Southwest Airlines quietly raised checked bag fees on Tuesday. This has gotten little notice.
- The mental model of Southwest is ‘bags fly free’
- But they’re much more persnickety about slightly overweight and oversized bags
- And while the cost of the first two checked bags is bundled with their tickets, the price of a third and more has gone up too.
American Airlines charges $30 for a slightly overweight bag domestically. Up to 70 pounds it’s $100. So Southwest is now much more expensive than their Dallas-based competitor.
I never pay attention to bag weight. I don’t often check bags but when I do with American Airlines, thanks to airline status, I’m allotted up to 70 pounds per bag instead of 50 pounds.
If I’m flying Southwest I need to take great care because they are adamant about their 50 pound limit. Earlier this year I did find myself moving items across bags when one bag weighed in one or two pounds over that… even though airport check-in counter scales are often miscalibrated. They’re being banged and slammed with heavy luggage all day, every day and may not be precise.
Now Southwest charges,
- $150 if a checked bag is 51 pounds
- $200 if a checked bag is 71 pounds
- And this is for your first or second bag – there’s no ‘credit’ accounted for here for your free checked bag allowance.
Oversized bags are $200 apiece, and each bag after the second checked bag costs $150.
A Southwest Airlines spokesperson offers,
Effective October 29, 2024, Southwest Airlines updated its pricing on Excess, Overweight, and Oversize Baggage. Our fares and product prices fluctuate with the demands of the marketplace, but our North Star remains providing more all-in value to more Customers than any other carrier—such as everyday low fares, first and second bags fly free®; no change or cancel fees; and an industry-first—flight credits that don’t expire.
There is nothing ‘market-based’ about increasing the price of services charged to customers that have already purchased their tickets.
And there’s nothing ‘demand-based’ about this higher price for overweight, oversized or third bags. There’s not suddenly a new capacity constraint or jolt in demand. It’s just the new Southwest under activist investor Elliott Management.
Note that these fees aren’t just for future ticket purchases, they are for tickets that have already been purchased. The fee structure is based on date of travel, not date of purchase.
Applying new fees to tickets purchased before the fee increase can be viewed as a form of post-purchase price increase. It essentially changes the total cost of travel after the purchase, which seems deceptive, as passengers expect that they’re locking in all costs when they buy their ticket. However, since bag fees haven’t been paid yet they argue that they can change the fees at will.
This underscores a real problem with Department of Transportation fee display rules that have ben enjoined by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.
- The federal government was demanding that fees be displayed alongside fares at the first instance where schedule and price is shown.
- That way consumers compare cost including a checked bag, among other costs, even though they may not be checking a bag (and even though there may be other fees they’ll be paying, which vary by airline).
- But this deceptively leads customers to think that that is their cost for the bundle of services when it may not be – the base fare is what is being purchased, but various fees may go up later!
So much for Southwest being more consumer-friendly. They’ve built a reputation on free bags, but the rules around those bags aren’t friendly at all. And DOT regulation doesn’t aim to fix the problem of post-purchase increases, but contributes to a deceptive understanding of travel costs for many passengers. We’ll see if these rules ultimately go into effect. They will serve to benefit Southwest, because their fares often look higher now when compared (because they bundle checked bag costs) but will appear more competitive when consumers are required to be shown travel costs inclusive of fees Southwest appears not to charge but others do.
You are totally out of touch as an “elite” status member on AA. Every airline will hound you for an overweight fee at 50.1 lbs.
Remember when Southwest was a low cost carrier… not anymore.
Huge fees for overweight/oversized stuff makes sense. They are harder to handle amd a lack of fees would encourage all kinds of weird behavior that the average traveling would end up paying for.
I support the new bag fees – and I prefer to fly Southwest as two checked bags under 50 pounds fly free. Why?
The fees are to protect the health and safety of the rampers. Yes, the people who load the bags onto the 737s and unload the bags from the 737s have limits.
