How Effective is the Bags Fly Free Program?

[Full of LUV]

The only people that dislike it are the other airlines. They always use the same excuse "look at how much revenue you are missing out on" by not screwing your customer. They want SWA to charge so it will make them look better/even the playing field. They fail to understand SWA's basic concept from day one. It is not about gouging the customer for every nickel. It is about getting them from point A to point B, safely, efficiently and on time at the lowest cost. That is why when SWA goes into a market they call it the SWA effect. Not the bend over and take it legacy effect. I cannot count how many people I have spoken to that hate all the new fees most carriers are coming up with.

What you fail to understand, this HAS to be SWA's position now.... they have staked out that claim. If SWA were to institute baggage fees now, they would look like complete followers, no different/better than the rest. If everyone else truly thought they were losing money over bag fees they could drop them in an instant. Time will tell who has the correct path. I am glad that you are so confident in SWA's management prowess though, it's very comforting.

 

[Just thinking]

Average one way fare for AAI last quarter was $92. Average for SWA $132. AAI charges $20 for bags. SWA no feee. AAI allows people to change their flight for no charge if seats are available (I have even see them REFUND a portion of the fare.) SWA charges up to $150. I think SWA has a handle on the revenue generation fomula.

 

[ProFracPilot]

The bag fee debate is an interesting one. A couple of observations:

Legacy airlines are barely able, if at all, to keep on time departures due to handling bags in the cabin / jetway when the flight is full (certainly the case at my home airport). With capacity reduced, flights are always full and this is routine. I find it humorous that the FA's start announcing with boarding Group 1 how everyone must get their 10 pounds of crap into the 5 pound bin quickly to assure an on-time departure. Their management created this horrendous bottleneck and expect them to manage it on the back end of the boarding process by checking bags. It doesn't work well, frustrates everyone involved, and makes a bad experience (riding in typical coach class) even worse.

If you're flying USAir (which I my company books me on frequently), they have figured out this bottleneck to some degree, and have begun allowing you to check your bag to your destination - prior to boarding. If you choose to do so, bags fly for FREE. So take your bag through security and if you're in one of the last boarding groups or just don't want to schlep your bag, check it at that point. At least they're trying to improve the boarding / on time performance, even if it risks loss of some revenue.

When it is my choice of which airline I fly, I'll take SWA any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Their pricing (from my home airport) is almost always competitive to my destinations of choice, and their boarding process is efficient - made even more so by an obvious lack of excess bags trying to enter the cabin. Not to mention the cabin crew is almost always in a good mood.

YMMV.

 

[chase]

Average one way fare for AAI last quarter was $92. Average for SWA $132. AAI charges $20 for bags. SWA no feee. AAI allows people to change their flight for no charge if seats are available (I have even see them REFUND a portion of the fare.) SWA charges up to $150. I think SWA has a handle on the revenue generation fomula.

Southwest Fees for changing flight:

Non-refundable ticket change fee: free
Reservation by phone fee: free

Airtran fees for changing flight:
Non-refundable ticket change fee: $75
Reservation by phone fee: $15

Source: FairCompare website

There is a difference in a "change fee" vs. being charged more for a higher price ticket on a later or earlier flight based upon the original ticket price. Southwest does not sell "stand-by" tickets allowing those who purchase lower price tickets to fly on higher priced flights. The pax on most occasions will be required to pay the difference between their original ticket and the higher fare; that can range from less than $10 to several hundred simply depending upon the distance and price paid by the consumer at the time of purchase. Merely because the plane has empty seats doesn't permit the individual to "upgrade" to the more convenient flight but many times the additional cost is waived depending upon circumstances. SWA states very clearly that a request for an earlier flight may result in an increase in the cost of the ticket. Moving a flight from one day to the next or "banking" the unused flight for later use results in no "fees" being assessed unlike other carriers.

 

[KigAir]

For the flying I do, I find that the total cost for a SWA ticket is usually more than other airlines even when I factor in the cost of checking one bag.

What I find interesting is that some airlines don't charge for checked bags if you are going to/from Europe.

 

[begsby]

Remember, Frequent Fliers dont pay bag fees.

 

[Full of LUV]

Remember, Frequent Fliers dont pay bag fees.

Winner, big chicken dinner! Bag fees only get charged to the expedia crowd who fly once a year. Anyone with any FF status due to a couple of flights no longer pays for the first couple bags. In fact it may build loyalty, because once you attain even the lowest standing at the airline, you get free bags where others don't, so even they feel like a VIP.

 

[Muppets]

25 dollar bag fee and you dont have to stop in amarillo then Denver then Boise then back to Denver to get to Vegas. Sorry couldnt resist.

 

[luckytohaveajob]

Frequent fliers do not pay the bag fee because of their loyalties.

SWA is full because all airlines are full on reduced capacity waiting for the next big drop off of traffic caused by all the future unknowns.

SWA has a good marketing campaign charging its hidden bag fees in the higher priced ticket. SWA's leisure travelers will not pay the bag fee if they are aware of it but hidden in the ticket price is fine.

 

[CMonBoard]

I think the fare Southwest charges is fair. Besides if the ticket price is within a couple bucks either way and Grandma (travels once every 5 years) and is charged $20 for her back, she'll be upset and travel SWA next time.

 

[Full of LUV]

I think the fare Southwest charges is fair. Besides if the ticket price is within a couple bucks either way and Grandma (travels once every 5 years) and is charged $20 for her back, she'll be upset and travel SWA next time.

Trust me, if grandma flies once every 5 years, she'll forget who she even flew on last time let alone any bag fees. The best thing SWA has going for it is that you have to go to SWA.com to get your fare, they always tell everyone they are the cheapest so most just go there and assume they are. Also, if you want to go point to point for two cities in the midwest for example, no one would chose to go through a hub if a nonstop was available. It's funny that they think bag fees are keeping their jets full, but everyone's jets are full. You know, everyone is a investment genius during a bull market.....

 

[Mach92]

They don't go to London, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris ETC. Bag fees who cares, no First Class and business select is a joke. What everyone want's you to believe is the SWA love fest. Trust me it's not.

 

[texman]

They don't go to London, Beijing, Tokyo, Paris ETC. Bag fees who cares, no First Class and business select is a joke. What everyone want's you to believe is the SWA love fest. Trust me it's not.

Don't be a hater stu. Go give brian some luv.

 

[MSNFlier]

It will be interesting...

To see how long it takes for DL to go to "first bag free" for all customers if the SWA/AAI merger is approved and SWA gets a foothold in ATL. My understanding is that SWA's CEO believes ATL may become SWA's most profitable city once the merger is fully complete and SWA has setttled in.

And before you start flaming, the foregoing observation is made by a very loyal DL customer who has flown 100,641 air miles this year on DL, nearly 100k last year (Platinum status in DL's SkyMiles program), and about 450k, lifetime as a NW/DL customer.

 

[maru657]

On the other hand, I wonder how profitable southwest would be if they didn't own two airports with little or no competition. Force Love and Hobby to open up gates for competition and it might not be so lovely.