EarlyBird Check-In, which gives travelers a better boarding position in Southwest’s unique open seating system, will go from a flat $15 per person each way to $15, $20 or $25 depending on the length of the flight and the popularity of EarlyBird Check-In on the route. The switch to variable pricing, unveiled to employees Friday and due to be formally announced Monday, begins Aug. 29.
Southwest, which famously doesn’t assign seats, introduced Early-Bird Check-In in 2009, charging $10 each way. It went up to $12.50 and then to $15 in 2016.
“We’re making this change so we can continue offering a product our customers love,” Southwest said in a statement. “Of course, an increase in the price of a product is rarely welcome news, but as EarlyBird increases in popularity, we want to protect the value it offers our customers.”
This will be the second fee increase for Southwest this year. Earlier this year, the airline raised its “upgraded boarding’’ fee. That is a last-minute option, available at the airport, to jump to the front of the boarding line. It previously charged $30 or $40 each way but increased the fee to $50 on some flights. The going rate on a Chicago to Phoenix flight in July was $50.
Southwest, the nation’s largest domestic carrier, raised $358 million from EarlyBird fees in 2017. That’s peanuts compared with other airlines’ baggage fee revenue but a considerable amount of money for an airline that generally bills itself as fee-free.