There was a time, and it was not that long ago, when the words "free checked bag" meant something. It meant Southwest. Everybody knew it. You could be at a dinner party, someone would mention flying somewhere on a budget, and someone else would say "just fly Southwest, bags fly free," the way people used to recommend a good dermatologist. It was one of those rare things in American life that was actually simple. You checked two bags. Nobody charged you. It felt, in a small and possibly pathetic way, like being loved.
I bring this up because it is no longer true, and I think you should sit with that for a second before we go any further.
What Happened to the One Airline That Cared
In May of 2025, after fifty four years, Southwest ended "Bags Fly Free." I want to be delicate about this because I know some of you are still grieving. As of bookings made after that date, most passengers on the airline's Basic, Choice, and Choice Preferred fares pay to check a bag, and then, because 2026 has had opinions about everything, Southwest raised that fee again in April, to $45 for the first bag and $55 for the second. There are still people who get it free: A-List Preferred members and Choice Extra fares get two bags, A-List members and the airline's credit cardholders get one, and active duty military still fly with their bags included, the way it should be for everyone, honestly, but here we are.
The carry-on is, for now, untouched. Every Southwest passenger, on every fare, still gets one bag in the overhead bin and one personal item under the seat, free of charge, which the airline will probably mention to you as though it's a gift and not the bare minimum every airline on earth also does.
And It Wasn't Just Southwest
If you have flown recently and thought, quietly, to yourself, wasn't this cheaper last time I did this, you were not imagining it. In the span of about a week in early April 2026, seemingly every major American airline raised its checked bag fees at once, the way teenagers all decide to wear the same jacket without ever discussing it. United went first, then Delta, then Southwest, then American, then JetBlue, each blaming jet fuel prices that had roughly doubled since February, after the conflict near Iran put a very expensive kink in the world's oil supply. Delta and Southwest now both charge $45 for the first bag and $55 for the second. United's third bag will run you $200, which is not a bag fee anymore, that is a small used car.
The one mercy in all of this: if you have elite status, a co-branded credit card, or a seat up front, most airlines will still let your first bag ride for free. Everyone else is now doing math at the check-in kiosk that nobody should have to do on vacation.
The Airlines Still Behaving Like Adults
All of that said, this is still, blessedly, a story about international travel too, and international travel has mostly stayed civilized. The full-service carriers that fly you across oceans have largely kept including at least one checked bag in economy, because they seem to understand something the domestic carriers have collectively forgotten, which is that if you are already asking someone to sit in a metal tube for fourteen hours, nickel-and-diming their suitcase is simply bad manners.
- Singapore Airlines still tends to offer generous baggage allowances on most international economy fares, and remains the airline people mean when they say "the good one."
- Emirates uses a weight-based system and still typically includes free checked luggage on many routes.
- Qatar Airways usually includes at least one checked bag in economy.
- Turkish Airlines often includes baggage even on its more competitive long-haul fares.
- Ethiopian Airlines tends to offer flexible weight allowances, particularly useful if you're connecting through to somewhere else in Africa.
The caveat, and there is always a caveat, is that this depends entirely on your route and fare class, so before you build your whole packing strategy around a headline, check the actual ticket. An airline can be generous on one route and stingy on the next, the way a person can be lovely at dinner and impossible the next morning.
What "Free Baggage" Actually Means, Since Everyone Assumes Something Different
There are two kinds of bags in this conversation, and people conflate them constantly. There is the carry-on, the bag you keep with you, usually with a small personal item allowed alongside it, sizes and weights varying by airline. And there is the checked bag, the one you hand over and trust to a system that occasionally sends it to Ohio when you are going to Lisbon. Some airlines include one or more checked bags depending on your route and fare. Others do not, and will act faintly surprised that you expected otherwise.
Even within the same airline, this changes by fare class. Basic and Light fares are where free baggage goes to die. Standard, Flex, and Premium fares are where it sometimes survives. This is not an accident. It is a business model.
Why Any of This Matters
Knowing whether your bag is included matters because the alternative is standing at a check-in counter, jet-lagged before you have even left the ground, doing arithmetic you didn't budget for while a line forms behind you. A ticket that includes your bag is a ticket you can actually compare honestly against another ticket. Otherwise you are comparing a sandwich to a sandwich that doesn't mention it's missing the bread.
It also, not for nothing, means less repacking chaos at the airport, less throwing out a bottle of shampoo you loved because your bag was two ounces over, and a much better time on long trips, where you inevitably need to bring more than you think you will, no matter how many minimalist packing videos you have watched.
A Few Ways to Not Get Ambushed by This
- Favor fare classes like Standard or Flex over Basic or Light if a checked bag matters to you. The cheaper fare is not always the cheaper trip.
- On long-haul international routes, the full-service carriers above are still, generally, your friends.
- On short regional hops, sometimes even the budget airlines throw in a bag, so it's worth comparing rather than assuming.
- Watch for sale periods, when airlines occasionally include extra baggage as a promotion, the way a store throws in a free tote to get you to buy the coat.
- If you fly one airline often enough to have status, or you carry that airline's credit card, check what it gets you. Loyalty programs are one of the last remaining places where flying a lot is actually rewarded rather than merely tolerated.
The FAQ Nobody Reads Until They're Standing at the Counter
Do all airlines include free baggage? No. Some of the cheapest fares include nothing but a small personal item, and Southwest, once the last holdout, joined everyone else on this in 2025.
How much baggage is "free," when it exists? It varies, often something like 7 to 10 kilograms in the cabin and 20 to 30 kilograms checked on international routes, but this depends entirely on airline, route, and fare, so treat any number here as a starting point for your own research, not a promise.
Can baggage inclusion differ within the same ticket? Yes. A domestic connecting leg might charge you while the international leg of the same itinerary includes a bag, which feels unfair because it is.
Can I add a bag later? Usually, and it is almost always cheaper to do this online in advance than to discover your fate at the airport counter.
Does free baggage cover oversized items? Rarely. Sports equipment, instruments, and anything unusually shaped tend to cost extra no matter how generous your airline otherwise is, a little like how travel insurance never covers the one thing you actually needed it for.
If there is a moral here, and I am not sure there needs to be one, it's that the free checked bag, like a lot of things we assumed would always be there, quietly is not anymore. Read the fare details. Price the bag before you fall in love with the fare. And say a small, private goodbye to the Southwest of your memory, because it is not walking back through that door.
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