It has been a difficult spring for Atlanta’s Southwest Airlines loyalists.

The carrier’s new bag fees kick in Wednesday (first checked bag costs $35, the second is $45). And starting in April, the airline reduced its schedule at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport by just over a third.

For Atlanta-based filmmaker and former Southwest loyalist Adelin Gasana, the lost routes have pushed him over the edge.

“Southwest never gave me a reason to shop around,” he said. It was affordable and convenient. It had the nonstop routes he needed to Los Angeles, New York and South Florida, he said.

Even when his mother got caught up in the airline’s holiday operational meltdown in 2022, the company made it up with extra rewards points.

“It was just my go-to … but this is the first

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