and aircraft?
Southwest Airlines is dead. Long live Elliott…
image: Southwest