Is Southwest the leading low-cost airline? Depends whether you check a bag
Skift Take
This is interesting data from Topaz, and shows business travelers can shop around, although they'll probably want to stick with one airline so they can wrack up frequent flyer miles. Or, if they are part of a managed travel program, their company likely will make that decision for them.
Travelers who often don't check bags can shop around and find lower fares than Southwest's more than 60% of the time.
However, when travelers check one bag, the findings are reversed: competitors beat Southwest only 40% of the time, and Southwest offers the lowest fare 60% of the time.
These were the findings of a Topaz International survey of 100 U.S. city pairs well-traveled by business travelers, and conducted in November 2012.
For leisure travelers who might check two bags, Southwest beat the competition 88% of the time with lower fares.
Southwest doesn't charge for the first and second checked bags. JetBlue is the only other carrier among eight others measured that doesn't charge bag fees, although JetBlue only lets one checked bag through for free.
Topaz was seeking to test the perception that Sou
