• by Tanya Gazdik , March 12, 2025

While the price and availability of eggs is keeping some folks up at night, Southwest Airlines’ decision to end its 54-year "Bags Fly Free" policy could be a breaking point. 

“Southwest, which built years of advertising campaigns around its policy of letting passengers check up to two bags for free, said Tuesday that people who haven’t either reached the upper tiers of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program, bought a business class ticket or hold the airline’s credit card will have to pay for checked bags,” according to The Associated Press.

“Less than a year ago, the Dallas-based airline announced it was doing away with another tradition, the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years. Southwest expects to begin operating flights with passengers in assigned seats next year.”

Southwest trademarked the “Bags Fly Free” slogan. Now, only customers with high loyalty status will be spared from the fee, but all others will have to pay for checked bags for flights booked starting on May 28.

“The announcement reflected Southwest’s latest decision to drop a practice that had made it unique — and appealing — to customers,” according to The New York Times. “The airline is also working to add premium seats with extra legroom and end its open-seating policy and recently started offering red-eye flights.”

Some customers on social media and industry observers criticized the move, according to The New York Times. 

“I think we’ll remember today as the day that Southwest died,” Brett Snyder, a former industry insider who writes about aviation at the Cranky Flier website, said in a post on Tuesday. “Its entire value proposition — everything that made it different — has disappeared faster than you can say, ‘Elliott Investment Management.’”

Southwest’s policy of allowing two free checked bags was costly. The airline carries nearly twice as many bags as its peers, which can slow operations, its chief executive, Bob Jordan, said recently at a conference.

Competitors reacted to the news, including Delta CEO Ed Bastian, who said at an investors conference that Southwest’s decision to charge for bags could be a help to its rivals.

“Clearly there are some customers who chose them because of that (bags fly free policy),” Bastian said. “Now clearly those customers are up for grabs.”

“United CEO Scott Kirby also predicted that other airlines, including United, are likely to see gains because of Southwest’s decision, because it was one of the things that made Southwest distinctive, especially among bargain-hunting passengers,” according to CNN Business.

“It’ll be good for everyone else,” he said. “It’s the slaying of a sacred cow. I view it as a big deal.”