Southwest Airlines self-immolated this morning with its press release announcing additional changes coming to their product offering.

The Wall Street Journal reported out the details,

Southwest Airlines plans to start charging for checked bags, a seismic shift that will boost revenue but potentially give its fiercely loyal passengers a reason to shop around.

The cracks at Southwest started to emerge soon after its merger with AirTran. It’s once fun, customer-centric culture fragmented as the cost-conscious AirTran employees were folded into the company without the benefit of years steeping in its culture. They didn’t understand the Southwest mindset, and it showed. Customer service declined, and overall quality started the long slide that brings us to today.

In business, you can either have the best product or the most engaged fans. You can make a lot of money with a small, but reliable customer base. And Southwest did throughout its history except for recent years.

Southwest will never be a big 3 airline, especially with its all-737 fleet and its inability to get to far-flung destinations in a single, cohesive network. They’re largely a domestic player and, as a result, has to differentiate and excel in its core business. Their irreverent culture of fun stood out among airlines; they sought a relationship with their customers, not just a transaction.

The new leadership at Southwest folded to activist investor pressure last year, prioritizing short-term financial gain over long-term company health. The corporate raiders will benefit from the increased economics and will sell out when they hit their profit target, while destroying value and obliterating the brand.

Every sacred cow, in a span of months, has been slaughtered:

The airline has already been whittling away at some of its most distinctive features, last year saying it would ditch open seating and redesign plane cabins to sell some with extra legroom. Its vaunted employee-first culture suffered a body blow last month when the carrier slashed 1,750 corporate jobs in its first mass layoff.

What’s left? Another middling airline, indistinguishable from its competition, with really wacky scheduling, an inconvenient point-to-point network, and mediocre management:

“You cannot be stubborn about change,” Jordan said last summer. “At the same time, we’re going to stick to our values.”

What, exactly, are those values again? Not the best, not the cheapest, not the most fun, not really much of anything.

RIP, LUV.