People need to pack less. I normally pack two bags to go, one of which is my camera bag.
All of these changes are sensible – only an abuser of said guidelines will – and do – complain.
All checked bags should be charged. All carry-ons beyond a single under-seat item should also be charged, and at a higher rate than for checked baggage.
Packing light is a thing, you know.
These fees make some sense but they really are the airline saying that they don’t want that part of your business. I have never had to move things around at the airport due to an overweight bag but I have had the airport scale declare the wrong weight before it was calibrated because I have an accurate hand held digital scale that gives me the weight before I go to the airport. If the bag is claimed to be overweight, I push back 100% of the time since I pack a little under the limit. I have never been wrong. I have flown on another airline across the Pacific when an airline allowed only one checked bag for free and adding another bag cost too much. Domestically, people have the option of sending their stuff by companies such as FedEx or UPS if the checked bag cost is too high. An advantage of doing that is that TSA will not rummage through your stuff.
The first two checked bags on every airline should be free, provided they meet weight and size limits. Any bag carried on that will not fit under the seat should have a charge. By doing so the entire carry on fight for bin space wars would be eliminated, and boarding and deplaning would be a lot faster. It may even solve the gate lice problem.
Thank you Joe. Kudos to the rampers who get no credit from passengers. They work in over 100 degrees, below 0, rain and snow. Pack lighter.
$150 for 1 pound over is customer-hostile. They have to draw a line somewhere, but two tiers of surcharge would be better than one step of $150. Better yet, $20 per pound up to $150 extra.
Southwest in the past had an even more harsh policy, charging full walk-up fare for same day changes.
Oversize or overweight bag? Don’t want to pay $200?
Drop it at Southwest cargo for Next Flight Guaranteed service at $140-$170 up to 100 pounds
The ex post nature of this is wrong to me. Air New Zealand raised their charges for overweight bags, but it applies to tickets purchased after a date that did not precede the announcement. Since they don’t have F on my flight, I looked, as my normal 33 kilo limit is now 23.
I understand and accept that the airlines have weight/size rules for baggage. It’s their privilege to charge what the market will bear. I learned my personal lesson on this about a year ago when I flew AA LAX to DFW and had one checked bag…which weighed in at the airport at 2# over the limit. Well, THAT cost me $100, which really annoyed me, but I compliantly paid…but then SOON went out to purchase a nice hand-held baggage scale for $15.95. I weigh ALL my stuff now after I pack and before I leave for the airport. NO overweight bags for me…nor huge charges as a nasty surprise at the check-in desk. If I know (and I ought to!) what the rules happen to be for the airline I happen to be flying, and I ignorantly or intentionally ignore them, then I have no one to blame but myself for “the consequences,” $$$$.
The question in my mind is the accuracy of the scale. Most jurisdictions require certification of weighing devices if any fee or price is calculated based on the weight shown on the device. This usually includes airline baggage scales, although the law varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
In Florida, all of the airline bag scales must bear a seal from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services showing that they have been tested for accuracy and sealed. I’ve seen them at FLL and PBI.
If I am told I am overweight (in my luggage – I know I could shed another 10 lbs.), I would look to see if the scale has been sealed. If not, complain to the authority that certifies weights and measures (could be county or state). See what happens. But don’t make a scene with the check in agent — they can’t do anything about it.
@Retired Lawyer, I have found check-in agents to be helpful on scales reading checked bags as overweight. Often they can hit a few keystrokes on their keyboard and zero the empty scale. That has solved every problem I have had in the last ten to twenty years. An alternate method is to have the bag weighed on another scale at a different check-in line. All of the Asian airlines I have flown seem to use the total weight method for two checked bags as long as each is reasonably close to the maximum weight. The seals are good in USA airports but your mileage may vary overseas. I usually am only pushing the limit when flying from the USA but the limits can be tight for carry-on bags of non USA carriers such as AirAsia. The seals do not guarantee that the scale is always zeroed correctly. The check-in agent has to zero the scale from time to time.
