AA, the latest to join in on increases to baggage fees

[swamt]

Well, it appears that AA will join the others in raising baggage fees. JetBlue, United, Spirit, Delta, Air Canada, Canadian Air, and now American all now charge an increase of $5 for a total of $30 for first bag and $40 for second bags.
By all these airlines raising the baggage fees does 2 things, pretty much will make the increases stick, and another is, Southwest passenger numbers will increase more than likely by 4th Q and for sure come 1st Q next year.
The question is; how will Southwest respond? I would expect a revised and increased "Bags Fly Free" campaign picking back up again.

American becomes the latest airline to raise its bag fees

 

[robbedagain]

Swamt.. I heard SWA is only carrier not charging. I wonder.. If say economy tanks wld WN charge bags?? Also i saw where WN is getting 5 new gates and redesign terminal A at BWI plus theyre gonna break ground for a 130000 sq ft hangar for maintenance work on the aircraft

 

[swamt]

Swamt.. I heard SWA is only carrier not charging. I wonder.. If say economy tanks wld WN charge bags?? Also i saw where WN is getting 5 new gates and redesign terminal A at BWI plus theyre gonna break ground for a 130000 sq ft hangar for maintenance work on the aircraft

I wouldn't say never, but I don't think they will be charging any time soon. With all the other airlines charging and increasing baggage fees SWA will use this to their advantage to increase the load factors, that currently, our upper officers more than outway having baggage fees. With all that said, I would not say never. SWA could try charging, say, 5-10 bucks for the 2nd bag and still allowing first bags free. By charging such a low fee for the 2nd bag, pretty sure we would not lose a large amount of passengers as we would still be the lowest for bags and still free for the first one. This is just an example there are several other ways they could do it as well. But, I still don't see it happening any time soon.

We are expanding our maintenance department in 4 different cities...

New hangars are going up in Houston, BWI, and elsewhere in 2 other cities, I believe Denver, and somewhere in Cali I think. Plus you will start seeing some more growth in other cities with added overnighters growing dramatically in many cities.
Below is the new designed and the most impressive hangars built to this day. This new facility will blow all of our existing one away and even Houston's new one going up now and almost done.

Southwest to invest in new MRO facility at Baltimore/Washington

 

[robbedagain]

I agree swamt.

 

[jimntx]

Flying on SWA (except for introductory fares to new routes) is not as cheap as it used to be. They may not charge for checked bags, but somebody has to pay for the jet fuel to lift those bags off the ground. And, jet fuel, like gasoline for cars, is going up in price. Let's not forget that after employee salaries, jet fuel is usually the most expensive item in any airline's budget. Unlike the a/c, the airline can't work a lease deal that spreads out the cost of fuel. Them oil cumpnies want cash on the barrel head.

P.S. I will concede you the possibility that the cost of jet fuel is the reason that SWA has not agreed to a new contract for mechanics. In that case one could say that the mechanics are paying for the aforementioned jet fuel.

 

[swamt]

Your right Jim. There are times where we are not no longer the cheapest. Some other airlines, when they run their specials, are cheaper than SWA for the tickets. If they end up flying with a lot of baggage (luggage) then they will more than likely bust the total cost of the trip there and back for example.
I still think the advantage of passengers picking SWA over whomever, is first and foremost customer service, no change fees, free bags and most really do like the no assigned seating. And I am not sure what the other airlines do now days, but SWA serves free drinks and snacks, they do charge for alcoholic drinks. But are also handed out complementary to some passengers as I have heard. Now that could be just to make an upset passenger happy or something but that just get's tied back into the customer service aspect.
Even some relatives have told me the same, that SWA is not always the cheapest tickets.

 

[jimntx]

AFAIK, we (AA) have always served free non-alcoholic beverages in coach, and F/C gets free alcohol as well. Like SWA there are free alcoholic beverages in coach depending on the circumstances--F/C not available to an Executive Platinum, missed connection for a frequent flyer, as you say to calm an upset passenger. The flight attendants actually have a good bit of situational authority to give a passenger a free drink.

 

[swamt]

Yes jim same at both it looks like. F/A's have a lot of authority to make own decisions.
I mentioned the drinks originally because I think some airlines out there do charge for non alcoholic drinks but not sure who they all are. Even some are charging for water. Maybe these are the ULCC's doing this but just not sure.