Southwest Airlines had a ‘big bang’ on May 28th. They started charging for checked bags. They started expiring travel credits. And there are all sorts of Easter Eggs in the negative changes the airline is making, like charging a fee for curbside check-in (a change the airline never announced) after firing all of their skycaps.
It’s unclear whether this is another unannounced negative change, or just that Southwest’s IT systems weren’t up for making their planned changes correctly, but you can no longer change the outbound portion of a ticket without affecting the return and this appears even to impact same day flight changes.
- Changing the outbound portion of a pre-May 28th ‘Wanna Get Away’ reservation will impose basic economy restrictions on the return.
- Even doing a same day flight change to the outbound portion of a trip causes the return to become basic economy, even though those restrictions aren’t supposed to apply to tickets purchased prior to May 28.
- Making a change, even a same day change, means that if you cancel the return your travel credit will have an expiration date instead of the promised credits not expiring that should apply to all pre-May 28th reservations.
- In fact, if you bought your tickets six months ago, and the change imposes basic economy restrictions, you may not get any travel credit at all – since basic economy credits are now valid for only six months from date of original ticket purchase (and not for six months from when the credit is issued).
- What’s more, making a same day change to the outbound of a pre-May 28 Wanna Get Away fare reservation even causes you to lose the ability to make a same day change the to the return portion of the ticket (since it becomes a basic economy ticket, and basic economy doesn’t permit same day changes).
This all hits Southwest Rapid Rewards elite A-List members the most. They’ll lose at least one free back on the return portion of their trip if they make a same day change to the outbound.
It’s a complete surprise to see Southwest treating the return half of a roundtrip ticket as having been changed when a change is made to the outbound. While that may be something other airlines have done in the past, it’s not been Southwest’s practice.
And they never announced that they would be changing this practice – so Southwest’s customers are getting caught by surprise when they learn they’ve lost free checked bags, the ability to make a same day change to their tickets and more just for exercising the options available to them on the tickets they bought.
Surely elite members being told that they could still make same day changes to the cheapest tickets, as long as they were purchased prior to May 28, meant that they would be able to make such changes to both halves of their roundtrip!
@ Ryan –
Good luck with “Front & Rear” Airlines ….As bad as ” Suckwad ” has become you’ll (if not immediately ) ‘descend’ to a new, lower level of ‘service’…..
Sadly, it’s the lessor of MANY evils as they race to the bottom, but even so, some airlines are even more egregious than others !
Please do update us on your new airline adventure !
I used to fly Southwest exclusively, saying if Southwest doesn’t go there, neither do I. I’ve appreciated the customer service, the friendly and helpful flight and gate personnel, general kindness. 10 years ago I was in the Dallas airport awaiting my connection to Milwaukee. At the gate I got a phone call from my brother’s nursing telling me he was dying (in Sarasota). The gate agents immediately help me reroute my flight to Tampa and I arrived before he died. They couldn’t have been more helpful and compassionate. Meanwhile, my bags went on to Milwaukee, and they kept them for me. Furthermore, the agent holding my bags when I finally got to Milwaukee with a 90 min. drive still to be home and it was 10:00 at night,, gave me her card to call her from the road and she’d keep me company talking all the way home so I wouldn’t fall asleep on the road. In recent years they have accommodated me and my 65 lb service dog. WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT AIRLINE??? To say I’m disappointed doesn’t even start. They’ve lost a very valuable and loyal customer. Shameful.
At least we can choose high speed rail instead. Oh wait, we don’t get that choice in the US.
I have flown on a wide variety of airlines over 40+ years of travelling, and Southwest still ranks dead last, even compared to the likes of Spirit, Frontier, Wizzair, and easyJet (still haven’t tried Ryanair yet, the reputation alone has made me always go with another alternative)
My first and only experience on Southwest was a short one hour hop between so Cal and the Bay Area, roughly 20+ years ago. I somehow got stuck with three other larger folks in two rows of 2×2 seats that faced each other (like you would see on a commuter train, except with so little room, all eight of our legs were basically entangled the entire trip). I do congratulate them for bending the laws of spacetime as that one hour flight somehow seemed longer than an 8 hour transatlantic flight in regular economy.
I’ve probably purchased more Southwest tickets than any others despite working for another airline the past ten years. Yes, there were that many pros to buying Southwest when I did buy tickets instead of using my flight benefits. With all the recent changes I will be shopping around when I need to buy tickets, and Southwest will be low on my list of desired airlines. It’s the end of an era – I flew them almost exclusively prior to working in the industry – and I would be remiss if I didn’t admit that it makes me sad. I’ll miss the great airline they used to be. I hope they can weather this mess.
