Southwest Airlines may take a new step towards destruction of what’s left of their brand as a passenger-friendly business, according to Enilria, banning customers on their cheapest tickets from using their overhead bins.
According to the report, Southwest Airlines “is studying flipping over to the United camp” and not allowing customers who buy basic economy fares to bring carry-on bags onboard their aircraft.
- This would mean more bag fee revenue, because customers would have to check their rollaboards
- And it would speed up boarding, like the days of bags fly free when customers brought fewer bags into the cabin. Stowing the bags takes time. Searching for scarce bin space takes time. And dealing with gate checking bags due to not enough bin space takes time (and if they have to gate check basic economy passenger bags, at least they’d get a penalty fee for doing so).
This would make the basic economy experience on Southwest worse than basic economy on Delta and American, both of whom allow passengers to bring a bag that requires use of the overhead bin, in addition to a personal item that fits under the seat.
United’s basic economy fare today is the worst, but apparently they do not believe they lose business because of the restriction. Many of the people buying these fares are infrequent and low information flyers, and it’s likely many aren’t aware of the rule (though it isn’t hidden) or assume that on average airline policies are similar so they wouldn’t do better elsewhere even though booking basic economy on American or Delta at a similar price is a much better deal, both for convenience and paying one less bag fee.
American, of course, will give back some of that customer advantage starting next month by charging basic economy passengers $5 more for a checked bag than they charge other customers ($55 vs $50).
Southwest Airlines used to heavily market ‘transfarency’, the idea that the price of their ticket was the price to travel. They are no longer transfarent, and would be betting that their customers are low information customers who wouldn’t know better than to seek a better deal elsewhere.
Hopefully they do not truly see themselves in a race to the bottom that they’re committed to winning.
…hit me harder, daddy. *facepalm*
Wow, the management at SWA are dumber than I thought.
So now they want to be know as the most overpriced, poorest schedule and junk fee king? They will fail quickly unless they are also adapting $29 airfares like Ryanair.
Only 230k miles left to burn
@paul — Wowza! You hoarded them suckers, didn’tcha? 230K! Woof… (bring back the honey-roasted peanuts!)
Will Southwest Airlines charge basic economy passengers a fee to store their medically exempt, passenger-baggage CPAP machines or Continuous Flow Portable Oxygen Concentrators in the overhead?
Last week, I took my first flight on the “new”, but absolutely not improved Southwest. It will also be my last flight. I have used almost all of my Rapid Rewards points, and the points remaining are not worth much after their latest devaluation.
I flew Southwest exclusively for the past twenty years, even driving an extra two hours to fly from an airport they serviced. They were low cost, with great customer service and an awesome loyalty program. Over the past few years, they are no longer low cost, their customer service rivals that of the Internal Revenue Service, and their Rapid Rewards points are but a small step above junk bonds. “Transfarency” and open seating were the last things that made them stand out from other carriers. Both are gone.
I ask Mr. Jordan and Elliott Capital one question: Why should I fly Southwest again, driving two hours out of the way, when I can fly out of an airport that is a 5$ Uber ride from my house, with an airline that is less costly, even though they charge for checked baggage and seat assignments?
Elliott Capital and Mr Jordan: Southwest is no Delta. Keep up your race to be average and you’ll be not another Delta, but another Eastern or Pan Am.
Southwest was a company with a lot of customer trust. Today, almost all that trust is broken.
Do you mean to say low information=lo IQ passengers?
@John T Burkholder — Ahh, the new right-wing buzzword: Low-IQ. As if any of you all are actually intelligent or not.
It’s been wild to see your Dear Leader referring to those he disagrees as ‘low-IQ’… like, doesn’t make it true or false, just shows his/your own insecurity and weakness. Try expressing yourself better. Or… just call everyone names. Please, call me names. Make it spicy.
@1990: High IQ people are the easiest to brainwash, because they can invent complicated reasons to believe almost anything. Prominent radicals on both sides tend to be very intelligent. Not low IQ at all.
