Southwest’s Cocky Retort to Savage Shade

297

Nowadays, when it comes to Southwest Airlines, THE story of the year is their recent announcement that, effective May 28th, the airline is introducing a policy to charge for checked baggage.

Other Changes at Southwest

Unfortunately for Southwest, this is just the latest in a series of changes by the airline, along with announcements of new seats (which will make economy seating smaller, thinner and, less comfortable), and introducing assigned seating (which, on the whole, is probably a good thing because it will remove the issues of “Jetway Jesus,” but you know they’re going to charge for those assigned seats), among others.

Southwest Fans React

First come, first served seating was always a point of contention for Southwest fans, but everybody – and I mean EVERYBODY – loved that they got 2 checked bags for free. And now, in the mother of all cash grabs, passengers are going to lose that, too. And they are p!ssed.

Frontier Seizes the Opportunity

Frontier, seeing a moment of opportunity, developed a new campaign where they appropriated Southwest’s soon-to-be abolished policy of free checked bags:

They didn’t mention Southwest by name, of course, but between the

• “free bags”
• “…Ready to Be Your New Love” (Southwest has been using the word “luv” and a heart logo for years)
• “Some airlines have changed. They’ve raised fees, taken away perks…”
• “We’ve always had heart,” said Barry Biffle, CEO, Frontier Airlines. “Some airlines are walking away from what travelers love, but we’re running towards it. Think of this as the ultimate ‘divorce your old airline’ deal. If travelers show us the love, we’ll make these perks permanent.”

it wasn’t difficult to know which one of “some airlines” they were talking about.

Southwest’s Response

Southwest, obviously, caught the zinger, and responded by shooting their own arrow that managed to bash Frontier’s frequent use of discount codes:

“You don’t need a promo code to avoid change fees, cancellation fees, view in-flight entertainment or bring along two carry-on items on Southwest,” Southwest said in a statement.

“We look forward to serving the new Customers attracted to fare above all else, as well as rewarding our most-loyal Customers in our unmatched network connecting more than 850 nonstop city pairs at 117 airports across the United States and 10 international countries.”

Frontier’s campaign was far more effective, if you ask me, and it’s obvious they got under Southwest’s skin with that one.

What’s Next for Southwest?

Of course, it’s way too early to tell whether and how Southwest’s announcement of checked bag fees will affect their bottom line. But there were a whole lot of people who used Southwest specifically BECAUSE they knew they didn’t have to pay to check their first 2 bags. And if they’re going to be the same as every other airline, with those fees, and paying to reserve a seat (which will be even less comfortable than their current economy seats), it’s possible even the most loyal Southwest passenger will look at other airlines, because all things WILL be equal. And if butts aren’t in those seats, those new fees would be kind of a moot point, wouldn’t they?

Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.

Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.

Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.

Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!

This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary