'The Day Southwest Died': Reactions pour in about the carrier's big changes

“The Day Southwest Died.”

That was the Cranky Flier headline as the popular aviation site ruminated on Southwest Airlines’ decision to add bag fees — as well as a raft of other changes tucked into the announcement.

Hyperbole? Not this time. The theme was a common one following Southwest’s stunning reversal of a policy that had helped define the airline for nearly two decades.

“Southwest Airlines dared to be different. Now it’s just like everyone else,” was the take at The Washington Post, which recapped the news in the style and spirit of an obituary.

The hits kept coming.

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Industry analysts fretted about how Southwest’s remarkable set of recent changes threatened to take away all the things that used to differentiate the airline. Southwest enjoyed decades operating as the industry's maverick — the upstart that forced other carriers to adapt to its quirky ways.

Now, however, many believe Southwest is starting to look more and more like the rivals it used to proudly brag that it was not like.

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Prominent airline industry analyst Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research Group did not mince words in discussing Southwest’s about-face on bag fees — a move that came just months after the carrier said it had no plans to do so.

"This is how you destroy a brand,” Harteveldt said in an interview with CBS News reporter Kris Van Cleave. “This is how you destroy customer preference. This is how you destroy loyalty. And this, I think, is going to send Southwest into a financial tailspin. Southwest, with these changes, becomes just another airline."

It’s not just the bag fees — though those received the most attention following Tuesday’s news.

There also have been no-notice frequent flyer devaluations and a decision to move away from its egalitarian roots and add revenue-generating extra-legroom seats. Southwest added its inventory to online sites like Google Flights, Kayak and Expedia — ending a long practice of selling seats almost exclusively on its own site. There were drastic layoffs in February — the first ever in the company’s 54-year history.

And, of course, the carrier is on the cusp of eliminating its signature open-seating policy — yet another Southwest hallmark that’s now set to fade away.

It all comes after hedge fund Elliott Management acquired a sizable stake in Southwest and turned activist investor, pressing the airline to make changes in the wake of disappointing earnings after the pandemic.

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Changes were likely needed at the company, but the One Mile at a Time blog asks, “Is changing virtually everything about the company, and making it just like the competition, the right move?”

That seems to be the question everyone’s asking. Once Southwest is stripped of most of the things that made it unique, will it still attract the outsize loyalty that had been another thing that set the airline apart?

Some suggested Southwest could weather the changes.

“While this could alienate some customers, other major airlines peers have fees today,” Jeff Windau, an analyst at Edward Jones, wrote in a note quoted by CNN. “As long as Southwest maintains competitive pricing, we do not envision a significant loss of customers."

To that point, Southwest does run a sizable domestic network. It has a significant presence in a number of major metro areas — places such as Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Nashville and Phoenix, among others.

And one thing that airline customers have shown time and time again: They’ll stick to — or even return to — an airline if the schedule is good and fares are low. That will likely prove true at Southwest, too.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby even went as far as to suggest that Southwest’s “slaying of the sacred cow” and addition of bag fees could be good for both the discounter and the other big U.S. airlines that compete with it.

But whether Southwest can hang on to the brand equity it had from decades of being America’s lovable upstart airline — that remains to be seen.

Related reading:

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