Luggage fly for a charge: Southwest Airways cancels its unfastened checked baggage perk

A Southwest Airways airplane is unloaded at Denver Global Airport on Thursday, Feb. 27. The airline introduced that it will start charging some passengers to test baggage.

David Zalubowski/AP

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David Zalubowski/AP

Luggage will not fly unfastened on Southwest Airways. The service introduced Tuesday that it’s going to start charging sure passengers to test their first two baggage on flights, an important shift on the corporate lengthy prized through shoppers for the perks that set it excluding different main U.S. airways. The brand new laws will take impact on flights booked on or after Would possibly 28. Southwest didn’t specify how a lot it’s going to rate for checked baggage.

Southwest Airlines unveiled big shifts in how it does business Thursday, saying it will throw out the open-seating model it has used for decades and introduce redeye flights. Here, an employee and passenger are seen at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport last year in Austin, Texas.

The brand new charge is a part of a chain of adjustments introduced through the corporate that it says will praise its maximum unswerving shoppers and lend a hand it “go back to the degrees of profitability that each we and our Shareholders be expecting,” president and CEO Bob Jordan stated in a observation. It is the newest departure of a long-standing Southwest custom. Closing summer time, the Dallas-based service introduced it will additionally finish its open seating coverage on flights and change it with an “assigned and top class seating” procedure.

Pristine Floyde searches for a friend's suitcase in a baggage holding area for Southwest Airlines at Denver International Airport in December 2022.

Southwest has had a financially turbulent few years. Simply over a 12 months in the past it used to be hit with a $140 million high-quality for a big meltdown that stranded tens of millions of vacationers all through the 2022 vacation season, and ultimate month the corporate laid off round 1,750 staff, or kind of 15% of its company staff. Southwest has been going through rising force from the activist funding company Elliott Funding Control, which bought no less than a ten% stake within the corporate and has been pushing for adjustments on the airline. However the newly introduced checked bag charge represents a big about-face for one of the crucial greatest carriers within the U.S. Closing September, Jordan stated at an organization tournament that Southwest used to be “passionate” about its “customer-friendly insurance policies” corresponding to permitting passengers to test two baggage without spending a dime, The Issues Man reported.

A Southwest Airlines plane takes off as another Southwest jet taxis in Burbank, Calif. Southwest Airlines has announced it will discontinue its 50-year policy of open seating, instead opting for assigned seating that will include premium seating in an effort to broaden its appeal.

Southwest’s new checked bag charge coverage has a number of exceptions. Most popular participants of its loyalty program and shoppers who purchase “Industry Make a selection” fares can test two baggage without spending a dime, whilst different participants of its loyalty program can test one bag at no rate. The corporate stated it’s going to additionally credit score one checked bag for patrons who’ve its loyalty program bank card. Southwest additionally introduced Tuesday that it’s going to recalculate the way it awards issues via its loyalty program, giving extra issues to fliers with pricier fares and less issues to passengers with less expensive fares. The service will even introduce a brand new “Fundamental” fare for its lowest-priced tickets.