@bossa I’ve taken my fair share of Frontier flights leading up to this one, including ones where I traveled only with the underseat personal item (for sub-$40 roundtrips within California, that I booked with airport agents where I would have paid double that online (a hack in its own right), or even sub-$40 when booking online outright, I know what I sign up for and have put up with what that entails with no issue), and that was before Frontier went after Southwest’s customer base with cheaper/free Economy Bundles (carry-on bags, seat choice, and no change/cancel fees), their free checked bag offer, or Elite Gold status for having a Southwest account. No Southwest elite status prerequisite required, but a shameless “registration fee” for Elite Gold that can still pay for itself after even one trip. I have also happily taken Spirit on nonstop redeye transcons for 1/3 the price of the next option, as well as other airlines like United, Delta, JetBlue and Breeze for varying types of trips.
For this particular trip (a bit farther than just intra-California), Frontier’s price was $102 (booked at the airport after I arrived on a Breeze flight, thus no need to separately trek to the airport) which included seat choice, bag, and no fee to change/cancel (even a regular Economy Bundle in lieu of Elite Gold includes this, and they can either cost $0 or $20 per way; the Elite Gold includes those, plus opens Preferred seats at booking, and Premium and UpFront Plus seats via upgrades). Frontier also surprisingly has alternative itinerary options on this specific route that do not add a huge amount of time in the event the original itinerary is disrupted from IRROPS.
The next options were American at $145, Southwest at $157 (or equivalent in points), and United at $169, all Basic Economy fares which mean restrictions on changes/cancels and no free seat choice in all cases except Southwest’s open seating (at least for now; the randomly-assigned seating for Basic fares as of 2026 will be the last straw for me), while United in particular doesn’t even include more than the personal item. Main Cabin/Wanna Get Away Plus/Economy fares for all of these are over $230, and what amenties they do have over Frontier’s are simply not worth that difference in price for me personally. $157 for Southwest under the old policy of included bags and itinerary flexibility was great value in comparison, even against Frontier, but they are no longer standing out in that fashion.
With Frontier (and Spirit and Breeze for that matter), I’ve come in with low expectations and have come away with an impression of great value for the price paid. With Southwest, they had built a reputation and a perceived value over years, where leading up to this point I had booked more reservations with Southwest than any other airline. Now that they have destroyed their unique distinctions and value by adopting restricted Basic fares (and surprise surprise, their fares didn’t reduce in light of the changes to compensate for what was cut, not unlike almost every airline’s implementation of Basic Economy), they are not competing for my business.
Screw Southwest, and their new greedy Wall Street owners. They have completely ruined the brand which the airline spent so many years to establish. I had used Southwest Airlines extensively in the past, but no more. I will never fly them, and plan to go elsewhere, even if it means paying a higher fare.
The promise they said of the credit not expiring applies to a credit never applied to a ticket. For example if you have a credit from 2024 it will never expire. But if you applied that money to a ticket bought BEFORE May 28 and then try to change that ticket or cancel that ticket, it now has an expiration date. It was written in the rules and folks are not reading that rule and understanding it correctly. Its written in the rules that any changes you make to those ticket bought prior to May 27 will now have an expiration and that date reverts all the way back to the original date that you bought the ticket. Now folks are seeing how the rule works.
I’ve been a loyal SWA customer for 30+ years, yet they dropped my A List status like a hot potato – as my travel dwindled during COVID. In addition, my 40 tickets were no longer usable – why I ask? I earned those! These new policies recently imposed has me now looking at other options.
Southwest Will Suffer The Wrath of a failing Economy. It Will Be Sad To See Ir Demise!
I have primarily used SW for multiple trips a year and did not price shop. No more. I will be price shopping.
Just another reason to not fly on Southwest Airlines.
I currently fly SW at least two round trips a month, and they have been my #1 airline the entirety of my life. I loved the flexibility they offered and always encouraged to travel with SW when it came to group trips with family and friends.
-Sadly, sometimes the divorce is not one you wanted, but your partner is no longer the one you married…
An outbound change to a round trip ticket has always resulted in a change to the return flight on southwest. I have only purchased one ways on southwest for the last 5 years + because of that.
Making the shareholders happy is the important issue. They just better hope that there are enough of them to buy a lot of tickets now that regular passengers no longer have any reason to do so.
