The decisions that made it
The Pricing Play · Business Model
Southwest's Low Fares Were Never the Strategy. The Cost Gap Behind Them Was.
Southwest's average fare climbed to about $170 a seat — and in 2023 a rival CEO said that's 'not a particularly cheap airline.' The 2025-26 pivot to bag fees and assigned seats isn't a betrayal. It's what happens when the cost gap that funded the low fares finally closes.
8 min
The Reversal · Decision Forks
Southwest's Own Slides Proved Free Bags Was Worth Keeping. It Killed the Policy Anyway.
In September 2024 Southwest told investors that ending free bags would cost ~$1.8B a year in lost share against ~$1–1.5B in fee revenue — and promised bags fly free. Roughly five months later it broke the promise. The math never changed. The board did.
7 min
The Crisis Response · Decision Forks
Southwest's Pilots Told It the Bomb Was Ticking. It Went Off a Month Later.
In December 2022 Southwest canceled more than 16,700 flights and took an ~$800 million pre-tax hit. The story you heard was a winter storm. The real story: a decade-old technical-debt bomb the pilots' union publicly named one month before it detonated.
8 min