Southwest Airlines’ latest change means some can’t fly anymore

Southwest Airlines was once known for its amazing customer service.

Actually, J.D. Power’s 2025 North American Airline Satisfaction Survey It found that Southwest “ranked highest in customer satisfaction in the economy/basic economy segment for the fourth consecutive year.”

But Southwest Airlines may soon lose that title. This is because the airline has done a lot of things recently that have upset its customers:

• Removal of Bags Fly Free policy and charge for luggage

• Switching from open seating to assigned seating

• Change in policies for plus-size passengers

• Establishment New rules for wheelchair travel making it difficult for some disabled people to fly

Things got so bad reddit poster He started a thread asking the question: “Despite all the recent developments [negative] changes, is anyone still sticking with SWA? There were very few positive responses defending the airline.

Unfortunately, Southwest Airlines’ latest policy change is causing even more disappointment, and it may mean that some people won’t be able to fly this airline at all in the future.

Southwest Airlines recently announced another new change affecting passengers. on it Instagram pagethe airline said:

“Something Great is coming in January! Are you Team Honey Roasted or Team Roasted and Salted? These new snack offerings will be available to Customers using Extra Wide Legroom seating starting January 27, 2026.”

Related: Southwest Airlines cancels daily flights to major city in March

The “awesome” new snack that Southwest Airlines was touting was pistachios, and the Southwest Airlines Instagram page included an image showing that passengers could have a variety of flavor options:

Although Southwest Airlines officials were excited to announce the change to the in-flight menu, many flyers were extremely upset with the airline.

In fact, the initial response to the Instagram post announcing Southwest Airlines’ change raised an important issue that has many people uneasy. The Instagram comment said:

This Instagram user wasn’t the only one upset either. inside Southwest subredditOne poster made an excellent point about the decision and stated:

“I’m starting to wonder if Elliott has given up completely. No one will choose to fly Southwest because it offers pistachios, but a lot of people will now avoid it. Is their strategy now just to stop passengers from flying and auction off the planes?”

Southwest Airlines’ decision to serve pistachios is puzzling because pistachios are a tree nut and millions of people are allergic to them. According to actually Food Allerji.org:

• 3.9 million people in the United States are allergic to tree nuts

• Tree nuts are one of eight major food allergens identified as responsible for at least 90% of all serious food allergy reactions in the United States (the other seven are milk, eggs, peanuts, wheat, soy, fish, and crustacean shellfish).

Food allergies can have devastating consequences; Food Allergy.org also reports that approximately 3.4 million people in the United States visit the emergency room each year for an allergic reaction.

More Airlines:

This means an emergency room visit is required every 10 seconds due to an allergic reaction.

No one with allergies wants to risk an airborne reaction.

Instead, millions of people with allergies and their families will now decide Southwest Airlines is off limits to flying them because the airline decided to serve a food that could kill them.

Related: Frontier Airlines permanently cancels all flights to major airport

This story was first reported by: Street First appeared on November 1, 2025 Trip section. Add TheStreet at: Preferred Source by clicking here.