Months after ditching its open seating policy, Southwest Airlines is ending one of its most recognizable perks: free checked baggage.
The airline will begin charging for the first and second checked bag beginning on May 28, Southwest announced Tuesday. However, members of its A-List loyalty program or those traveling on a business fare will be exempt from the fees.
“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,” said Bob Jordan, CEO of Southwest, in a press release.
It’s a seismic shift for Southwest, which has always offered free checked bags since the airline started about 60 years ago and kept the policy in place when its competitors started adding and increasing fees. In fact, the carrier has trademarked the “bags fly free” slogan and it’s been a key part of its advertising.
Jordan told investors on an analyst call last year that it had no plans to start charging for the first two bags being checked. He said the no fees for the first two bags is “a big part of what attracts people to Southwest.”
“After fare and schedule, bags fly free is cited as the number one issue in terms of why customers choose Southwest. So, it’s not something under consideration right now,” Jordan said at the time.
He also said that there are costs, and not just revenue, that come from charging for bags. It slows the time it takes to load a plane as passengers take more time to look for space in overhead bins for carry-on bags. Also, some bags have to be moved from the cabin to the cargo hold once there is no longer any room available in the overhead bins.
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Southwest reveals when and how it will get rid of open seating.
Southwest didn’t immediately reveal how much the checked bags will cost. Regardless of the price, it will likely instantly boost its bottom line because Southwest has two to three times as many checked bags as other airlines.
Despite not charging for the first two checked bags, Southwest collected $73 million in baggage fees in 2023, and $62 million in the first 9 months of 2024, according to Department of Transportation statistics. However, that is a fraction of the baggage fees collected by other airlines, with American Airlines collecting $1.4 billion in 2023, while United Airlines pulled in $1.2 billion and
