Southwest Airlines has made a major policy shift, sparking viral and passionate commentary all-over social media. Per a press release, the airline announced that starting on May 28, it will no longer offer two free checked bags for all passengers. Instead, only travelers enrolled in their Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred Members program and Business Select customers will be eligible. Regular Rapid Rewards Credit Card users, A-List members, and other select customers will receive one free checked bag.
The decision to remove the long-standing “Bags Fly Free” policy sparked immediate backlash online, as people mourned the loss of a perk that has long differentiated the airline from its competitors.
One X user wrote, “May whoever decided to RUIN Southwest Airlines be immediately fired and NEVER allowed to touch the company again.” Another added, “If Southwest Airlines had assembled a focus group and asked them ‘what’s the stupidest thing that we could do to ruin our company,’ this is what they would have come up with.”
A third customer asserted that their bag policy was “the only thing keeping them in business,” while some also compared the airline to the low-cost carrier Spirit writing, “Nothing stands in the way of making them better than Spirit at this point.”
Another widely shared post declared, “It’s just pure #Greed. I cancelled @netflix and I’ll never fly @SouthwestAir again for the same reason. Free bags were the ONLY thing setting Southwest apart from other airlines. I’m going to bookmark this tweet to see how long it takes @SouthwestAir to declare bankruptcy…”
Others chose to turn the news into comedy.
Southwest has since defended the policy change as actually necessary for the airline to grow beyond its current capacities.
Bob Jordan, Southwest Airlines President, Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, stated in a press release, “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.”
Scroll through to see more customer reactions below.
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