Southwest hikes fees, limits chargers
Southwest has raised its checked‑bag fee by $10 and is now limiting passengers to one portable charger under 100 watt‑hours that must be kept on the person or under the seat — changes that mark a steady rollback of the airline’s old consumer perks. Travelers should expect higher ancillary costs and stricter carry‑on rules on Southwest flights going forward. (nbcdfw.com) (nationaltoday.com)
A year ago, Southwest was still the airline people used as a shortcut around baggage fees. On April 9, 2026, it raised its checked-bag prices again, taking the first bag to $45 and the second to $55 for reservations ticketed or voluntarily changed on or after that date. (swamedia.com) That increase landed less than a year after Southwest ended its old “two free checked bags” policy for most customers. The airline’s current fare chart says only Choice Extra customers and Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred members still get two free checked bags, while A-List members and Rapid Rewards credit cardholders get one. (swamedia.com) (southwest.com) Southwest says the new $10 jump is tied to “an ongoing analysis of the business” and “the evolving global backdrop.” Outside reports tied the move to rising jet fuel costs, but the practical result for passengers is simple: Southwest is now charging bag fees that look a lot more like the rest of the industry. (swamedia.com) (usatoday.com) The charger rule is the other half of the change. Southwest confirmed it will start limiting passengers to one portable charger per person on April 20, and that charger has to stay on the person or in an under-seat bag instead of an overhead bin. (cbsnews.com) There is also a size cap: the charger cannot exceed 100 watt-hours. That number is the aviation cutoff used for many common consumer power banks, and the Federal Aviation Administration says spare lithium-ion batteries under that limit are allowed only in carry-on baggage, not checked luggage. (cbsnews.com) (faa.gov) Airlines care about where those batteries sit because a loose lithium battery fire is easier to spot and fight in the cabin than in the cargo hold. Federal rules already require spare batteries and power banks to stay with the passenger if a carry-on gets gate-checked. (faa.gov) (tsa.gov) The fire-risk concern is not theoretical anymore. The Federal Aviation Administration says it logged 97 lithium battery incidents in 2025, and recent aviation guidance from the International Civil Aviation Organization took effect on March 27, 2026 to tighten how airlines handle power banks. (abcnews.com) (icao.int) Southwest’s rule is stricter than the baseline many travelers were used to. Its own help page had recently said passengers could carry up to 20 spare batteries, including portable chargers, as long as they stayed in carry-on bags or on the person and stayed under 100 watt-hours. (southwest.com) Put together, the bag fee hike and the charger cap fit a bigger rewrite of Southwest’s identity. The airline has already moved away from open seating and now sells assigned seats with fare bundles that include different baggage perks, which is a long way from the old one-size-fits-most Southwest formula. (southwest.com 1) (southwest.com 2) So the old Southwest travel math no longer works automatically. If you book a lower fare after April 9, 2026, check a bag, and show up with two power banks on or after April 20, you are now paying more and carrying less than you would have on the same airline a year ago. (swamedia.com) (cbsnews.com)
