Hedge Funds Ruin Everything That They Touch

Southwest Airlines 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 Tuesday that 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 flights booked on May 28.

“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,” CEO Bob Jordan said in a statement.
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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 company board.

Thanks to fucking Elliott, there will no be no difference between SWA and every other fucking airline.

I don't fly as often as I once did, but I used to make an effort to fly SWA. Beside the free baggage thing, their employees seemed to care about their jobs and the customers. Encountering grumpy workers on United, American and Delta was a common occurrance; I can remember only one on SWA.

I've had flights canceled at the gate for both AA and SWA. For AA, we all had to line up at various desks to get someone to reschedule the trips. For SWA, we were all asked to just hang out in the gate area. A customer service rep then called us up by final destinations to give us new boarding passes. All of our bags were rerouted, too. No sweat, no hassle, just excellent customer service by people who cared about their jobs.

"Activist investors" have had a hand in turning airline travel into something to be endured. May they all be cursed, forever.

Herb Kelleher must be spinning in his grave. Thanks to that fucking hedge fund, the only difference between SWA and the others will be the paint jobs on the outside of the airlines.