Southwest ends its trademark ‘bags fly free’ policy for many customers

Southwest Airlines will stop offering two free checked bags to most customers.

The curtailment of one of the airline’s signature offerings – “Bags Fly Free” is listed as a company trademark – comes as it has faced investor pressure to boost profits. The carrier said in February it would lay off 15 % of its workforce and last year abandoned the open-seating policy that helped establish its egalitarian identity.

The bag charges will apply to flights booked on or after May 28, the airline said in a Tuesday statement. Customers with loyalty status will continue to get some free bags; A-List members and some other customers will get one free checked bag while A-List Preferred members, and those booking business-select tickets will continue to get two, the airline said.

Southwest didn’t say how much it would charge per bag. Most airlines charge between $35 and $50 for a first checked bag on domestic flights.

The bag charges are part of a slate of initiatives meant to reward the airline’s most loyal customers and provide more options, the carrier said, but some experts said it could instead push fliers to book with other airlines.

The change undermines one of Southwest’s marketing slogans – “Transfarency” – about not charging hidden fees, and eliminates a key point of differentiation that was well-known among passengers and a popular draw for fliers, said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.

“They will look just like any other airline,” Harteveldt said. “And that means that people who are brand agnostic or who don’t really feel any sense of loyalty or preference to Southwest will shop and compare Southwest fares with other airlines.”

Southwest’s changes pit the carrier more directly against legacy airlines that might have larger route networks and attractive alliances with international airlines, said Kerry Tan, a Loyola University Maryland economics professor who studies the airline industry. Southwest last month embarked on its first partnership with an international airline, Icelandair.

As recently as 2024, Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said the airline had no immediate plans to do away with its free checked bag policy. An investor presentation that year estimated getting rid of the bag policy would cost Southwest about $1.8 billion a year in lost market share, while bringing in “at most $1B to $1.5B” per year in potential bag fee revenue.

Also Tuesday, Southwest said it would introduce a Basic fare for its lowest-priced tickets. Travel credits for tickets purchased on or after May 28 will now expire after one year or sooner, a change that reverses the carrier’s 2022 announcement that it would eliminate expiration dates for travel credits. The carrier last year unveiled plans to offer “premium” seating with more legroom.

The airline has the opportunity to “attract new customer segments we don’t compete for today, and return to the levels of profitability that both we and our shareholders expect,” Jordan said Tuesday.

But trying to attract new customers could alienate loyalists, experts warned. “It seems as though the soul of the company has just been taken away,” Tan said.