The carrier announced Tuesday that it will begin charging certain passengers to check their luggage on flights, a significant shift at the company long prized by consumers for its perks.

Southwest Airlines said Tuesday that it will begin charging customers a fee to check bags, abandoning a decades-long practice that executives had described last fall as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals.

Southwest sent shockwaves through the aviation sector and wider business world March 11 when it announced that many customers would start being charged for checked bags. "Bags fly free" was a staple slogan for the Dallas-based airline,