Everyone in our large family has ALWAYS chosen SW over other airlines to fly from Florida up north to visit with parents, children and grandchildren and vice versa…
We appreciated the two free bags and friendly curbside service that the airline always offered us.
Unfortunately, for the new greedy changes that have been implemented, our extensive family and many thousands of other friends will now be forced to shop around for the best airline that will meet our travel needs. Or we’ll even utilize another form of travel. YOUR LOSS…
Even if they’re $5 cheaper than the other airlines they’re mimicking, its not worth supporting the anti-luv.
Was the above rant by Ryan one long run on sentence? If you are going to complain, use proper sentences. It will make it much more effective prose.
I enjoyed flying Southwest. It was and could remain a great airline. It is full of great people. They have been our airline of choice for over twenty years. This move by the new owners has destroyed the loyalty of its long term customer base. It will be interesting to see if Southwest even survives. The last 8 flights we flew with Southwest (all within the last 2 weeks) all were 1/2 full. The new marketing plan seems to be a flop.
There’s no discount to buying a Southwest round-trip ticket. Always buy two one ways. The price is the same and you do not have to deal with these restrictions.
I’m a frequent flyer on Southwest but now that the best parts of that airline service is gone, there’s no reason not to check out other airlines’ specials. I would never have done that before. Do we still get points we can use for future flights??
I “get” that most people don’t want to take the time to book one leg at a time, but I can’t recall the last time I booked a RT on ANY carrier. There has always been this industry myth that buying two one-way tix was more expensive but I’ve never found that to be true, and it is the #1 way to prevent a return leg from getting “screwed up’.
Plus long ago all carriers started displaying things pricewise as one-way purchases; since you can clearly see what’s available, and in every category of tix you’d think people might consider doing a little more examination of how they book if cost savings is the goal.
They are the only major airline I don’t have status with. I don’t usually check bags, so this change wouldn’t affect me. But if I were to check a bag, they would now be the absolute last choice for me since I could check bags for free with everyone other airline they compete with.
What the hell are they thinking? I guess $$ is more important than continued success! & getting rid of the sky caps?!? Wow! They have families to support too! So what greedy company bought SWA only to destroy it! Job well done guys! You destroyed a great airline! Go celebrate your soon to be failure with your shareholders!
You will lose ALOT OF CUSTOMERS because of the way you took everything that made this brand STAND ABOVE THE REST you destroyed! Good job !!
SWA sucks now!! CONGRATS!
Bye Bye southwest cattle car airlines. Only reason to fly sw was free bags and “cheaper” fares. Not anymore.
It’s more like Southwest Airlines company learns the hard way. They are losing customers.
@Freesia
There are sentences separated by periods. Believe it or not, there were fewer periods and even longer sentences before I went through it a few times to cut out or cut into pieces.
Someone responded, therefore I addressed their points.
@Barry Graham — I also usually do not check bags. I have a packing list and am able to say, “Do I really need this?” Compression cubes also help reduce size. (Friendly reminder if checking a bag — compression cubes reduce volume, not weight.)
However, the change is probably going to affect us in a bad way:
1) More carry ons to avoid baggage fees. Increased probability of having to Gate Check your bag.
2) Empty bins but still required to Gate Check. (See link below.)
3) They are going to get rid of the lines and go with NINE boarding groups. Stupid idea. This will lead to:
* A shapeless amoeba and people trying to be the first on. (To avoid having to Gate Check.) People call Southwest’s boarding method a cattle call. It is the most logical and orderly way to board. Now that is going away.
* People trying to board with an earlier boarding group.
Link to article about forced Gate Checking despite completely empty (or almost empty) bins:
https://viewfromthewing.com/the-carry-on-con-why-airlines-keep-forcing-passengers-to-check-carry-on-bags-for-no-good-reason-roundup/
I have been flying Southwest for the past 25 years and will fly one last time with them in July. I had this flight booked since February.. I will no longer use this carrier as I feel they no longer stand out as an economic means to fly. Other reward programs offer better incentives. So much for taking care of their loyal customers. Very disappointed!!
I live in Europe and to avoid the huge baggage fees, I take only carry on. I still used to fly Southe West most of the tim in the US because it was the cheapest. I always get the Wanna Get Away ticket as I don’t see why I should pay twice as much for a flexible ticket when foirfeiting a ticket fee would stilll save me a lot in the long run even if I miss a flight. So whatever is cheapest is what I’ll go for.
