Southwest Airlines breaks with another tradition and checked bags will cost you now

Southwest Airlines said Tuesday that it will begin charging customers a fee to check bags, abandoning a decades-long practice that executives had described last fall as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals.
Southwest, which built years of advertising campaigns around its policy of letting passengers check up to two bags for free, said people who haven't either reached the upper tiers of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program, bought a business class ticket or hold the airline's credit card will have to pay for checked bags.

The airline did not outline the fee schedule but said the new policy would start with May 28 bookings.

«We have tremendous opportunity to meet current and future customer needs, attract new customer segments we don't compete for today, and return to the levels of profitability that both we and our shareholders expect,» Southwest Airlines CEO Bob Jordan said in a statement.
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Less than a year ago, the Dallas-based airline announced it was doing away with another tradition, the open-boarding system it has used for more than 50 years. Southwest expects to begin operating flights with passengers in assigned seats next year.

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Southwest has struggled recently and is under pressure from activist investors to boost profits and revenue. The airline reached a truce in October with hedge fund Elliott Investment Management to avoid a proxy fight, but Elliott won several seats on the Southwest board.

The airline