Southwest will now charge for checked bags – unless you meet these qualifications

DALLAS — Starting soon, bags won’t fly free for everyone on Southwest Airlines.

The Dallas-based airline, which has long touted its free bag policy, will now charge travelers for their first and second checked bags, starting May 28, according to a press release Tuesday.

Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred Members and customers who are flying business select will still get the standard two free checked bags, Southwest officials said. A-list members will get one free checked bag, and Rapid Rewards Credit Card members will get credit for one checked bag.

The airline also said it would release more details about “specific audiences” who could get free checked luggage, including customers who purchase flights through the upcoming Getaways by Southwest packages.

Southwest has not yet said how much each checked bag will cost for customers who don’t meet the exceptions.

The dropping of the standard free bag policy for most customers marked a major change by the airline.

Southwest officials in the release said the changes are “aimed to deepen and reward loyalty between Southwest and its most engaged 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 CEO Bob Jordan said in the release. “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.”

Southwest’s stock price surged nearly 11.8% before regular trading in New York, Forbes reported. Southwest earns significantly less from baggage fees compared to other airlines, Forbes reported, Southwest earned $73 million from baggage fees in 2023. Meanwhile United, Delta, Spirit and JetBlue made $1 billion, $788 million, $650 million and $480 million respectively from baggage fees in the first three quarters of 2023, according to Forbes.

Southwest is also rolling out a few other changes, including offering a “Basic” fare option and making flights available to book through Expedia, the latter of which began last month, officials said. Southwest has also rolled out redeye flights — which began in February. 

However, the biggest change on the horizon for Southwest will be the airline’s new assigned seating options, a major departure from Southwest’s long-standing open seating policy. The company hasn’t announced a specific date for when assigned seating will begin.

The changes in Southwest policy come at a tumultuous time for the company.

In February, Southwest announced mass layoffs for the first time in its 53-year history. The company announced it would lay off 1,750 employees at its Dallas headquarters, around 15% of all corporate positions. Among those 1,750 employees, 11 senior leadership positions were eliminated as a result of “restructuring.”

The layoffs and changes to flight policies have happened amid a recent board shakeup at Southwest, driven by the carrier’s board activist investor Elliott Management, which began ramping up its involvement with the company last summer. 

“This was the crown jewel, the Southwest that was so proud of all these years. And they just tossed it in the trash,” said Steve Cosgrove, CEO of Dynamic Travel. “Elliott Management doesn’t care, and Bob Jordan’s not willing to stand up to him and say you’re wrong. What’s the advantage of flying Southwest over all the other carriers outside of the employees that you get to interact with? They’re probably the best out there. But man, they’re just taking it one shot at a body blow to these employees.”

Mike Boyd, CEO of Boyd Group International and an aviation analyst, said this will be a tough time for Southwest management.

“Because, very bluntly, they are among the most capable in industry right now,” Boyd said. “And they got people on their board who I think are trying to do things that might not be the right thing to do. If they go after shareholder value rather than customer value, it’s going to be like Boeing. Boeing did just that. Look at the mess they’re in. We don’t want them to be Sears Roebuck, biggest in the world and now nothing.”

ABC News aviation analyst John Nance said Southwest is changing into “just a regular airline.”

“Now, and I don’t see that with any rancor, because I’ve followed Southwest and I consider them friends for a long time, but they basically are surrendering all the things that made them different, with the exception of the happy people and the way that folks have been treated,” Nance said. “I think that one of the most profound changes is not the baggage, it’s the fact that they just joined Expedia. All these years, they basically have had the attitude, and it has not been an incorrect one, that we don’t need anybody else, we can do it on our own.”

All these years prior, Nance said Southwest has had the attitude that it doesn’t need anyone else.

“But now with the pressure from investors, and with the need to reform themselves and the not so happy financial situations in the past couple of years, they really don’t have a choice,” Nance said.