If you follow the airline industry even casually, you may have already heard the recent news that has come out regarding Southwest Airlines. Southwest has been under a bit of a leadership struggle for awhile, with activist investor Elliott Investment Management demanding changes from the former leadership, including CEO Bob Jordan. In this post, I wanted to highlight 5 recent Southwest Airlines changes that have come out that in my opinion have just about ruined any goodwill the airline had and I think will end up eventually being the demise of the airline.
Goodbye 2 Free Checked Bags
Probably the biggest one for me at least was that Southwest announced that for tickets booked as of May 28, 2025, Southwest will change its checked bag policy:
- Southwest will continue to offer two free checked bags to Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred members, and customers traveling on Business Select fares
- Southwest will offer one free checked bag to Rapid Rewards A-List members, and those with a Rapid Rewards credit card will receive a credit for one free checked bag
- Customers who don’t qualify for these benefits will be charged for both a first and second checked bag
For me, this was one of the biggest reasons I would ever fly Southwest. We once flew with 17 pieces of luggage at the airport on Southwest, and Southwest was a big money saver when I flew my son to/from college. Besides that, we didn’t fly them a ton, since they were consistently more expensive than other options, unless we were able to find a direct flight.
Expiration of Flight Credits
In 2022, Southwest changed their policy so that flight credits that you got from cancelling a flight no longer expired. However, once again, for tickets issued starting May 28, 2025, Southwest flight credits will now expire. For most tickets, they will expire one year after a ticket is issued, and on basic fares (see below), they will expire six months after they’re issued.
The Introduction of Basic Economy
Southwest is also replacing their “Wanna Get Away” flights (which were the only Southwest flights I personally ever flew with a new fare type called “Basic”, which is for all intents and purposes Basic Economy. Details are still coming out about exactly what will and will not be included with the Basic fare type, but I think we have enough experience with Basic Economy from other airlines to get an idea of what to expect.
Slashed Points Earning
This came out a week or two ago, but Southwest also slashed the amount of points that most tickets will earn.
- Wanna Get Away (now Basic) fares have gone from earning 6x points to earning 2x points
- Wanna Get Away Plus fares have gone from earning 8x points to earning 6x points
- Anytime fares continue to earn 10x points
- Business Select fares have gone from earning 12x points to earning 14x points
Higher Points Redemptions
And, to top it off, Southwest also announced that they will vary the amount of Rapid Rewards points that it takes to book a flight. Historically, Southwest Rapid Rewards has been a revenue based frequent flyer program. That means that the number of points you need for an award flight is based on how much a ticket would cost in cash. Right now, each Rapid Rewards point will get you roughly the same value toward a ticket (somewhere around 1.3 cents per point, though that varies slightly depending on the flight and a few factors, such as whether it’s a connecting flight).
As part of this carnage of negativity, Southwest has also announced that they will “introduce variable redemption rates across higher-demand and lower-demand flights.” We don’t yet know exactly what this means, but given the other changes that have come out this week, I can’t imagine it will be a good thing! So be prepared to spend even more Rapid Rewards for your next flight!
The Bottom Line
Southwest Airlines has recently announced 5 negative changes to both their Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program and their airline as a whole. I can’t decide which of the five is the worst, though I suppose for me at least, I’d have to say the loss of two free checked bags.
What do you think? Which was the worst of these 5 changes? Leave your thoughts in the comments below
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
So, the investors have decided to make Southwest just like all the others … for me, as a loyal SW customer, I see no reason to fly with the company again, the attraction is gone
They are even on Expedia which is so strange. Now you can compare their prices and Southwest will have to pay Expedia for each ticket purchased.
Once great airline? It’s the Greyhound of the sky…
The 2 “Free” checked bags came at a higher fare than other competitors. Did you just not check competitors? They had to remove it from their fare or else their prices would look silly on Expedia when compared to other carriers.