New Southwest Airline Policy for Checked Bags

[Nemo14]

I received this in an e-mail from SW today:

If you're planning to check your bags the next time you travel, make sure you know about the changes to our Checked Bag Allowance. Starting January 29, 2008, you will now be able to check up to two bags (up to 50 pounds each) for free. A third bag, not exceeding 50 pounds, will be accepted for a $25 charge. Additional items or items heavier than 50 pounds are subject to higher excess and/or overweight charges.

 

[The Mom]

Many airlines have been charging extra for heavier bags for some time now. I had to pack very lightly when joining my husband on a trip because he exceeded the weight limit, and had to pay the $25 fee, so was planning on transferring some of his things to my suitcase for the return trip.

 

[Nemo14]

Many airlines have been charging extra for heavier bags for some time now. I had to pack very lightly when joining my husband on a trip because he exceeded the weight limit, and had to pay the $25 fee, so was planning on transferring some of his things to my suitcase for the return trip.

Just to clarify, I think Southwest has also been charging extra for heavy bags for some time now. The changes referred to I believe are in the number of checked bags allowed.

 

[imamouse]

This is good to know. I assume that this policy is per ticketed passenger? If so, it seems lenient enough. I usually take one bag weighing about 40 pounds with me for an entire week at WDW, so this shouldn't be too difficult to comply with.

Time to break out the bathroom scale. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RiversideBunny]

When checking in at Port Orleans Riverside in December for the return flight home on Continental, we saw someone who was over the 50 lb. limit.
He was able, after a while, to switch things around among the bags so that he got that bag under the 50 limit.

By the way, another man tried to check in at the resort for a SW Airlines flight but couldn't. SW was not included in the contract for resort check-in.

 

[mousefan1972]

When leaving Manchester, NH on Dec. 19 to head to MCO, one of our bags weighed 49.5 pounds... phew. Just made it. While waiting to check in to come home at MCO, the family in front of us was frantically moving stuff back and forth between their bags to get them all under 50 pounds... We just took one more suitcase than we normally do and spread all the heavier stuff around, so we wouldn't have to do that.

 

[bluefaery]

I received this in an e-mail from SW today:

If you're planning to check your bags the next time you travel, make sure you know about the changes to our Checked Bag Allowance. Starting January 29, 2008, you will now be able to check up to two bags (up to 50 pounds each) for free. A third bag, not exceeding 50 pounds, will be accepted for a $25 charge. Additional items or items heavier than 50 pounds are subject to higher excess and/or overweight charges.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm flying SWA when I go in Feb. Thankfully it's only a one way trip. Long story, but I'm driving home.

 

[MichWolv]

This new policy is pretty much the policy that other airlines have had in place for quite some time, except Southwest's extra bag charges are lower.

The ones to watch for are the discount airlines like Spirit and a few others that are beginning to charge a nominal fee for the second (and sometimes the first) checked bag. This is already common amongst European no-frills airlines, like RyanAir and EasyJet, and I wouldn't be suprised to see all the US discounters do it.

 

[The Mom]

I'm old enough to remember when most suitcases were either non-rolling, or just had those awful straps at one end (and terrible wheels), so the passengers limited the weight themselves. Or paid large sums of money in tips to skycaps. :lol:

 

[maelstrom]

I'm old enough to remember when most suitcases were either non-rolling, or just had those awful straps at one end (and terrible wheels), so the passengers limited the weight themselves. Or paid large sums of money in tips to skycaps. :lol:

My mom just got rid of her old blue American Tourister luggage, which did not have any kind of wheels or straps. Up until a few years ago, we were using two sets of hard-side Samsonite luggage (one grey set and one mauve set). The bigger ones had wheels and a piggyback, and the smaller ones had wheels and that strap that pulled out from the side that pretty much did nothing but help you to tip your luggage over. Now we have rolling soft-side Samsonite luggage like most everyone else. You had to lock the hard-side Samsonite or else it would pop open in transit. And since you're not allowed to adequately secure your belongings anymore because the TSA feels the need to paw through your dirty underwear, we had to make the move to soft-side.