New ad campaign "It's On"
Jun 22, 2009, 12:21 pm
#31
Moderator, Southwest Airlines and Choice Privileges
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 3,042
A "bags fly free" ad is back on the southwest.com home page:
The "Learn more" link brings up a new "Checked Baggage Fee Comparison Chart." That page includes the line:
The old nohiddenfees page still redirects to the home page. Perhaps some more new fees are coming, but two free bags may be here a while longer.
Another thought: ad campaigns do sometimes rotate out and later return.
Grab your bag. Its on.
Another thought: ad campaigns do sometimes rotate out and later return.
Jun 23, 2009, 8:09 am
#32
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: LAS-DEN
Programs: WN CP & B-list. Disillusioned fmr UA-1P/2P,F9-Ascent; Fmr AA-Plat,CO-Gold,NW-Silver,TWA-Elite
Posts: 1,630
I just saw and was going to post that "bags fly free" is back on the front page of their web site. Yeah! I would think that would mean 3-6 more months that we can enjoy flying as it was meant to be! They wouldn't put this on the web site, only to add fees in say the next month or two.
Free bags and no change fees -- still the smartest business strategy.
Free bags and no change fees -- still the smartest business strategy.
Jun 23, 2009, 7:10 pm
#33
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: eleVAte, Rapid Rewards
Posts: 31
True, but there is a law of unintended consequences. If they introduce change fees, I defiently won't be booking until I'm more certain of my travel. Currently, I book when the schedule opens and let WN take my money early. If they start restricting changes, I will wait for better fares (since they almost always DING my routes) or my travel is confirmed. WN loses the extra time with my money and less likely to have unused TTF credits that expire as free money.
I see fees maybe for items like phone reservations, day of upgrade to priority boarding, or other things that are less used features or incremental service gains that won't hit most people. Wall Street has been pushing Gary hard for these extra fees, and I agree at some point he'll need to cave.
I see fees maybe for items like phone reservations, day of upgrade to priority boarding, or other things that are less used features or incremental service gains that won't hit most people. Wall Street has been pushing Gary hard for these extra fees, and I agree at some point he'll need to cave.
I'd wager that many of the investors pushing WN to implement fees have never been on a Southwest flight, due to a previous lack of flights to financial centers, and a lack of premium product. They don't realize things such as Southwest's closed booking system. The fact that it's not easy to simply compare Southwest's price vs. the others on a "spreadsheet" search site like Orbitz or Kayak is the exact reason that Southwest can get away by charging a few dollars more per ticket, instead of fees. People make a conscious decision to scout out Southwest's fares, and it's easy to remind them that they won't be paying extra for bags there.
For any other airline, it would be suicide not to match fees on other carriers, since Joe traveler would see that DL is $5 cheaper than FL, and wouldn't take into account the $30 they'll be paying Delta for bags.
If Southwest started charging for bags, I predict a tremendous lost of goodwill and pax. Considering Tropicana sales fell 10% within weeks of changing the carton design, it's a safe bet that consumers sometimes irrationally vote with their feet.
ETA: On the page where you select your flight, there's still a huge banner ad proclaiming "Bags Fly Free", fwiw