Airlines are shedding fees, giving away free stuff, and being extra nice to their customers. Has the world gone mad?

“That’s what I’ve been asking myself,” says Gail Clark, who complained to American Airlines after a recent flight delay and received a lightning-fast response, including a personal apology and 7,500 frequent flier miles deposited to her account.

Clark, a retired CEO from Bluffton, S.C., says she’s used to foot-dragging and canned apologies. She says something feels wrong.

Sébastien Long has seen it with Southwest Airlines. The flight attendants keep pouring him free drinks whenever something is less than perfect on the plane. And when they do, they dismiss it in their Southwest way, with an, “Oh, I forgot to charge you, and we’re about to land.”

“Honestly, it’s almost too nice,” says Long, who runs an apartment rental company in Houston. “I feel like someone’s going to get in trouble for not charging me.”

The niceness is contagious.

Last month, Spirit Airlines killed its unpopular flight change and cancellation fees. Frontier Airlines did the same. And JetBlue announced that all customers -- even those with a “basic” economy class ticket -- will get a free carry-on bag in addition to one small personal item.

“After the pandemic and the bad press the airline industry was getting this past spring, it seems natural that they would put more emphasis on smoothing nerves and garnering more trust from passengers,” says Anthony Radchenko, CEO of AirAdvisor.

Why airlines say they’re being nice

The biggest changes by far are the low-fare carriers like Spirit and Frontier removing their fees.

Barry Biffle, Frontier’s CEO, said the airline made the change because of its promise to “make travel with Frontier as flexible and worry-free as possible.”

“We understand that plans can change, and we want to ensure that when they do, our passengers can adjust their bookings without the stress of additional fees,” he said in a prepared statement.

Spirit’s chief commercial officer, Matt Klein, said in a press release that the airline wanted to change the game by offering “unparalleled flexibility and peace of mind.”

He added, “It’s just the beginning of our pursuit to make affordable travel easier and more seamless than ever.”

But they left out a very important detail. This spring, the government announced a new rule that requires airlines to tell consumers upfront if they charge fees for changes or cancellations. And that regulation would have made their fares look more complicated and probably led to fewer bookings.

“The airline industry had to be forced by legislation and regulation to do the right thing,” says Bill McGee, a senior fellow for aviation at the American Economic Liberties Project.

Another possible reason: We complained last year. A lot.

The U.S. Department of Transportation last week reported that airline complaints for 2023 were the highest ever, except for the pandemic year of 2020. The agency received 96,853 grievances about air travel, compared to 86,240 in calendar year 2022. The government hasn’t released any numbers for this year yet.

But it’s not just regulation, fed by an almost constant stream of passenger complaints. There are other reasons behind the change in customer service attitudes.

What’s really going on with “nice” airlines?

When it comes to airlines, things have changed since the pandemic -- in a good way.

“Market dynamics have shifted,” explains Jason Block, CEO of WorldVia Travel Group. “Airlines are looking for ways to attract and retain customers in a more competitive environment.”

One way of doing that is by taking better care of their customers instead of taking them for granted.

Airlines are also seeing an opportunity to distinguish themselves from the competition, according to Andy Palacios, a vice president at App in the Air, an app for frequent air travelers.

“Customers have had many negative experiences with airlines, from poor customer support to hidden fees and unsatisfactory onboard experiences,” he says. “They’re trying to win back some of that business and appeal to customers who previously avoided them.”

Which airlines are the nicest?

It’s difficult to say which airlines are trying the hardest to woo their passengers with better service.

• As a group, the “low-cost” carriers like Spirit and Frontier have generated some positive buzz recently -- mostly because of their new relaxed rules.
• There have also been reports of legacy airlines like American, Delta and United going the extra mile for customers.
• And, of course, there’s always Southwest, which has a legendary reputation for customer service to live up to.

Here’s the thing: The reports of great service are sporadic. Amid the steady stream of complaints I receive as a consumer advocate, I’ve been getting surprise reports of truly outstanding, pre-deregulation-level customer service. But it’s hard to predict when it will happen -- or which airline will deliver it.

Can the nice airlines last?

Don’t get used to the niceness. Because even if it lasts -- and it probably won’t -- there’s a price to pay.

“There’s no free lunch here,” says Mike Taylor, J. D. Power’s resident airline expert. For every dropped fee, and indeed for every nicety airlines add, you should expect to pay a higher fare. (Just maybe not yet. As the Department of Transportation recently noted, airfares are down 6% over the last year, and they are below pre-pandemic prices.)

But ultimately, airlines have a corporate culture, shaped over the last four decades, that does not favor customers. And for most domestic airlines, it’s one that thinks of passengers as self-loading cargo, as walking dollar signs, to be manipulated with addictive loyalty programs and squeezed for every fee it can legally charge.

“I don’t think it will last forever,” says Radchenko of AirAdvisor, noting that customer service moves in cycles, and we’re just in a brief phase that happens to benefit passengers.

Real change will only come when airlines start thinking of their passengers as people who should be served with dignity, regardless of their loyalty status.

And, unfortunately, the only way that will ever happen is if airline passengers start to prioritize service over cheap fares.

Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at chris@elliott.org.