Dive Brief:
- Southwest is doing away with a marquee feature of the airline. No longer will all customers be able to fly with two free checked bags — a policy applying to fares booked on or after May 28, the airline said Tuesday.
- The airline will still offer two free checked bags to Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred loyalty members and customers traveling on Business Select fares. The carrier will offer one free checked bag to A-List Members.
- Southwest CEO Bob Jordan acknowledged the need for the airline to boost profits. “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,” Jordan said in a prepared statement.
Dive Insight:
Southwest customers are none too pleased with the new baggage policy, taking to social media to decry the changes.
Southwest could risk the brand loyalty the airline has long enjoyed, experts said.
The end of Southwest’s two bags fly for free policy comes just months after the airline eliminated its open seating policy. The two features were in part what made the airline unique, Katy Nastro, travel expert at Going, told CX Dive.
“If you are price shopping against all the other carriers, it just feels like a sea of sameness,” Nastro said. “Southwest is now a part of the herd in terms of airfare and offerings, and it's really a disappointment. We're hearing online just total negativity from their loyal customer base.”
The move is likely going to hit families who look to the airline for its free checked bag policy the most, Nastro said.
The writing was on the wall, said Ben Mutzabaugh, managing editor of The Points Guy, but even so he was shocked.
“It not only seems sacrosanct for the brand, it not only was perhaps the biggest single differentiator at any airline in the industry, they just said a few months ago, point blank, they weren't going to do it,” he said.
In addition to eliminating free two checked bags, the airline changed the terms of its loyalty programs and flight credits, making it harder to earn Rapid Rewards points, setting expiration dates on flight credits, and eliminating free changes on basic fares.
None of the changes are consumer friendly, Mutzabaugh said.
The seismic shifts in policy began at the same time Elliot Management began to exercise clout at Southwest. Last year, the activist investment firm tried to remove Jordan, but in October, the two sides reached an agreement with Jordan remaining at the helm and five Elliot nominees were added to the board.