I have used Southwest exclusively for the past 10 years. Since they have eliminated the things I liked best, I’m mad enough to never fly with them again.
Bye bye southwest. As a customer who only flew southwest and it was often seeing as I live across the country now and fly home to visit friends and family. My older kids went back home to go to college….now my teenagers fly to visit grandparents … There’s a LOT of flights happening through out the year. We even stuck with you and went with our the TV. But now? You have nothing going for you. Not only that but you don’t even fly into the airport by me. Wes drive two hours to the next airport for you. So see ya. You are just like spirit and frontier now. Something no one will ride unless they’re desperate. Smh.
I’ve loved SW but recently learned i had lost credit for flights THEY CANCELED back in Jan of last year. So now I want to use them and Gone. I’m canceling my July trip esp hearing about the problem changing return flights. Ok , we live, we learn. Someone can do better. The people working SW have always been fantastic. Sorry to have to choose another. It feels like a break up.
Southwest has destroyed the passenger culture they spent years creating. This seems to be a direct outcome of adding investment bankers to the board and a focus on quarterly earnings statement.
Now just another so so airline.
Culture eats strategy for lunch everyday.
@Freesia
That said, point taken and I can always cut down more going forward.
I have flown Southwest exclusively wherever they fly. No more. I’m upset of many of the changes, but perhaps the one that is the most upsetting is firing the sky caps. What a convenient, hassle way to check in. Of course no thought was given to these people. So representative of the greed that is pervasive in the US today. People need to remember the 1920’s and what followed for the next 39 years.
I wonder what kind of insider information Elliott Investment Management has, or how much money are they investing elsewhere, so that when Southwest tanks, because we are all leaving them, they will reap some fantastic benefit, because what they are doing makes no sense. How do you suppose you are going to make a profit if a big chunk of your loyal customers are leaving? Makes me want to hire a private investigator so they can get screwed like they deserve….
If only the southwest CEO didn’t sissy out when pressured by the new owners. Stocks go up and down. The old (and better) way would have been fine. Oh, and laugh as you want. I always travel with one bag and check it. Never had to go scouring around for an overhead bin or wrestle with the bag in or out…. never will.
So sad. Too bad. Bye, bye SWA.
@Ryan Your post was fine. It was just too complicated for simple minds, like Freesia.
@Freesia Why not read the post instead of complaining it was a “rant” (it wasn’t) and “one long sentence”? (it wasn’t) Some real situations have stupid details, and including everything gives the reader a better idea of the situation. Learn to improve your attention span, or stick to tik tok.
South West airlines contract with Meridian Medical Technologies includes free bags for company travel.
Meridian Medical Technologies corporate travel director bragged on a recent flight to MCO how her corporate travel contracts were negotiated to include free bags.
Southwest is giving the epi pen overcharging company free bags.
Can’t agree more book tickets separately always and that way you can easily change modify or cancel
If only
I am glad I booked a JetBlue mileage ticket roundtrip because when JetBlue changed my return flight to about eight hours earlier I was able to cancel the entire trip and rebook it starting earlier so the time at the destination wasn’t reduced so much. It also cost fewer miles when rebooking and I no longer had an early morning flight (swapped for a better red eye) so it was a win all of the way around. I booked the round trip even with the notification from JetBlue that separate tickets were advisable.
Southwest has alienated me from ever flying with the ever again unless they have the lowest price.
And we’ve flown Southwest forever.
SWA used to be my goto airline for domestic travel- sadly not any more. They have turned into a vulture like the rest of the airlines.
Southwest was my main airline due to free bags. Well, since they are now just like all the others, Southwest will no longer be my main airline. Airlines have gone down hill and gets worse as time goes by. Gone are the days of reasonable fares, no luggage fees, spacious seats that recline and have leg room, meals, snacks, drinks were all “free”, and great service. No rub downs, security lines, restrictions, etc. customer service gets worse and worse. Sad.
Why fly a cheaper airline that is no longer a cheaper option. Plenty of other better options now since the prices are comparable.
@Kristy worry about yourself. Our opinions belong to us not you. One of them people that try a change others.
I understand what companies need to make changes. Everything needs to be explained and outlined before the change is made if you carry a southwest Visa credit card you should not have to pay for check bags and still should be able to get lower rates for carrying and reward card I think sometimes these companies forget that the customers is what makes your success. When you lose your customers, you lose your company bye-bye Southwest the people has the power to take you down.