© Brad Penner/Imagn
Southwest Airlines is desperately attempting to do damage control after announcing a controversial end to their bags fly free policy. No, the company is not walking back their decision regarding baggage fees. Instead, it is attempting to sell customers on why it is actually a good thing that they are going to charge them more money.
Southwest has done so through various press releases and statements for articles. But it has also taken an aggressive social media strategy in hopes of getting out ahead of the backlash. Unfortunately, that aggressive strategy does not necessarily imply that it is a good social media strategy.
Southwes’s birthplace and primary operating base is Love Field in Dallas. As of August 2021, the company had a 95% market share at the airport. So in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit, the airline took to Instagram and posted a picture that said simply, “it’s not like we traded Luka…” with a side-eye emoji. The post, course, was poking fun at the Mavericks and general manager Nico Harrison who are public enemy No. 1 in Dallas after trading away superstar Luka Doncic.
Now, if Southwest were in good standing with its customers, that joke would be very funny. However, that is not the case at the moment. Everyone is furious with the airline, and so the responded to the Instagram post, as you can imagine, were not very pleasant.”
“This is such a tone deaf post on the heels of destroying your brand identity and alienating your loyal customers,” one person commented.
“This is incredibly tone deaf. I’ve been a loyal Southwest customer and a RR cardholder for years, but now I’m going to be exploring other options after all of these policy changes,” said another.
Now, Southwest stock prices are up around $3 from $27.00 per share to $30.25 since the announcement. So maybe the airline is getting exactly what it wanted. But we’ll see how long that lasts if and when their sales take a huge hit.