My god I hope and pray they do this.. as a 26 year former loyal Swa ONLY frequent flyer, I cannot wait to seevthiscatrocious arrogant airline burn itself to the ground them furthering their own grave to bury themselves in. Please SWA start this new policy TODAY!
The linked article is rank speculation by the author, without even an anonymous source. Gary should not have raised the profile of this garbage. It’s not even slightly believable.
If Gary posts that a source within Southwest told me a change is coming, then I’ll believe it.
Carriers don’t get the fact that if the baggage fees weren’t so high, people wouldn’t try to carry on everything they brought with them!
Don’t believe everything you see on the internet.
But passengers are discouraged from including medically necessary items in their checked baggage, so they need to be able to carry on.
They backed themselves into this one: create the incentive to carry on, then structure boarding so the cheapest seats get dibs on the bin space. This is how death spirals happen: poorly analyzed policy changes. With Elliot out, the Board should toss Jordan because clearly all he cared about was his job.
Expand what’s covered by the excise tax already!
I have stopped flying Southwest. They have no trust left with me or my family/friends. They ruined what was a great airline. I it’s called winning the battle to loose the war.
I have never in my life seen a business that is more self destructive than SW. Purposely crashing aircraft would be less damaging than what they are doing. I flew SW for a very long time. My last time was not long after the assigned seating took hold. I flew them 4x in the matter of 2 weeks. The exact same flights I’ve been on 30x. Same destination, same departure airport, same time, same flight number even. These are flights that never have more than 2 open seats. 99% of the time they were completely full. These last 4? 30% full, then 71%, then 66%, then 33% i asked the flight attendants on 3 of the flights as for the fust time in over a decade, the FAs on one of them were just NASTY and mean. Everyone said the same thing, lots of unfilled flights was the new norm. One even said “no one flies us know because all our regulars hate us. Too much change”. I kind of felt bad for her. She was so nice and seemed to take it very personally. After that I opened an Amex Delta card and in 2mo already have a few flights booked and 110,000pts. I sort of felt like I was leaving an old friend, but I checked multiple flights, delta comfort + was $150-400 cheaper than SW choice extra. Which have the same level of options. Its a shame
@nsx at FlyerTalk — At this rate, I’m eager for some mid-IQ anything. Sheesh!
“Expand what’s covered by the excise tax already!”
Why do people “think” sending more money to the government is ever a good idea?
Cry me a river. When will consumers wake up to the fact that corporations DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU! They care about profit.
So get over yourselves.
Great idea. A similar BE restriction on United and Air Canada helps with on-time departures by eliminating the last-five-overhead-bags hustle.
Pax can still check in a bag and/or bring a small backpack that fits under the seat in front of you.
@Matt: There is no question that Southwest has “fired” many of its most loyal customers. Yet there are aspects to like about assigned seating, especially if your employer is paying the much higher ticket cost. Southwest might attract enough new customers at the higher fares to make up for the loss of lower-fare customers like me. Time will tell. Until then, we will explore the new Frontier.
It certainly was wonderful while it lasted. For over 25 years in my case. I have fond memories, but I’m not ready to spend over $100 for a 300-mile flight booked months ahead.
Airlines should require passengers to check their bags and not allow carryon bags as it adds time to the boarding process, plus whenever there’s an emergency & people need to disembark quickly, many folks will try to retrieve their carryon bags and slow the exit …
Or they could be trying to drive more people to use the southwest credit card. I don’t know if people realize it, but airlines are more like banks. The credit cards are where they make their profits. Flying you around is just to get you to use their credit cards
Maybe only 1 bag, I’ve been flying S/W the last year and yes it is aggravating waiting on people with 2 bags
Southwest has always been a flying garbage can.But you flew them because they played nice and offered good value.I canceled a first class seat and booked a short haul flight as friends were on it.It cost me more than flying first on American to fly cattle on SW
The new extra leg room was nothing to write home about.
