Airlines have made fees a major part of their business model. Aside from Southwest Airlines, which never charges for baggage, most airlines charge extra for checked bags for their most basic fares.
That's another trick the JetBlue, American, and United Airlines (UAL) -) love to use as well. They sell all sorts of levels of fares where "Basic Economy" barely gets you on board, while higher-level tiers come with seat assignments, carry-on bags, and even checked bags.
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Having different ticket levels is really just another way to add fees without calling them fees. It generally costs less to buy a higher-tiered ticket than it does to purchase seat assignments, bags, and other perks on an a la carte basis.
Sometimes, when one airline makes a pricing change, it forces its rivals to do the same. That's not always the case, however, as Southwest Airlines (LUV) -) offers free checked bags at every level of ticket the airline sells.
That's a major giveback to passengers, as the airlines still generally offer cheaper tickets than United, American, and other carriers considered "full fare." Still, while you would think a major airline dropping a key fee would lead to others doing the same, that has not been the case.
JetBlue has offered a major free perk for almost a decade. Delta Airlines followed and will have the same offer in place on all its domestic flights by the end of the year (with international following by the end of 2024).
A second airline making the move and offering free WiFi could push American, United, and Southwest to do the same.
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United Airlines inches closer to free WiFi.
United Airlines said back in 2019 during an earnings call that it hoped to build up its technology to the point where it had the bandwidth to offer WiFi for free. Now, almost four years later, the airline has been spotted testing free internet service on select flights.
"Looks like United is slowly dipping its toes in trialing out complimentary WiFi?," @iTripReport shared on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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United making the move would almost certainly force every other major non-discount airline to at least consider making WiFi for free.
"Meanwhile, American Airlines has the bandwidth and charges more for it than anyone else in the industry. They promised free inflight messaging at their Media Day in 2017 and then quietly reneged," View From the Wing's Gary Leff wrote.
Southwest Airlines has gone in the other direction
While Southwest Airlines has marketed itself as the airline that does not charge a lot of hidden fees, that has not been the case with its WiFi. Early this year, the airline made a quiet change that many customers were outraged by.
The airline used to charge $8 for internet, which included all flight segments. In February, however, the airline changed to charging $8 per flight segment. That means that passengers who already have the inconvenience of having to make a connection now also have to pay for WiFi multiple times if they want to stay connected.
Southwest tried to justify the move at the time.
"In addition to upgrading our current fleet equipped with our legacy provider, Anuvu, we’re introducing an additional internet provider, Viasat, which will provide WiFi hardware on new aircraft in early March. With two vendors providing connectivity in our fleet, we’re introducing a new pricing model for onboard internet," the airline shared.
Southwest does offer customers free text messaging as well as a number of live television channels which do not cost extra.
