I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars.

I'm David Brown and this is Business Wars. You know, for a long time Southwest Airlines was flying high on its reputation.

They touted fun-loving flight attendants, a generous free check bag policy, an open

seating that kept ticket prices low. But lately, the company's been experiencing some turbulence.

The policies that made them not just famous but beloved are going away. In 2025, they announced

that they were switching to assigned seating

and charging for bags on most fares. And customers were none too happy about that.

I literally feel like I was cheated on. I've always had a good experience on Southwest,

but this is probably going to make me change my mind with who I'm flying.

They took to Instagram and they posted this.

We've made updates to our bag policy and you're still going to love flying with us.

And people in the comments are not happy.

There is not a single positive comment in these comments section.

All this comes says the company is still regaining trust,

or at least trying to after a system glitch that canceled thousands of flights in December of

2022, leaving nearly 2 million passengers stranded as they headed home for the holidays. So how can

Southwest land this plane? Joe Gwinto might be able to help. Now, he's no pilot, but he is a business

journalist who's covered Southwest Airlines

for decades. You may recognize him as the writer behind business wars seasons that include Southwest

v. American and Starbucks Bitter Brew, among others. Joe is joining us today to walk through Southwest's

strategy and the rationale behind their recent changes. He's also sharing what it was like to be on the same flight as Southwest CEO Bob Jordan

and witness the airline's top dog serving drinks, chatting up customers, and even cleaning the plane.

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