Bags No Longer Fly Free: All the (Ugly) Southwest Changes Coming in 2025

This is a really hard article to write. I woke up this morning on the West Coast to find the news cycle already churning. The other shoe finally dropped on my favorite airline. Southwest Airlines is making multiple major changes to its policies and procedures, and I won't sugar coat it. It's pretty ugly.

We knew changes were coming in 2025 and beyond to Southwest. Last year, the airline announced a move to assigned seats (a negative change for some but positive for others who hated Southwest's "cattle call" boarding).

And last week, there was a devaluation in how some Southwest fares earned Rapid Rewards points. The airline has certainly been facing profitability problems in recent times, and a new activist investor has been putting pressure on leadership, so change was certainly inevitable.

Like all Southwest superfans, however, I was crossing my fingers that the core of what made the airline unique would remain. It doesn't look like that's going to happen.

What's Changing in 2025

In an email today to customers and a press release, Southwest announced multiple additional changes to its policies, some of which are pretty core to the airline's identity.

Specifically, here are the changes from the March 11, 2025 announcement:

Bags no longer fly free

RIP "Bags Fly Free." The airline is going to have to spend a lot of money changing the "Bags Fly Free" signage on just about everything at airports and billboards across the country, but apparently that will be less than it is going to make on bag fees.

Starting with all fares booked May 28, 2025, most customers will no longer get free checked bags. The exceptions are as follows:

• A-List Preferred members: 2 free bags (no change)
• A-List members: 1 free bag
• Business Select fares: 2 free bags
• Southwest Credit Card holders: 1 free bag (for card holder and for up to 8 additional travelers on the same reservation including Companion Pass companions, confirmed here)

We don't yet know how much Southwest will charge per bag, but chances are good prices will be in line with other US airline bag fees.

Fare credits will expire

Southwest has always allowed customers to cancel their flights and receive a fare credit back. In 2022, however, it made this fare credit non-expiring - a substantial perk above and beyond what other airlines offered.

Starting May 28, 2025, all new fare credits will once again get an expiration date. For most fares, the credit will be good for 1 year from the time of ticketing and will be transferrable. For Southwest's cheapest fare class (more on that below), the fare credit will only be good for 6 months and cannot be transferred.

Wanna Get Away becomes "Basic"

One more famous Southwest tagline is disappearing as well. The airline's cheapest fare type, formerly known as Wanna Get Away, will be known as Basic, starting on May 28, 2025.

This offering will be much more in line with basic economy on other US carriers. Key features of note:

• Earns 2x Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent.
• No changes permitted.
• No same day standby/changes.
• Fare credits (for cancellations) only valid for 6 months and are not transferrable.

Reminder of changes already announced

These changes are in addition to several changes previously announced. If you haven't followed the news cycle the past many months, here's a quick refresher on what those are:

• Seat assignments: Southwest will end its unique select-your-own-seat-as-you-board system and assign seats on all of its planes. The cheapest fares will not include advance seat selection. The precise details on how seat assignments will work are not fully revealed. It's likely the airline will start selling tickets with seats later in 2025 for travel in 2026.
• Rapid Rewards earning changes: Wanna Getaway Fares (now Basic) and Wanna Get Away Plus fares will now earn fewer Rapid Rewards points than before. Business Select fares will earn more (see my article with all the specifics).

More changes coming to Rapid Rewards?

That's all the specific changes known for now, but Southwest also buried one more change in the materials. The press release says "Southwest Rapid Rewards, the carrier’s loyalty program, will also introduce variable redemption rates across higher-demand and lower-demand flights." The email to customers says: "We will also begin to vary our redemption rates across our fare products on some high- and low-demand travel periods."

Southwest already charges more points for flights that are more expensive (the points cost is tied to the cash price), so variability is already built into the current Rapid Rewards program. The airline has not clarified what this new language means, but it strongly suggests that a further devaluation is coming to Rapid Rewards points on the redemption side (perhaps with points worth even less when used to purchase the most in-demand flights, like that Christmas trip to Hawaii?). So watch this space.

My commentary & how the changes might affect my travel choices

There are already thousands of news articles out there on the Internet reporting on these changes, and there will be many more. So what I mostly want to do here is to provide my unique commentary on these changes and tell you how I think they will affect me (and by extension, how they might affect YOU!).

Those of you who are regular Trips With Tykes readers know that I'm a frequent Southwest traveler who has been loyal to the airline for many years, particularly the last decade or so as a family traveler because of how great Southwest is when flying with kids. I even was a brand ambassador for Southwest back in 2017-2019. But my loyalty is first and foremost to you as readers, so I always try to give it to you straight.

Adding bag fees really shocked me

First, I was really quite surprised to see Southwest move completely away from free checked bags. I have always suspected that the airline would not be able to offer 2 free checked bags to every passenger forever, but I guessed that it would instead transition to 1 free bag for most fares.

That way it could still keep its famous "Bags Fly Free" tagline while making some money on ancillary bag fees. It's rare for an average traveler to actually need to check 2 bags, so a step down to 1 wouldn't destroy as much as goodwill.

But what do I know? The airline ripped off the Band-Aid in a major way.

This is the change that is likely going to be the focus of most of the headlines, and rightfully so because the tagline is so core to the airline's brand. But for me, it actually is going to make very little difference.

As someone with a Southwest hub near my home, at least one member of our family has always had a Southwest-branded credit card. So we will continue to get one free bag each for fares we book on that card. That's more than enough for our family of four to travel anywhere that Southwest flies, even to ski destinations where we might check a ski bag for the adults.

