Frontier Airways on Tuesday unveiled a free bag examine promotion in a dig at Southwest, precisely one week after the rival finances provider ended its personal decades-old coverage.
The rival finances airline introduced a brand new promotion bundling a seat project, free carry-on bag and free flight adjustments for purchasers who guide Tuesday by way of March 24 for flights by way of Aug. 18.
Frontier can also be throwing in a free checked bag for flights departing Could 28 by way of Aug. 18.
Final week, Southwest broke from its beloved free bag examine coverage, saying the charges would click on into place on Could 28.
“We’ve always had heart,” Frontier CEO Barry Biffle stated in an announcement – an obvious swipe at Southwest’s heart-shaped brand, Dallas Love Subject house airport and LUV inventory ticker.
“Some airlines are walking away from what travelers love, but we’re running towards it. Think of this as the ultimate ‘divorce your old airline’ deal,” Biffle added. “If travelers show us the love, we’ll make these perks permanent.”
Southwest responded with a jab at Frontier’s promotion, which requires a promo code.
“You don’t need a promo code to avoid change fees, cancellation fees, view in-flight entertainment or bring along two carry-on items on Southwest,” a Southwest spokesperson instructed The Submit in an announcement.
“We look forward to serving the new Customers attracted to fare above all else,” they added.
The free bag examine coverage was a serious draw for Southwest clients, making it a stand-out within the business.
Now, Southwest is hoping the bag fare will increase its revenues.
The key change adopted a monthslong marketing campaign from Elliott Funding Administration, which took a stake in Southwest final 12 months, gained 5 board seats and unsuccessfully fought to oust CEO Bob Jordan.
The Dallas-based airline additionally made main capitulations final month when it ended its iconic pick-any-seat coverage and carried out a normal assigned seating course of.
Southwest’s promise to sundown the perk got here as a shock to clients, for the reason that airline had lengthy pledged to carry onto the uncommon coverage.
CEO Bob Jordan has bragged that, other than prices and schedule, Southwest’s “bags fly free” coverage is usually cited as the highest cause why clients select the airline.
Throughout an investor day in September, Southwest stated “rigorous research” defended the advantages of the free-bag coverage.
The airline claimed it could acquire between $1 billion and $1.5 billion from bag charges, however lose $1.8 billion of market share from rolling again the perk.
“What’s changed is that we’ve come to realize that we need more revenue to cover our costs,” COO Andrew Watterson beforehand instructed CNBC. “We think that these changes that we’re announcing today will lead to less of that share shift than would have been the case otherwise.”