Geez… I travel a decent amount, mostly on SWA. 2 bags, 50 lbs. each. Who takes OVER 100 LBS of stuff with them when they travel?
And why?
Just did the curbside check in at PHX and slipped the agent a $20 Starbucks GC to make him look the other way the last time my bags were a bit over the 50 lbs limit
This article is incredibly petty. SWA is letting you fly with 100 LBS worth of stuff for FREE, and you’re arguing it should really be 101 LBS for free? Give folks an inch, they’ll take a mile. Two 50 LB bags for free is incredibly customer friendly in the current market. But Southwest is saying it’s a hard cap at 100 LBS. Don’t abuse it. Am I the only parent who regularly flew my kids to and from college on Southwest because one kid + mom + dad = six total checked bags = 300 LBS of stuff shipped coast to coast FOR FREE at the beginning and end of the school year??? (Never mind your carry on bag and personal item backpack). I can’t be the only one.
Southwest used to be the low cost carrier. Nowadays, I frequently find that I can fly United business class for a whopping $30 more than WN’s cheapest ticket for the same route. Guess which one I’m picking?
Unless you’re helping Carlos Ghosn escape from Disney World, I don’t see what the fuss is all about.=:-)
I haven’t checked the bag since 1983 when I was going to Portugal and my bag wound up in Hawaii. Routinely go on 2 to 4 week trips internationally and never ever check a bag. Frankly I don’t trust any airline with my stuff.
I can’t in any scenario see stuffing 50 pounds of crap into a bag. If I have really heavy stuff to ship I’ll use FedEx of UPS.
How about the pax and all checked and carryon bags get weighed at once? Upcharge appropriately. Much better system, I think.
There is an interesting behavioral element here. If agents have the ability to ignore the extra pound on a 51 pound bag, they are far more likely to do it rather than deal with the upset asking for $150 will cause the pax. They are less likely to let that pound go if it $30. Requiring stiff penalties tend to cause enforcers not to enforce. Make a speeding ticket $1,000, and the cop is more likely to let 10mph slide. Plus, if you’re flying with 2, 65 pound bags, do you pay WN $300 or spend that to fly F on a legacy?
I ❤️ SOUTHWEST❣️ There are always going to be changes with one airline or another. Everything is researchable.
Just take the time before you book & make sure nothing has changed and if it has? Is it life ending or life altering? I’m overweight so my clothes are larger and I always over pack! But somehow I’m able to keep at or below the 50 lbs on SW. I have gone with lighter shoes that are even easier to find now. If you are going to visit friends or family, wait til you get there and buy your small toiletries and over the counter meds. Put a little heavier items in your carry-on. Many ways to adjust and stay the same. And so what if you have an extra $30 charge for a couple lbs extra that just had to go. Think outside the box when packing. And if you happen to be sitting next to a passenger with a Terminal illness, perhaps they can tell you how not to sweat the smaller things in life and learn to enjoy more things in the present.
If Southwest thinks that all travellers are gonna pay more out for travel bags,they better think again because No ONE is gonna pay there extortionate crap at all
I understand the 50 lb weight limit per bag and always remain within the allowable range….but I was not aware that the bag external dimensions are restricted as well.
I have a bag that is slightly over their dimensional limit and have never had an extra fee assessed by Southwest until today at my Orlando checkin where I was charged $200 for each of my two bags. I was told by the counter agent that this was due to a recent more rigorous enforcement of their dimensional policy. I use these same bags on Delta, United, American with no extra charges for slightly oversized external dimensions. I am not going to purchase new smaller dimensional bags to comply with Southwest’s new aggressive enforcement that I believe is in reaction to their new activist external investor group seeking higher financial returns.
Instead I will no longer fly Southwest and move my business to other air carriers.