Seriously, I never thought I’d see the day when my favorite airline – Southwest – will be featured in our infamous ‘ARGW’ series – but the day for some tough LUV has come.
On the heels of some serious route cuts, the airline had just announced that it will charge an extra $10 – per leg – for ‘early-bird’ check-in – i.e. 36 to 25 hours before boarding. However, you only board after Business Select and Rapid Rewards A-List members.
By the looks of it, Southwest has already changed its “no fees” marketing campaign that has worked so well for them and really differentiated them from other airlines – to “no hidden fees” (http://www.southwest.com/nofees/ – is gone, and now redirects to the homepage). But this goes beyond simple marketing and to the core brand perception of the airline. Southwest has always been the cozy “home-town” airline that does not nickel and dime you. This will put a serious dent in that image.
Some will argue that it is up to the customer to choose if early-boarding is worth $10 to them. True. So is the decision to take a second piece of luggage on other airlines or sit in ‘premium seating’.
Others will argue that this is similar to ‘Business Select’ – which was a successful program. However, Business Select was a package – a ‘product’ if you will - that the customer bought that included a number of important perks that made your entire flying experience different – from the security line, to check-in to the flight itself. This new deal is a very different bird – it charges you for a feature, not a product, that it’s a feature that is expected to be an organic part of the Southwest service.
With this move Southwest is weakening its brand. For a company that has maintained such a strong brand for so long and so successfully – that’s a big disappointment. And beyond the damage to the brand, I personally do not believe this will be a successful program. If anyone would be interested in early boarding it would be the business travelers and I would bet that many of them are already Business Select or Rapid Rewards A-List members. Also, I would expect that those customers who do pay the 10 smackaroos – which is no peanuts compared to the overall price of Southwest’s low prices – will feel ripped off as they watch Business Select and A-List members waltz in in front of them.
I think Southwest should be reminded of their own commercial:
Gad Barnea – CEO – FlyMiwok, Inc.
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