Southwest Will Start Charging For Checked Bags

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WOW: Southwest Will Start Charging For Checked Bags

As of May 2025, Southwest Airlines will stop offering all passengers two free checked bags. This is a major development for the carrier.

onemileatatime.com

It’s officially the end of an era for Southwest Airlines, and the airline will finally do what it has insisted for so long that it wouldn’t even consider.

In this post:

• Southwest cuts two free checked bags policy
• It’s officially the end of the old Southwest
• Bottom line

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Southwest has long been known for offering two free checked bags to all passengers, regardless of the fare they book. This has been one of the major ways that the airline has differentiated itself from the competition.

For so long, Southwest executives have insisted that this is the one policy that they weren’t willing to change, since they’ve claimed that the ticket revenue lost from changing this policy would exceed the ancillary revenue. I guess there has been a change of heart, because that will no longer be the case.

For tickets booked as of May 28, 2025, Southwest will change its checked bag policy:

• Southwest will continue to offer two free checked bags to Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred members, and customers traveling on Business Select fares
• Southwest will offer one free checked bag to A-List members, and those with a Rapid Rewards credit card will receive a credit for one checked bag
• Customers who don’t qualify for these benefits will be charged for both a first and second checked bag

At least as of now, carry-on bags will continue to be complimentary for all passengers. This latest change follows Southwest recently greatly cutting points earning on its Wanna Get Away fares, which was almost a way of indirectly creating a basic economy product.

Here’s how Southwest CEO Bob Jordan describes this development:

“We have tremendous opportunity to meet current and future Customer needs, attract new Customer segments we don’t compete for today, and return to the levels of profitability that both we and our Shareholders expect. We will do all this while remaining focused on what’s made us strong — our People and the authentic, friendly, and award-winning Customer Service only they can provide.”

Charge by the passenger pound and maybe the land whales will make Greyhound great again.

If they just kept crazy topless black women off their flights, it would be a huge plus.....Of course maybe that's the in-flight entertainment.