Southwest CEO Opens Up After Ending Free Bags

Last week, Southwest Airlines officially ended its longtime “bags fly free” policy as the airline began charging customers for checked bags on all flights. However, as the company implements this major change, CEO Bob Jordan explained how customers can still get free bags.

The Southwest Airlines CEO recently spoke at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference where he opened up a little bit about the major change, as he suggested that the move is “low risk,” because every other airline is already charging for checked bags.

“This stuff is coming online right now,” Jordan said of the changes during his public appearance. “And I think that’s the biggest thing that is underappreciated by our plan as it is happening right now, that. And number two, there is low risk because we’re putting in things that the industry has done forever. So there’s low risk implementation, there’s low risk in the financial benefit paying off.”

Additionally, Jordan explained how Southwest Airlines customers can still get a free bag despite the recent changes: by simply owning the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa Credit Card.

“We began charging for bags,” Jordan said of the recent change. “Obviously, if you’re – if you have status – all you have to do is have our credit card, you still have a free bag.”

And it sounds like more changes are on the horizon.

“And then the remainder, a lot of those come in very quickly. We’ll be announcing soon the date that we began selling assigned seating and extra leg room that will come in on the sell side in the third quarter of this year for operation in the first quarter of 2026,” Jordan said.

We’ll have to see how these changes work out for the airline as they attempt to boost profits.