During the past decade, life has been difficult for most major airlines as they have posted billions of dollars in losses.  Beginning in mid-2008, in an attempt to increase revenue, American Airlines began charging passengers a fee for each bag they checked and most of the other airlines quickly followed suit. Today these fees can amount to $120 for a round trip ticket if you check two bags.  During the first nine months of 2009, these airlines collected more than $2 billion in baggage fees–an achievement for which they’re very proud.  The only problem is that these fees were collected from passengers who had no choice but to pay them if they wanted to fly into certain cities.  In other words, they took advantage of their customers. Southwest Airlines, on the other hand, decided to go against the trend and take care of its customers by not charging a fee for bags.  They also came out with a head-turning advertising campaign called “Bags Fly Free.”  As a result, passenger traffic is up at Southwest, while it’s down at the airlines charging baggage fees.  In fact, Southwest has increased its revenue by more than $1 billion–all from attracting passengers away from its competitors.  Once again, how do you grow a business?  You take care of your customers; you don’t take advantage of them.