Having lifetime status with a few of the legacy carriers I can rarely ever see myself as a customer again.Hope they find their customer
My flight was 90% full so it will be interesting to see how they fare 12 month from now
SWA seems to be on a race to the bottom. All started by equity firm that that said they wanted to improve SWA. All they improved was the stock position and now they are cashing out. SWA days of being customer friendly are gone and their knowing loyal customers are and will be leaving. How many recall how PSA went out of business? After PSA was purchased by USAir, PSA struggled with expansion, high operating costs, and fierce competition from low-cost carriers like SWA.
The way some airlines stop overhead bin passenger cabin bags on the “cheap” economy class fares is to assign such passengers into the last boarding group and ban such passengers from bringing on board cabin bags too big to fit under the seat.
Just wait until one or more greedy airline decides to get rid of priority boarding for loyalty program elite members in order to stop the use of such “cheap” fares by elite status program members.
Getting less for more! Here is an idea to speed things up? Try loading plane from back to front don’t have to look for open bins? Departing let the passengers without bags in overhead go first and then less people in the way of bins? Stop taking things and over charging and solve the root problem!
@Mike P — Your anti-government tropes, yet again… Sir, anarchy doesn’t work. Never has; never will.
nsx’s wishful-thinking on display with this quote:
“High IQ people are the easiest to brainwash, because they can invent complicated reasons to believe almost anything. Prominent radicals on both sides tend to be very intelligent. Not low IQ at all.”
The vast majority of adults most susceptible to brainwashing are average intelligence and low-intelligence types because these groups of adults account for the vast majority of people but also because they tend to be less interested in learning and less curious at older ages.
nsx, still a Republican fanboy? Could explain a few things and then some.
Southwest is indeed in a race to the bottom.Of the big 5 airlines in the US, Southwest has declined the most in terms of value for the money for consumers within the past 18-24 months.
Very smart! Boarding is a nightmare with all these bags on board.
But then they were complete and utter idiots to abandon bags fly free so that a hedge fund could make a quick buck and sell off their stock within a few months.
Every BE fare is a money loser for the airline. You are getting a service for less than the cost of delivering that service. Even with a bag fee you are probably still getting that service for less than costs.
So let’s do this. Let’s have government pass a law or bring back the CAB and require airlines to charge a fare which will include a free carry on, a free meal and 34 inch pitch and earn a nominal return. Any guess as to where fares would go?
Of course. People use carry on so they don’t have to pay for luggage placed in the baggage department.
This way they make the money that carry ons deprive them of
Not every basic economy fare is a money loser for an airline. Often enough, such fares are gravy for the airline; depending on the circumstances, the BE fare can be even more profitable for the airline than some other fares’ passengers flying on the very same plane since BE fares can be more expensive than advance purchase, negotiated fare and group travel bookings which aren’t categorized as BE fares.
This is a great idea. It is the Walmart crowd that compels others to pay more to just get overhead room. SW corporate should ignore the naysayers and haters, they are a minority and those you don’t want travelling on SW – these are the same fake disabled and fake anxiety sunflower group. The sunflower group needs to be required they can only board in the back of the plane or pay the highest fares. Those who don’t like this new policy please please don’t fly SW so others can enjoy SW more.
They never should have allowed carry-ons to begin with. The whole idea behind BASIC was to compete with Allegiant, Avelo, Frontier, and Spirit that *DO* charge for those things.
It was one differentiator between “full service” airlines and these ULCCs.
Instead they chose to blend the products and has done thing but cause consumer confusion.
Well, I used to love to fly SW even though the company pays for first class travel because they were friendly, on time, and convenient with their last second cancellation policy, free bag check etc…. Today they are money grubbing garbage just like the rest. I’ll use my last points and vouchers and take my travel dollars elsewhere. The flight attendants used to be the nicest out of all the airlines… I hear that has changed as well…. Smh