When other airlines introduced their basic fares, the vast majority of the lowest prices did not change, they just became the basic fare. I looked at fares for 3 different WN routes (one each that competed with DL, AA, and UA) and both airlines had the exact same basic fares. Longing for what was doesn't do me any good now. I remember when I was given an exit row seat by the agent at the ticket counter because I am tall. Those days are long gone.

I don't think you understood his point, which is that the purpose of introducing basic fares is to make people pay extra by upcharging for what was previously included.

As I said: How is that any different than what every other carrier did?

You are correct. WN is now like all other carriers except with the serious deficiency of no first class and no Europe.

And only halfway across the Pacific.

It's not, but for a company which was profitable every year with upfront pricing and refusing to nickel and dime customers, it's a betrayal.

Betrayal? It's not personal, it's just business. If that upfront pricing had kept industry leading margins, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. Instead, it led to a middle of the pack performance behind several airlines that were "nickel and diming" customer for millions of dollar in income.

That upfront pricing served Southwest well and let Southwest grow into what it grew into.

Who knows if Southwest would have had the growth it has had, had they gone to the fee model at the same time the other airlines did.

It is absolutely a betrayal to the customers. But since Southwest was publicly traded, it was set up to be raided like this the way it is, to screw customers over. The investors will have a short term gain from the added fees in the coming months, and I suspect a merger with another carrier where Southwest disappears and the merging party is the controlling entity, will be announced before Southwest ever has to publicly show the damage that has been caused.

Cancel and rebook works if you booked it on points. Cancelled flight gets redeposited into your account and you use the new point number for the rebooked flight.

Cancel and rebook if you booked it on CASH means your travel credit (your savings) still expires 6 months after the original booking.

If you booked on June 1 for a December 5 flight and you see a price decrease of $20, cancel and rebook. Now you just need to take another flight BEFORE December 1 (June 1 + 6 months) to use that $20. Otherwise it expires.

Sneaky nickel and diming. Herb must be turning over in his grave.

To make it worse, it is in Southwest's interests for this scenario to happen over the passenger not refaring and flying the $20 higher fare. $20 in expired funds is $20 in profit, $20 in additional fare collected has $1.50 (7.5%) remitted to the government for air transportation tax.