Southwest provides updates re checked bags, dynamic pricing & more

Southwest released a video last week which provided a few updates with regards to how their new paid checked baggage policy will work, some hints as to their revised dynamic pricing policy and seating benefits on their credit cards and more.

Here’s the full video:

In case you’d rather have a TLDW (Too Long, Didn’t Watch) version, here’s a summary of what was shared.

Checked Baggage Policy

Up to 8 additional passengers eligible

As a quick recap, this will be the new checked baggage policy from May 28, 2025:

• Two free checked bags
  • A-List Preferred Members
  • Business Select fares
• One free checked bag
  • A-List Members
  • “Other select customers” (no indication yet as to who’ll be selected)
  • Southwest credit cardholders
• Zero free checked bags
  • Everyone else

What we didn’t know when Southwest first announced these changes was how free checked bags would work when people travel with someone eligible for at least one free bag.

The good news is that Southwest will extend the free baggage policy to up to 8 additional passengers traveling on the same reservation. For example, if a family of five is traveling on Southwest and one of the parents has a Southwest credit card, all five family members can bring a checked bag for free.

Checked baggage fees unknown (for now), but hints given

In the video, they claim that they’re not allowed to provide specific details about bag pricing and other fees before they’re active. However, they did share that baggage fees “will be in line with industry standards” and that they’ll share more details as we get closer to May 28.

We should therefore be prepared for fees to be in the $35-$40 range for your first checked bag and $45-$50 for your second bag based on pricing for airlines like American Airlines, Delta and United.

A weird baggage policy For Companion Pass companions

The weirdest announcement within the video is how the free checked baggage policy will work for companions of Companion Pass holders.

For Companion Pass holders who are eligible for one or two free checked bags, their companion will have to pay for their checked bags, but they’ll subsequently receive a refund to their original form of payment. This seems like a frustrating and potentially confusing setup, but I’m assuming that it’s due to system limitations based on how quickly Southwest has had to throw this policy together as I imagine the upcoming new process is more convoluted than Southwest themselves would like.

Assigned Seating

Some Southwest credit cards come with free EarlyBird Check-Ins or A1-15 boardings every year. Seeing as Southwest is moving to an assigned seating model, those benefits will be rendered moot going forward.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that their credit cards will become less valuable. In the video they alluded to the fact that there’ll be some kind of seating benefits on at least one type of card – if not more – but there’s nothing specific at the moment. Hopefully this comes in the form of the ability to select seats for no fee rather than just being a “You get to be in boarding group 3” benefit.

Dynamic Pricing

The announcement a couple of weeks ago stated that Southwest “will also introduce variable redemption rates across higher-demand and lower-demand flights.” I’d taken that to mean that most award flights would maintain their current value, but that only some flights at either end of the demand spectrum would be priced differently.

Things might be worse than that though. That’s because in the video they state: “We are changing our redemption rates factoring in how much demand exists for a flight. For example, flights with lower demand will have a lower redemption rate, and flights with peak demand may have a higher redemption rate, and some flights will have the same or similar redemption rates as they do today.”

That sounds a little more loosey-goosey than I was expecting. To me, that gives the impression that while some award prices will stay the same and some flights will be regarded as peak and off-peak (and thus provide worse or better value for your points respectively), other non-peak and non-off-peak flights could still see a devaluation due to the inclusion of the “or similar” qualifier.

Question

How do you feel about this video update? Does it settle some of your nerves about upcoming changes, or does it make you dread them even more? Let us know in the comments below.

The post Southwest provides updates re checked bags, dynamic pricing & more appeared first on Frequent Miler. Frequent Miler may receive compensation from CHASE. American Express, Capital One, or other partners.