Southwest Airlines will start to change its policy on now-shows. The Associated Press reported that the airline will start to charge no-show passengers a fee who don't cancel their tickets before the flight. They are also increasing early check-in and oversize bag fess.
Southwest does not charge for change fees and they let customers use prices of unused tickets for other trips at later dates. However beginning next year, they will now charge the no show fee on its cheaper flights which are called, "Wanna Get Away" tickets.
So beginning sometime next year, Southwest will charge a no-show fee on its cheapest fares, known as "Wanna Get Away" tickets. Neither the date nor the amount of the fee has been set.
"By our research, customers understand that we all could benefit - customers and the company - from the opportunity to resell a seat," CEO Gary Kelly said to the AP. "Once the airplane takes off and (a seat) is empty, we can't ever reclaim that."
To date Southwest is the only big U.S. airline that hasn't charged customers for changing flights, but there new policies will make things just a little bit less customer-friendly. Their current rules have no penalty to fliers that don't show up for their flight and they can use the full value of their ticket from a flight they missed towards a different one.
USA Today reported that Southwest is saying their customer-friendly policies have left too many empty seats on flights. The news was announced on Friday Dec. 14 on an investor conference call.
Kelly said to The Dallas Morning News, "Specifically, we will implement a no-show fee for reuse of funds associated with restrictive tickets that are not flown and not cancelled by our passengers prior to flights. This should add ancillary revenue and promote customer behavior that allows us to sell the open seat prior to departure."
There has been no report on how much the actual fee will be for no-shows nor a start date for the policy.
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