Southwest Airlines let us all down on Tuesday by announcing they will be doing away with their free checked bag policy, which, until now, has proven a beacon of relief for fee-weary travelers trying to get from point A to point B without taking out a second mortgage to pay for their luggage.
As with all good things, however, this decades-long operational pillar is now coming to an end. But as we take a minute to mourn one of the air industry's last-standing consumer-friendly policies, the Dallas-based airline decided it might be a good idea to crack a joke about the whole thing by likening it to the bombshell Luka Doncic trade. As if everyone in Dallas wasn't already down bad enough.
"It's not like we traded Luka ..." Southwest, which headquartered in Dallas, began a Thursday Instagram post in which they shared the changes. "We've made updates to our bag policy and you're still going to love flying with us."
Take a look at that below:
Now, there is quite a lot to unpack with this Doncic comparison, no pun intended. For one thing, have you ever heard of an NBA trade so monumental and so despised that an airline is using it to garner good will? Yeah, me neither. Nico Harrison, you've really outdone yourself.
And for another, it kind of is like Southwest traded away Luka Doncic. One could argue that the free checked bag policy was Southwest's franchise cornerstone—as Doncic was to the Mavs—and in doing away with it, the company is risking not only losing its core identity but also losing big-time business. Just ask the Dallas front office how getting rid of Doncic has affected its bottom line.
All in all, Southwest was definitely just trying to get ahead of vitriol with a little Dallas-centric joke. But, if you can indulge such sports-centric thinking, there would seem to be more parallels between the two situations than you might think.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Southwest Airlines Says New Bag Fees Aren’t As Bad As Luka Doncic Trade.