One thing that successful airlines do – all successful businesses, really – is make it easy and frictionless for customers to spend money.
Airlines no longer just charge checked bag fees, they let customers prepay for their bags online or via the carrier’s mobile app. That takes steps away from hurried, stressful time for passengers at the airport. But it also accomplishes two other things:
- It takes up less staff time, which compounds across all passengers on all flights and allows the airline to reduce check-in counter staffing, saving on costs.
- Customers who prepay non-refundable bags don’t always check as many bags as they think they will! The airline gets fees for bags the customers wouldn’t have paid for at the airport.
Southwest hasn’t figured any of this out yet. In their rush to light their business model on fire, with checked bag fees, expiring flight credits, devalued frequent flyer programs and paid seats, they’ve moved quickly to implement changes but haven’t done the work to make those run smoothly or to maximize revenue.
You can’t prepay for checked bags with Southwest, and one mother discovered just how difficult that can make life because her 9 year old daughter would be flying home from summer camp as an unaccompanied minor.
- The camp would be checking her in at the airport, but the assigned staffer might not be in a position to pay for bags.
- Southwest wouldn’t accept prepayment for bags. They wouldn’t take a credit card over the phone at check-in. They’d only take a physical credit card at the check-in counter – but the 9-year old didn’t have one.
- This all happened because the mom, a very average traveler but one familiar with Southwest for years, hadn’t realized when buying the tickets that Southwest’s checked bag policy had changed.
Hi all, my 9 year old daughter is flying home from camp tomorrow. I got her tickets in June and only now realized that they do not include two pieces of luggage as was the case before. (I know, I’m at fault for not noticing the new policy.)
I’ve tried everything to find a way to pay for her luggage, but I’m hitting a brick wall. The last customer service agent told me that I should have equipped to my 9 year old with a credit card when she went to camp. I’m not getting any solutions other than to wire the camp money so that they can pay for the baggage in the airport, but I don’t have a way to get through to them in time.
…I’m not trying to get the fees waived. I just want to figure out how to pay. I even offered to travel to an airport in the DC area and pay physically there but they say it has to be at the airport she’s flying out of.
The mom called Southwest, and reports that the agent ‘made her feel like she was trying to get away with’ not paying. The old Southwest took care of employees (now, they furlough employees and eliminate job functions) and took care of customers. LUV is their ticker symbol, and they led with Southwest Heart which is why customers were so loyal.
One possible solution could have been upgrading the fare. “Choice Extra” fares come with two checked bags. Those are the old Business Select, and it also comes with A1-A15 boarding.
The problem is they only sell 15 of those per flight, then. The mom couldn’t upgrade her child’s ticket to Choice Extra, as that was sold out.
This is a 9-year old without a credit card, whose tickets were purchased days after Southwest’s policy change for checked bags went into effect, and Southwest hasn’t yet done the work to accept payment in this situation. That’s a time to show a little bit of grace to the customer – something the ‘old Southwest’ of about 10 weeks ago would have done without question.
Now they’re finally in a rush to update their business, after falling behind on fleet diversity to serve more cities and feed connecting traffic; on partnerships with other airlines to sell the destinations their customers want to travel to; and on product options that their customers want to buy (they still don’t offer the choice to pay for a blocked middle seat). But they’re just copying competitors, but doing a worse job of it.
They’re now the high fee airline whose travel credits expire, points are worth less, and that provides an inferior product – worse wifi, no seatback screens, few power outlets, and no galleys for hot meals on long flights (and they’re preparing to fly to Europe… in a 737!). They’re also no longer the airline that’s just easy to do business with.
I expect some problems when Southwest starts the assigned seating and people forget that and think they can sit wherever they want.
As I said in the other recent kid-traveling-post (“10-year-old”), nice clickbait, Gary, and also, if we go the way of Missouri, child labor laws will be revoked, so kids can work, get credit cards, and lift up those bootstraps themselves! ‘USA! USA! USA!’ (or… hear me out… we can let kids be kids…)
“and they’re preparing to fly to Europe… in a 737!” …wait till you hear what the a321neos can do! Also, does ‘Iceland’ really count as ‘Europe’? Technically, yes, but, like c’mon…
Sadly GK systematically destroyed Southwest Airlines from the ground up and set up the Predator Investment Management Company to finish the job. The employees who are left are under the gun to perform as instructed without regard to Customer Service as this example so clearly shows. Sad beyond words for this once great airline that Herb built. But he is gone and GK is somewhere counting his millions.
Simple, give her a prepaid credit or debit card with just the amount needed on it.
The once great Southwest airline is now known as Southworst.
I’ve heard this nickname in the past, usually said as a joke, not because they were really the worst, but because the people using it preferred airlines that let them select a seat and pay more for a better one. Now they really seem to be living up to that nickname, which is sad for a great icon in the history of airlines, even though I rarely use them.
For me though, the lack of seatback screens, that others find to be problematic, is a selling feature. With the abundance of risque content that is presented by airlines that do offer seatback entertainment, this is the reason why we DO select Southwest for our kids that have to fly alone. Even for myself, I don’t want to be have some of this stuff visible, and it’s distracting to have 4-5 different movies playing within my field of view.
@Ron If she can’t wire money to the camp in time, can she Fedex a card to them in time?
It’s really a shame 9-year-olds cannot get credit cards. Think of how that would grow the audience for this blog. Their comments would probably be just as thoughtful and intelligent as some of the regular posts here. But unlike a few of the people who cannot resist posting their opinions on every single article, many 9-year-olds are busy living their lives each day. Summer camp and grade school are much more worthwhile activities.