Most U.S. airlines have fare and fee policies that seem designed to make budget travelers feel like trash and now, sadly, Southwest is joining them.

If “make budget travelers feel like trash” sounds too strong, try being in Zone 8 for boarding with Delta, or being denied a free cup of water on Spirit because of your ticket class. And economy tickets are typically non-refundable.

It hasn’t been like that on Southwest.

I’ve flown Southwest often and really appreciated their flyer-friendly policies, including free checked bags, the ability to cancel flights until 10 minutes before departure without forfeiting money and its practice of allowing passengers to choose any seat after boarding.

In 2019 one of my columns was headlined “Southwest is the last U.S. airline that won’t nickel-and-dime you with fees” and in a 2022 column about airlines charging fees for seat assignments I wrote: “Southwest remains the one airline where travelers don’t have to deal with this nonsense.”

Well, it seems a hedge fund that’s one of Southwest’s largest stockholders didn’t share my appreciation for those things. Spurred to try and make more money, Southwest this week announced that:

  • The least expensive tickets will now be non-transferable and non-refundable, with no changes allowed, starting May 28.
  • Only the most expensive of four classes of tickets, called “business select,” will come with free checked luggage.
  • Flight credits will have expiration dates; Six months for the least expensive tickets and 12 for the rest.
  • Frequent flier mile (Rapid Rewards point) redemption rates will be adjusted based on demand, which will likely make them less valuable.

And Southwest previously announced that it will end its unusual open-boarding system — people seemed to either love it or hate it — where passengers were assigned a boarding number, and then could pick any seat available when they got on the plane.

It was an efficient and egalitarian system that got passengers in the cabin quickly.

Scrapping it opens the door to charging travelers for seat assignments, starting in 2026, and putting those who don’t want to pay for “premium seating” in the least comfortable seats in the back.

Southwest’s nearly class-blind system, with no first class seats and no 8-tier boarding groups, is going away. Instead, the carrier will look a lot more like the legacy airlines, where business travelers with diamond-encrusted platinum status get treated well and economy travelers are steerage.

At least there will be ways to avoid paying for checked luggage. With American, Delta, United and others, having an airline’s credit card typically allows you and those traveling with you to avoid those fees, and now that will also be true for Southwest.

Avoiding baggage charges by having an airline’s credit card can be a good strategy for those who often use the same airline. 

A savvy traveler who uses credit cards carefully (always paying on time, never paying interest charges) can get loads of frequent flier miles for signing up for an airline’s card, and avoid baggage charges, and often get a better boarding position as an extra perk.

If I’m going to fly somewhere, and several airlines offer similar fares with comparable schedules, I’ll fly the one whose credit card I’m carrying and save $70 to $100 on checked luggage fees.

It’s a shame such strategies will be necessary for Southwest, too. Passengers will need to have their credit card, or buy an expensive business-class ticket, or have high status with Southwest in order to check luggage for free.

Southwest expects the changes will bring them and their hedge fund investor more money. We’ll see. Loyal customers feel betrayed, and I know they’ll be getting less of my business.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *