Passengers walk to board an Amtrak train in Penn Station
On Tuesday, Southwest Airlines said it would ditch one of its most beloved perks: free checked bags. Instead, customers will have to pay to check their bags unless they’re a top-tier member of the airline’s frequent flyer program.
You can imagine that customers had feelings about the change. For the most part, those feelings ranged from disappointment to frustration that Southwest was eliminating one of the things they appreciated most about the airline. I wrote yesterday that it was a risky move considering how much of its brand is connected to the airline’s customer-friendly policies. The fact that so many people have pushed back seems to support the idea that this change is going to be rough for Southwest.
Later on Tuesday, Amtrak got in on it, posting a one-sentence response on Threads:
“Guess we’re the only ones doing free baggage now,” the post said.
While it didn’t mention Southwest Airlines by name, there’s no question what is happening here. Amtrak just took a shot at its much larger competitor, and I think it’s brilliant.
You probably don’t think of Amtrak and Southwest Airlines as competitors. For that matter, you probably don’t think of Amtrak and any airline as competitors. Most travelers don’t think of traveling by train in the same way they think about traveling by airplane. The reality, however, is that while they are very different forms of transportation, they serve the same audience—people who want to go somewhere and don’t want to drive, for whatever reason.
And, in some cases, Amtrak is great. For example, from where we live, it’s about a four-hour Amtrak trip to Chicago, and I’ve made that trip a number of times. It’s great. It’s far more relaxing than air travel, and takes almost the same amount of time as it would to drive myself.
Honestly, if I were to drive to the airport, go through security, wait for my flight, fly to O’Hare, leave the airport, and take some form of transportation into the city, it would easily take the same amount of time. The only real downside is that Amtrak’s schedule options are typically more limited than flying.
Then again, four hours is probably the sweet spot for Amtrak. Anything longer than that, you probably just want to fly unless you’re in it for the train experience. Flying is probably more convenient and will get you there faster. It takes about 90 minutes to fly from where we live to LaGuardia airport in New York City. The same trip by train takes around 21 hours.
The point is, in many ways, Amtrak can’t compete with air travel. It isn’t faster, and it isn’t always cheaper. Plus, there are far fewer convenient routes unless you live along a major transportation corridor.
Amtrak’s real problem, however, is that people just don’t think about Amtrak. They just never even think about taking the train. Of course, the fact that most people don’t think of Amtrak is a competitor to air travel means that most people just don’t think about Amtrak. For context, Amtrak had about 33 million passengers last year. By comparison, each of the four biggest airlines had more than 130 million.
That’s why this response to Southwest’s change is so smart. Amtrak is giving people a reason to think about taking a train by highlighting one of its best perks. And—more importantly—it did so by seizing the opportunity that came along. That might be the most brilliant part of all.
