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Southwest Airlines welcomes pets on board for a fee

Sunday 02 Aug 2009 8:13am

Southwest Airlines has frequently criticised its competitors for charging additional fees to some passengers, but on Friday it announced that it would introduce a fee for unaccompanied minors and one for bringing accompanied small pets on their aeroplanes. Fees charged for a third checked bag and any overweight bags would also be increased, the airline announced. Charges to speak with a reservation agent on the telephone and charges for first or second checked bags have helped other carriers and seen their revenue streams increase by hundreds of millions since the fees were introduced last year. In 2008, Southwest airline ran TV ads that blasted the other carriers for imposing 'hidden fees' that were introduced in the same year. Officials at Southwest said that many customers were deterred by new baggage charges and were changing over to Southwest as a result. Officials defended the newly announced fees levied by Southwest, with the airline's chief executive, Gary Kelly, saying they were 'just the starting point' for a number of changes that would be introduced later in the year. 'It is always our goal to be upfront with our customers and to set the right customer expectations,' Mr Kelly said, commenting further: 'Our changes today associate a charge for items that are truly an extra service. '

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