Inside Southwest’s Decision to Enable GDS Bookings

What This Means for Corporate Travel

Starting in 2020, Southwest Airlines will at long last provide “full” content and booking capabilities through the Travelport and Amadeus global distribution systems. What does this mean for corporate travel programs? In our inaugural episode of Roger That!, Roger Hale, President/CEO of ADTRAV Travel Management, sat down with Dave Harvey, Vice President, Corporate Sales at Southwest Airlines, to discuss the industry’s most pressing questions about Southwest’s decision to enable GDS bookings.

Why Now?

First and foremost, the industry just had to know—after all these years, what was behind Southwest’s decision to finally enable GDS bookings? According to Dave, not only does the decision demonstrate that Southwest has been listening to their customers and developing strategic partnerships that provide great networks and customer-friendly policies, but Southwest also recognized that it was an opportunity to grow in the corporate travel market. It was also a decision to reduce friction and make it easier to do business with Southwest.

Moving Forward

Roger and Dave also addressed the elephant in the room—Southwest’s tenuous relationship with travel management companies over the years. Historically, the relationship has been weak, but Southwest is planning to change that in 2020. “It’s kind of a new day…when we go to our customers, we’re going to ask them, ‘How do you prefer to do business with Southwest?’ And if that answer is, ‘Hey, the TMC is our channel of choice,’ or ‘This GDS is our GDS of choice,’ then we’re going to be able to come to the table and say, ‘we have an industry-standard solution,’ ” Dave said. To support this goal, Southwest has recently finished building a TMC strategy and relations team, complete with dedicated resources and industry experts.

For the full scoop on Southwest’s decision, including whether or not the ever-popular Wanna Getaway fares will be included and the state of Southwest’s relationship with Sabre, listen to the full podcast below.

Get the Full Scoop from Roger That!

For the full scoop on Southwest’s decision, including whether or not the ever-popular Wanna Getaway fares will be included and the state of Southwest’s relationship with Sabre, listen to the full podcast below.