Southwest bag fees: ‘Slaying of the sacred cow,’ says United CEO

11.03.2025 - 22:19 / thepointsguy.com / Scott Kirby / Ryan Green / Bob Jordan

Southwest Airlines' plan to start charging for checked bags may not only be good for its bottom line but also for other carriers, United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said.

"It's the slaying of the sacred cow," Kirby said at a J.P. Morgan investor conference on Tuesday, hours after Southwest unveiled the new fees.

He added that he believes the move will be "good for everyone" — referring to the larger U.S. airline industry where bag fees are standard.

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Dallas-based Southwest will begin charging checked bag fees on new bookings from May 28. While it did not disclose the cost of the new fees, most U.S. airlines charge $35 for the first checked bag and more for additional luggage. The only travelers exempt from Southwest's new fees are its top-tier A-List Rapid Rewards frequent flyers, travelers who purchase full Business Select fares and holders of its cobranded credit card.

There is no word yet on whether Southwest will add carry-on bag fees, too.

As many of Southwest's standout features are discontinued or diluted — and the airline more closely resembles the rivals it once claimed to be different from — it remains to be seen if loyal passengers will stick around.

The magnitude of Southwest's new checked bag fees cannot be understated. The idea that "bags fly free" on Southwest flights has been central to its marketing for nearly two decades, especially as checked bag charges became standard at competing airlines. To this day, it remains a significant differentiator for the airline.

"There's a very high awareness of our bags fly free policy," Ryan Green, the chief transformation officer at Southwest, said in September. "It is far and away the top feature that differentiates Southwest from our competitors, and it is one of the top criteria in why customers choose Southwest Airlines."

After studying the market, Southwest found that bag fees would result in "too much defection in future flying, even in markets where we're strong, that more than offset the ancillary revenue we'd earn from bag fees," Green continued.

That was among the reasons why, at its September investor day, Southwest executives said the airline would not add bag fees even as it adopted assigned seating, added premium seats and otherwise sought ways to wring more money out of customers.

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Southwest CEO Bob Jordan sang a very different tune on Tuesday.

"Actual customer booking behavior through our new booking channels did not show that we were getting the same benefit from our bundled offering with free bags, which has led us to update the assumptions," he said on the