After greater than 50 years, Southwest Airways’ “luggage fly free” coverage is lastly coming to an finish.
Southwest on Tuesday introduced the primary checked bag will value $35, whereas a second checked bag will value $45. The coverage will start tomorrow, when some passengers could also be topic to a checked bag payment when reserving a flight on the low cost provider. Weight and dimension limits for baggage will apply.
The brand new coverage solely applies to flights booked on Might 28 or later, which suggests right this moment is the final day to e-book if passengers need to keep away from the brand new payment.
There are, nonetheless, some carve-outs to the brand new coverage: Enterprise Choose/Alternative Further and A-Listing Most well-liked clients will obtain two free checked luggage, whereas A-Listing and Chase Speedy Reward bank card members will get one free checked bag.
Along with the checked bag charges, a brand new flight credit score coverage may even take impact tomorrow, affecting how lengthy Southwest clients can use their journey vouchers.
Flight credit issued Might 28 or later will expire in six months or a 12 months, relying on the fare sort. This marks a change to the airline’s earlier coverage in place for 3 years, which had mentioned flight credit by no means expire.
The airways inventory value was up 2.1% in pre-trading.
Southwest introduced the tip of its free bag test coverage in March amid mounting stress from activist traders to enhance its monetary efficiency. The airline in September predicted that the change would result in $1.5 billion a 12 months in income however mentioned it additionally stood to lose $1.8 billion in enterprise from loyal clients who flew Southwest due to its distinctive baggage coverage.
The brand new checked bag coverage is a part of a broader set of modifications introduced by Southwest. The airline mentioned final July that it might begin promoting assigned seats, a serious departure from its longstanding open seating coverage.
In April, the airline gave clients their first glimpse of what new seating choices would appear to be when it introduced its new fare construction. As a part of the choices, clients will now be capable of pay for further legroom.
Clients can begin reserving the brand new fare bundles within the third quarter of 2025 for flights that depart in 2026, in accordance with the airline.
contributed to this report.
