Travelers Beware: Southwest Airlines Is Adding A New Fee

Southwest Airlines has been held in high regard by American travelers for lower costs and bucking trends, ever since it first started taking on the skies at large in the early 70's. The company initially began offering commercial flights to customers in Texas in 1971, flying passengers to various cities within the state like Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas. From then, they started primarily launching flights within the Southwest region of the United States, the reason why the company was called Southwest in the first place. 

However, due to some recent changes in the company's services, the core value of keeping costs low appears to be at a crossroads. The airline states on its website the desire to be the most profitable, and a change it its famed "Two bags fly free" policy moves the company more in line with this. Starting May 28, most Southwest passengers will no longer be able to fly two checked bags for free, and will instead have to pay to check any luggage.

Southwest airlines has been no stranger to controversies in recent years. During the Christmas holiday season in 2022, Southwest airlines experienced a 10-day, country-wide string of cancellations (over 16,000 flights) that left millions of travelers stranded at airports across the country. While Southwest largely blamed this issue on weather-related problems, what it failed to mention was that another huge factor that played a part in this was technical issues caused by the IT system, which hadn't been updated since the 1990s.

Regardless, the whole situation was a massive debacle for the company that not only ended up costing it billions of dollars, but also led to a federal investigation that required a $140 million dollar settlement. So although frustrated customers ultimately were reimbursed for their cancelled flights, this only added to the financial hole that Southwest ended up buried under. All this being said, it's no surprise that Southwest has had to make a series of decisions that have led to it contradicting the long core value of keeping costs low for customers. With the recent changes, f you're looking for a simple way to save some money when flying in 2025, a good place to start might be by avoiding booking a ticket on Southwest.

For over 50 years, one of the key perks of flying with Southwest airlines was that customers were allowed to check two bags for free as long as they weighed less than 50 pounds and were no more than 62 inches in size. However, for the first time in multiple decades, this long-standing tradition of the airline is sadly coming to an end. For anyone flying Southwest beginning in late May, you will now have to pay to check your first and second pieces of luggage. It's also worth noting that the company also plans to terminate 15% of its workforce this year as an additional means of fiscal conservation, claiming this act alone will save over $200 million in 2025.

However, if you're currently a Rapid Reward A-List member of the airline or traveling on a flight purchased with Business Select fares, these changes to checked bag fees will not apply to you. If you are a regular A-List rewards member, you will still be able to check one bag for free. Also, for those that currently have a Rapid Rewards credit card for the airline, you will receive a credit for checking a single bag. So for those of you who frequently fly Southwest airlines and have been debating whether or not Southwest credit card perks are worth the cost, this is definitely a factor to consider amidst these new changes to the airline.