If you are already a Southwest credit card holder too, you likely won't feel this change either as a practical matter. But if you aren't (or you don't plan to keep your card long term), this definitely makes Southwest look less appealing.

I won't buy Basic

My predictions were a little more on point when it came to Southwest fare classes. I said just this past week that Wanna Get Away fares were looking more and more like basic economy. And with today's changes, Southwest made that official, renaming the fare class entirely.

We don't yet know all of the details for how this fare class will work once seat assignments happen, but the general parameters have now been laid out. And Southwest's Basic fare won't have the amenities that most family travelers will need - no advance seat assignments to be able to guarantee seating with your kids, paltry Rapid Rewards earnings, no changes permitted, and fare credits for cancellations lasting just 6 months long.

Just like I don't buy basic economy on American or United or Delta, I likely will not be buying it on Southwest. And that likely means higher fares for me and other travelers like me who used to purchase Wanna Get Away Fares exclusively.

In particular, I make a lot of use out of Southwest's policy that allows you to claim a fare drop as a credit (or points refund) if prices go down. I'm always booking and rebooking and tweaking my travel plans. It appears that travelers will need to purchase at least a Wanna Get Away Plus fare to be able to continue to take advantage of that perk.

Book before May 28 (preferably with points)

If you like Southwest the way it is, you thankfully do have a little bit of time to avoid most of these changes. Other than the devaluation in Rapid Rewards earning on some fares, the rest of the changes don't take effect until May 28, 2025. That means as long as you book flights between now and then (and don't later modify them), you will be able to enjoy two free checked bags and fare credits that never expire. So book now and forever hold your peace.

That said, the airline has definitely had fares that seem higher than usual of late, and it may keep its fares higher during this interim period to capture customers who are trying to avoid the fees later. So if the fares drop later (and drop lower than the cost of the bags you are going to check will cost), be prepared to modify and bank those fare credits later, likely under less generous rules!

Better yet - book with Rapid Rewards points you already have them. If those do get devalued more later, you'll want to have spent them down as much as possible. And if you book with points and later have to change or cancel, those points should simply go back into your account with no expiration date like a fare credit will soon have attached to it.

Time to switch airlines?

So will I be flying Southwest less? So far the jury is still out until we get more details, but I think that's possible. I already have been flying it a little bit less, particularly cross-country where the flight connections just haven't been as good or frequent in the last year or so. For example, I am more regularly flying American from San Francisco to Charlotte nonstop instead of taking a connection out of Oakland.

Realistically though, there are still a lot of things about the airline that work for my family that make me unlikely to substantially change my flying patterns in the near term.

Are you hub captive?

First and foremost is the fact that one of Southwest's biggest focus airports, Oakland International, is less than 15 minutes from my house. A lot of Southwest's flights, particularly to destinations in Southern California and to other big cities on the West Coast, work for me in terms of schedule and price.

If you are located in a Southwest hub as well, chances are the airline will still continue to work for you in that same way. So don't cut off your nose to spite your face and stomp away from Southwest in righteous anger either. Do the math, compare the offerings, and book whatever airline is more convenient in terms of price and timing. That may continue to be Southwest.

Smaller tricks & hacks to consider

Second, there are still a couple of unique differentiators and tricks and hacks with Southwest that I will make use of.

For example, Southwest rolled out free Same Day Standby on all fares last year and this has been a benefit that has hugely served my family. We fly often between Northern and Southern California airports (mostly flying to Disneyland!), where Southwest has dozens and dozens of flights a day. Being able to swap to an earlier flight time to get home at no charge is a really nice perk. In fact, my husband just used this very perk yesterday coming back from a business trip in LA. While this won't be a benefit on Basic fares going forward, since we won't be buying that fare class, we'll get to take advantage on Wanna Get Away Plus and higher fares at least.

I also am currently the holder of a Southwest Companion Pass that allows one member of my family to fly free with me on each and every Southwest flight. Even if certain features earn less or cost more on Southwest, we get a 25% travel discount for our family of four that more than cancels these things changes out - for now at least.

I further love how generous Southwest has been with its flight schedule changes. There are definitely some tricks around that feature that are alive for now at least that I'll continue to use. See this blog post about Southwest flight schedule changes for all the details.

But... if none of those features are applicable or relevant to you, there is certainly less on the scale to tip the balance to Southwest.

The people

Finally, let's talk about the people. One thing that has always made Southwest unique is its employees.

They are the ones telling the jokes, singing the songs, and decorating the airport ticket counters for each and every holiday (love that!). They are the ones who always smiled at my kids as I boarded a plane with a baby on my hip years ago instead of scowling at me for daring to fly with an infant. They are the ones who once gave my daughter a giant bag full of dozens of packs of pretzels when she told a flight attendant they were her favorite snack.

As long as Southwest hires those folks and empowers them to deliver quality customer service, the airline will be different.

As you may know, however, Southwest unfortunately did have layoffs last month - the first layoff in the airline's history. That undoubtedly and understandably hurt morale and makes remaining employees nervous. Will their bosses continue to treat them right and also empower them to do right by the customer? Jury's still out.

The ones that survived this layoff are fantastic and will have to bear the brunt of explaining these customer-unfriendly changes on the front lines to the customers they love.

I'm rooting for them to be able to weather the storm. And I'm rooting for management to value what they bring to the table. Because if they do, some of the vestiges of what we all love about Southwest may just still be able to survive.

Editor's Note: Bookmark this post and come back in the coming days! There are still many details to be fleshed out, and I will update it with more information as it becomes available.