Is Southwest Airlines getting fee fever?
The airline opened the the a la carte menu when it added pet fees earlier this year. Starting this morning, its creative marketers have added a new charge, this time for guaranteed early boarding. Call it a front-of-the-line fee, if you will.
They call it EarlyBird Check-in. For and additional $10, any Southwest one-way fare passenger can be guaranteed a place near the front of the boarding line after the airline’s Business Select and Rapid Rewards A-List Customers. Best, it all happens automatically.
Make your reservations. Click on EarlyBird Check-in. Pay your added $10. Then, forget about it. No need to wait for the second-hand to sweep past the 24-hour-before-the-flight time to check for your flight in to get on the “A List.”
Is this simply another fee, or really a convenience for passengers who have been grumbling about Southwest’s boarding system for years? I guess, if it is so important to them to be in the almost-first group, it will be worth it to these passengers. It does let those who have been complaining about not being able to get the seat they want to put their money where their mouths are.
But there’s a bigger question to be asked: Is Southwest slipping down the slippery slope to more fees?
Back in March the low-cost carrier added a $75 pet fee. It also announced a $25 fee for handling unaccompanied minors ages 5 to 11. It increased the overweight baggage and third-checked-bag fees from $25 to $50. And now, it’s adding their new $10 EarlyBird fee. We know that a yet-to-be-determined Internet connection fee is on the way once the Southwest fleet is outfitted with wireless capabilities.
With a few more fees, Southwest will have a hard time calling itself a “no-fee” airline. Once Southwest loses its “no-fee” identity, I can see a $15 for first-checked-bag fee, $25 for second-checked bag fee and airport check-in fees on the horizon.
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
