Not content with gutting earnings on paid flights, Southwest announced today that it’ll no longer be Southwest.
It’ll still be named Southwest (at least for now anyway), but some of the things that make Southwest Southwest will be changing and not in a good way.
You can find the full announcement here. Here’s a summary of these awful changes.
(Side note: the URL slug for the announcement page is southwest-airlines-outlines-changes-to-drive-revenue-growth-and-reward-its-most-MCR5UCS6BF65HVRGPWNL43DHWTFY. The title of the announcement is ‘Southwest Airlines Outlines Changes to Drive Revenue Growth and Reward its Most Loyal Customers’, so when creating the URL it’s almost like someone got to the ‘Loyal Customers’ part and smashed random keys in frustration.)
Two Bags Won’t Fly Free
Chief among the upcoming changes will be that you’ll no longer be able to check two bags for free by default. This has long been a clear point of differentiation by Southwest, so it’s sad to see this key policy going away.
For flights booked on or after May 28, 2025, this will be the new checked baggage policy for Southwest:
- Two free checked bags
- A-List Preferred Members
- Business Select fares
- One free checked bag
- A-List Members
- “Other select customers” (no indication yet as to who’ll be selected)
- Southwest credit cardholders
- Zero free checked bags
- Everyone else
Southwest hasn’t disclosed yet what the fees will be for each bag. If they decided to include nominal fees like $5 for your first bag and $10 for your second checked bag then that obviously wouldn’t be as bad. Given the focus by the investment company that’s driving these changes though, I highly doubt that’ll be the case and that instead will see baggage fees in the $35-$50 range.
Dynamic Award Pricing
Southwest has always had dynamic award pricing to an extent because Rapid Rewards points redemptions have been tied to the cost of cash tickets. However, it looks like Southwest will be decoupling the value of its points from cash rates to some extent.
In the announcement it says that Southwest “will also introduce variable redemption rates across higher-demand and lower-demand flights.” I suspect that we’ll initially see some good discounts on lower demand flights so that the airline can say “Look! Aren’t we providing great value for your points?!”, only to steadily reduce the prevalence of those discounted awards in favor of charging far more for more in-demand flights.
Basic Economy
Southwest had already announced that it would be introducing assigned seating and extra legroom seats. In this latest announcement though, they’ve also confirmed that they’ll be launching a basic economy fare.
There are no details available yet as to what their version of basic economy will entail, but it’ll no doubt include unassigned seating unless you pay a fee. With the checked baggage changes mentioned above, hopefully they don’t follow United’s lead and also charge you if you want to bring a carry-on.
New Flight Credits Will Expire
Not content with devaluing the program in three further ways today, Southwest included a fourth method. Currently when you book a paid Southwest flight you can cancel for free up until just before it takes off and you’ll receive a flight credit that never expires.
Not anymore. From May 28, 2025, if you cancel your flight that was booked with cash rather than points, the flight credit you receive will only be valid for 12 months, dropping to a validity date of only 6 months if you booked a basic economy fare.
What’s The Point Of Southwest Anymore?
I can somewhat understand the reasoning behind these changes as Elliott Investment Management – an investment firm that’s taken a large position in Southwest – wants the airline to make more money.
However, the changes they’re making mean that Southwest will simply be becoming a generic airline. No free checked bags for most customers, basic economy fares, assigned seating, low earnings on paid flights, expiring flight credits, etc. Unless you’re a Companion Pass holder, what incentive will there be to remain loyal to Southwest versus any other airline of a similar or lower price?
Impact On Flight Attendant Morale?
Something that I’m curious about will be the impact on flight attendant morale. I’ve found that Southwest’s flight attendants are generally much more personal and perky than those of other airlines, they enjoy their job (or at least give a good impression that they do) and that they seem proud of the airline they work for.
With the seemingly never-ending cost-cutting, revenue-raising and rewards-slashing announcements, I can’t help but feel that this is going to have a knock-on effect on staff morale. With no free checked bags for most customers, basic economy fares, reduced points earnings, expiring credits, etc., the airline they’ll be working for going forward will be an entirely different one from the one they joined. If flight attendants are less happy in their job, that’s going to start becoming noticeable for passengers.
If passengers are going to pay more and be rewarded less while flying on aircraft with surly flight attendants, why pick Southwest instead of one of the many other airlines that’s happy to offer that same experience? It looks like there’s going to be very little reason to Luv Southwest in the future.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about these changes that were announced today? Will it be the end of the journey for you with Southwest, or is it likely to have minimal impact on your decision to fly with them? Does it make getting a Southwest credit card more appealing (due to the checked bag) or less appealing (because of everything else)? Let us know in the comments below.
