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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