Southwest Airlines Faces New Problem After Ending Free Bags

Last year, Southwest Airlines made the surprising decision to begin charging customers for checked baggage, ending its longstanding "bags fly free" policy. Now, several months after ending free bags, Southwest is still having problems, and those problems have only seemed to be exacerbated by its new assigned seating policy.

Southwest Airlines Policy Changes

For decades, Southwest Airlines stood out from other airlines thanks to its generous checked bag policy and its democratic open-seating policy. However, both of those policies are now gone.

Back in May, Southwest officially began charging customers for checked luggage, charging $35 for the first checked bag and $45 for an additional checked bag. Now, beginning last month, Southwest officially moved toward an assigned seating model where customers must pay extra to choose their seat.

Both moves were designed to boost profit for the airline and are more in line with the policies of competitors.

A Logistical Problem

While the new bag fees might be a revenue source for the airline, it did pose a new logistical problem that Southwest had been largely immune to over the years: a lack of overhead bin space.

In the past, Southwest did not really have a problem with overhead bin space. Since the airline previously allowed customers to check up to two bags for free, many passengers simply did not bring carry-on luggage that had to fit in the overhead bin. In fact, Southwest planes typically had significantly less overhead space than competitors, which was an intentional design choice given the previous policy, since that space was unnecessary.

However, after Southwest began charging for checked bags, passengers obviously began bringing far more carry-on bags, which created a new problem for the airline, as it was not logistically ready to handle that surge.

As a result, Southwest executive vice president of operations Justin Jones admitted that gate-checking of carry-on bags was expected to see a drastic increase.

“We assume our gate-check bags will probably go up five times from what we have today,” Jones told the Airlines Confidential podcast last year.

Jones admitted that the change was a "curveball" for the operations team, and said that it was expected to “result in more gate-checked bags and fees.”

New Problem Emerges

While it's been several months since Southwest began charging for checked luggage, allowing the airline time to adapt to its surge in carry-on luggage and limited overhead bin space, a new problem has emerged for Southwest after it instituted its assigned seating model.

In the past, even after the airline began charging for free bags, customers would often choose their seat based on where there was available overhead bin space. With the new assigned seating model, however, passengers have often been forced to pass their seat, then fight against the crowd in the narrow aisle to get back to their seat.

Gary Leff of View From the Wing called the entire process "far more chaotic than the other airlines."

"Like other airlines, Southwest has been adding oversized bins to planes. They didn’t need to before, since people got free checked bags and didn’t bring to much on board. Now, though, everyone carries on as much as they can because it saves money," Leff wrote.

"So people would stop at their seat, see no bin space available, and have to head back in the aircraft to stow bags – only to return down the aisle to their seats. This was far more chaotic than other airlines."

As if the surge in carry-on luggage and the limited overhead bin space weren't enough of a logistical nightmare for Southwest, it seems like the assigned seating model has thrown an even bigger wrench into the airline's operation.