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One thing I note is that basic economy on Southwest has the big advantage that you can still cancel it last minute and still get full credit. Does any other airline offer this?
I am very disappointed with the changes. I have faithfully flown with SW, only, for the past 25+ yrs. I currently have $700+ in credit & now need to scramble to use, so not to lose. Shamd on you SW.
Current credits won’t expire – only those received after May 28th. No need to scramble.
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I have a suspicion that the goal is to align Southwest with how other airlines currently operate and then once that is done sell off the airline and its valuable domestic routes to one of the other major airlines so they can leave with their golden parachute
As someone else stated, this move doesn’t even make sense from a bean counter business strategy viewpoint. There is literally no differentiator now between Southwest and any other airline. They’re likely sacrificing all their market share for a few extra pennies.
The vultures at Elliott are looting everything. If WN survives, they make more money. If they don’t they can just sell off the corpse or merge like Nick mentioned on the Coffee Break.
It was good while it lasted.
Southwest has ton of flights out of my home airport and I have always avoided them because you can’t book seats in advance. Also I feel fine with making people pay for checked luggage. Everyone uses carry-on as much as possible these days anyway. So I might become a Southwest flyer on May 28th. ❤️
Big Jeff keep flying United/American. You never understood SW!!
As family with small kids, the inability to book seats in advance is just unnecessary stress. We’re fine with paying for checked luggage too! Maybe we can finally fly Southwest again!
There is family boarding on Southwest though to solve small kids boarding though
For me, this means I’ll use up the credit and points we have stashed with them, but will not be pursuing a CP, or opening a card, or in any way prioritizing flying with them like we have for the last 20 years.
Not saying I am a huge revenue-generator for them, but we WERE loyal and truly loved their difference. Now there’s nothing left to “luv”.
To all those whiney people who complained ad nauseum about the “confusing” boarding and seating process, you reap what you sow. Thanks for ruining SW for the rest of us.
I don’t think these changes are dependent one upon another. I dislike the current boarding procedure because it encourages “selfish jerk” behavior that I don’t want to reward. I don’t see the dots connecting with these other changes. Why does assigning seats need to affect baggage policies, expirations of travel credits, etc.?
Exactly. Assigned seats were announced a while ago, and while the boarding method of Southwest was a “unique” feature it was causing them problems as flights got more full. My family were pretty loyal Southwest fliers for years, we have wound that down as our daughter got older and ensuring we could sit together got more difficult (plus their operational issues increased).
The rest of these changes are unrelated and just an anti-consumer move as new ownership has determined these benefits are too generous.
Southwest really wants to win FM Bonvoyed of the year.
It does seem like an inevitability at this point, but I do also have faith in Marriott being able to pull something out of the hat towards the end of the year and earn the title.
Absolute trash
Southwest loyalist for 20+ years and long time Companion Pass holder. The airline has 100% lost my trust. In the announcement about moving to assigned seating, they “assured” us that free bags would not be going away. They haven’t even gotten to the assigned seating yet and free bags have gone away! I never check a bag, so I actually don’t care about that, but I do care about having trust in a company I do business with. And making changes overnight with no warning is the ultimate in untrustworthy behavior. I have no doubt that the Companion Pass is next on the chopping block.
Chasing CP likely isn’t worth it anymore (or barely) based on these changes.
I’ve been a loyal Southwest flyer and credit card owner for years – and I also have invested in the company. These changes are terrible news, particularly the loss of the two free bags. Southwest is now no different to me than United, American or Delta in that I get one bag free with them as well as a credit card holder. Southwest fares have also not been as competitive lately so I have been flying more on the other airlines in the past 12 months. I don’t live in a hub city for any of the airlines and any direct flights are easier to find on the other airlines, particularly Alaska. Southwest has now lost me as a frequent flyer and possibly as an investor, as well. I don’t see these changes as improving the bottom line for them due to loss of loyal customers.
As I commented on another post, they are basically Frontier but with higher prices.
Frontier didn’t give you free carry on
What do you think this is going to do to their prices? At this point, price and the companion fare are their only means to compete. In my observations, SWA was charging a premium on most flights, that was only justifiable because of the baggage and cancellation policies.
I never cared for SW before the announcement, so this has no impact on my, as I haven’t flown SW in about a decade. However, I think the free bags and open seating will hurt for those who enjoyed SW.