Why I’m Dumping Southwest and Booking With American Instead

When you’re booking flights for a family, every detail matters. Over the years, my family has flown primarily with Southwest Airlines, preferring its generous baggage policies, budget-friendly fares, and the convenience of the Companion Pass. However, recent shifts in Southwest’s policies have forced us to reconsider our loyalty.

With the airline introducing dynamic award pricing, bag fees, and expiration dates on flight credits, the once-reliable perks for large families like ours are fading fast. These changes prompted a fresh look at our travel priorities and ultimately, a switch to another airline that better fits our needs.

Booking Family Travel With Southwest Airlines

I have 6 children, and we often book 8 tickets when we fly together. While we have taken a few international trips as a family, most of our travel has been within the U.S. on Southwest Airlines. Southwest had numerous benefits for us, including:

• 2 free checked bags on every flight
• Inflight entertainment and friendly staff
• A decent route network
• Frequent sales with tickets selling for as low as $49 one-way (or only a few thousand Rapid Rewards points)
• Southwest Companion Pass

That’s not to say that traveling with Southwest was all good. There were also some downsides to traveling on Southwest as a large family, including the Southwest Airlines boarding process and lack of assigned seats. Finding seats together has sometimes been challenging, and Southwest’s move to assigned seating can potentially improve family travel.

Recent Southwest Devaluations Have Me Thinking Differently

While our family has historically often flown Southwest domestically, recent Southwest devaluations have made me reconsider. In March 2025, Southwest drastically devalued its loyalty program and adjusted its operating procedures. Among the changes introduced were bag charges, dynamic award pricing, and expiring flight credits.

The only positive change for family travel was the introduction of assigned seats. This has the potential to alleviate some of the anxiety many families have about sitting together. This isn’t quite as big of an issue for me now that my kids are older and I trust them to sit on their own if they have to, but seating stressed us out when our kids were younger. It remains to be seen how much Southwest will charge for seat assignments.

Dumping Southwest and Booking With American

With the recent Southwest changes, I re-evaluated our domestic flying patterns, looking for a family-friendly airline with decent network connectivity and a good value. I considered a few different airlines, including Delta, Frontier, and United, but eventually moved much of our family travel to American Airlines.

I chose American because our home airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG), doesn’t have many direct flights on American Airlines. However, along with its subsidiary American Eagle, American flies from CVG to most of its U.S. hubs and focus cities, Boston Logan Airport (BOS), and Cancun International Airport (CUN).

Though there may not be extensive direct flights from our home airport, American’s large network (supplemented by its Oneworld partners) can get us just about anywhere in the world with only 1 stop.

American is also the only major airline that flies from CVG to Provo Airport (PVU). My son goes to college in Provo, and he can fly American to and from school with 1 stop instead of taking 2 buses and the light rail to fly out of Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).

Unlike Frontier, United, and Delta, American’s lowest award redemption level allows you to bring a carry-on and select your seat at booking for no additional charge. I’ve also found that American AAdvantage miles often provide exceptional value.

Getting Outstanding Value With American AAdvantage Miles

Let’s face it — all the ancillary benefits in the world don’t make much of a difference if flights are significantly more expensive than alternatives. Fortunately, I have found American AAdvantage miles to be incredibly useful. We value American Airlines AAdvantage miles at 1.4 cents apiece, but I commonly get over 3 cents per point in value when using AAdvantage miles to book domestic tickets on American.

Here’s an example of a flight from CVG to Sacramento International Airport (SMF). A one-way cash ticket costs $214 with a stop at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW).

The same flight costs only 5,000 AAdvantage miles plus government taxes of $5.60.

That’s a value of 4.17 cents per point. This is not a cherry-picked example, as I usually find an American AAdvantage redemption for 7,500 miles or less. The exact cents-per-point value varies depending on the cash cost. Similar flights on Southwest often cost over twice the number of points.

Final Thoughts

Switching from Southwest to American Airlines wasn’t a decision I made lightly, but it was the right move for our family. While Southwest once offered a strong mix of value and convenience, the recent changes have made it harder to justify staying loyal. With its wider network, significantly better award pricing, and valuable AAdvantage program, American Airlines has provided a better overall experience for our domestic travel needs.