It's the last day to book a flight on Southwest Airlines without being hit with a fee to check bags after the airline abandoned a decades-long luggage policy that executives once described as key to differentiating the budget carrier from its rivals.

Southwest Sees IATA Membership As Another Step Forward is published in Aviation Daily, an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) Market Briefing and is included with your AWIN membership. Get free air transport news, insight and analysis from our award-winning editors delivered to your inbox daily.

A Southwest Airlines plane was taken out of service for inspection after being seemingly struck by lightning, with thunderstorms over Denver.