Southwest Airlines, after 50 years of offering free checked bags, will start charging for this service from May 28. The decision led to a nearly 9% increase in Southwest’s shares this week, while competitors like Delta, United, and American saw their stocks drop over 11%. The airline expects the change to boost its bottom line by hundreds of millions of dollars. Southwest’s market share stands at approximately 73% at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, over 83% at San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport, and 89% at Long Beach, California. The airline anticipates more carry-on luggage due to the new fees and is preparing by equipping gate agents with mobile bag-tag printers and designing new carry-on size guides. Additionally, Southwest plans to retrofit its Boeing 737-800s and Max aircraft with larger overhead bins to accommodate the expected increase in onboard luggage.
Just_J
@Just_JsWay
·
Mar 11 #SouthwestAirlines clearly doesn’t get the ONLY thing that made them an option despite the frequent cancellations, long DOMESTIC layovers, minimal direct flights , and disorganized chaos were the FREE BAGS, free flight changes, and Free In-flight WiFi.. they cancelled it all
Brother to the Night
@trez_Legit
·
Mar 11 .
@SouthwesAir
just changed the main incentive that kept their loyal flyers. By doing this, their literally saying “we don’t need you anymore” and it’s crazy to see in real time
$UPRSTR SNAK€
@Superstar_Snake
·
Mar 11 Southwest got rid of free bags,lowers rapid reward points, and their flight credits expire now. They really said fuck our loyal customers. SMH
Farmer in the Del
@craig_misewicz
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Mar 11 Just saw the latest press release. No more “Bags Fly Free”. That was a huge competitive advantage.
Short-term margin gains never outweigh customer loss long-term. What were you thinking?
@SouthwestAir
– you’re just another airline now.
Like Walking In Circles
@likewalkingin
·
Mar 11 For real, though.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a business just nuke the entire points and incentives scheme in one morning like Southwest just did.
free bags
open seating
changeable flights
6 month lifespan on flight credits
Benjamin Watson
@bwatsizzle
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Mar 11 @SouthwestAir
is in for a ride. Everything they did to make them different as an Airline is being tossed. No free checked bags for most tickets. Flight credits are now set to expire (they were all proud to announce they don’t, like a year ago). And open seating leaving this year.
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