Southwest Airlines faces brand turbulence after baggage fee announcement

• Southwest Value scores fall more than ten percentage points since baggage fee announcement.
• Consumers say they’re less likely to fly Southwest.
• Comparison with the 2022 Southwest flight outage suggests impact on sales may be limited.

Southwest Airlines has long soared above competitors with its “bags fly free” policy but may now be coming in for a landing. On March 11, the airline announced it would start charging for baggage, disappointing many customers. Using YouGov BrandIndex data, we take a look at how key brand perception metrics—Value, Impression, and Consideration—shifted after this announcement. We’ll also check in on Southwest’s purchase funnel metrics, including Purchase Intent and Current Customer scores, to see if the airline’s reputation is really in a nosedive or just hitting some turbulence.

Value, Impression, and Buzz take a dive

Southwest’s Buzz score began to plummet when the airline announced it would begin charging for checked luggage, falling from 5.0 on March 10 to -15.6 on March 18. This indicates that people were overwhelmingly hearing negative things about the airline.

The news also hurt value-perception. On March 10, Southwest’s Value score–a measure of perceived value-for-money–was 24.8, more than double that of its nearest competitor (American Airlines at 11.4). Since, it has fallen ten-and-a-half points to 14.3.

Impression, which reflects general sentiment toward the brand, followed a similar descent. On March 10, Southwest’s Impression score stood at 27.1, but by March 18, it had sunk to 10.1.

Southwest had already suffered some PR setbacks before the baggage announcement. The February 18 layoff news affecting 15% of its workforce and a February 25 near-collision in Chicago both stirred up some bad press, but they didn’t send brand perception into a full-on tailspin the way the baggage fee did.

Consideration and Purchase Intent hit turbulence

Looking at Southwest’s purchase funnel, Consideration and Purchase Intent reveal a bumpy ride. Consideration had been climbing before March 11, reaching a high of 36.8. But after the baggage fee news, it fell to 25.9 by March 18—indicating that fewer travelers were eyeing Southwest for their next trip.

Purchase Intent, which tracks how many consumers say they’re most likely to book with the airline, saw a similar dip. It was at 15.3 on February 17, peaked at 20.9 on March 10, then dropped to 13.7 by March 18—suggesting the baggage policy was enough to make some passengers rethink their ticket choices.

Customers aren’t happy, but may stay anyway

Despite this decline in customers’ intentions to fly Southwest, it’s unclear how much this will affect the airline’s bottom line. In December of 2022, a heavy storm led to a massive disruption for Southwest, leaving thousands of travelers stranded. This led to much more dramatic declines in consumer metrics than even the recent baggage fee announcement.

One metric, however, remained stable through the PR disaster: Current Customer. Even while consumers’ sense of value, quality and satisfaction fell, they apparently bought tickets at the same rate.

It’s too early to gauge the effects of Southwest’s recent policy changes. Like the 2022 outage, it may recover to previous levels. On the other hand, customers will be reminded that they have to pay for luggage each time they fly, which may lead to long-term damage to the Southwest brand.

Methodology:This analysis is based on data from YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks public perception of thousands of brands daily. Data was collected from February 17 to March 18, 2025, and from December 1, 2022 to April 23, 2023.