Dive Brief:
- Southwest Airlines is now allowing Google Flights to display its fares in a bid to reach more customers, Southwest confirmed this week.
- The airline had previously hidden its fares from flight booking sites like Google Flights. An initial pilot, launched last week, allows Google Flights users to compare fares across the industry. If a user chooses a Southwest flight, they will be taken directly to Southwest’s site to book the fare.
- With the change, Southwest is counting on exposure to broaden its customer base. “We’re extending the reach of Southwest.com by giving users of Google Flights enhanced visibility into our available flights, fares, and the benefits of our products and services,” Alyssa Foster, a Southwest spokesperson, told CX Dive in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Southwest Airlines is known for doing things differently: the carrier has hidden its fares from Google Flights in the past and has a well-known open seating boarding process that bucks the industry standard of assigned seats.
But last month, CEO Robert Jordan acknowledged that “customer preferences and expectations change over time” and that Southwest was committed to meet them.
“We are working to ensure our current and future customers understand our terrific value proposition,” Jordan said during a Q1 2024 earnings call.
To Katy Nastro, a travel expert at Going, allowing Google Flights to display Southwest’s fares removes some of the friction for consumers shopping for airfares.
“Whenever you're flying Southwest, you always in the past had to open up a browser to go to Southwest directly,” she said. “For people, this means that you don't have to cross shop across different browsers. You can actually just do it all in one place.”
Google Flights is the most popular online travel site, according to Nastro. By showing customers Southwest fares, more customers may consider flying the airline.
“It really gives the purchasing power back to people,” she said. “This is an opportunity to put Southwest's fares in front of more people that maybe necessarily wouldn't have considered them the past because of that.”
The decision is part of a broader shift underway at Southwest, according to David Slotnick, senior aviation business reporter at The Points Guy.
“It's the latest step in a multiyear project of Southwest's to improve their distribution to try and better compete with other airlines,” Slotnick told CX Dive in an email. “Even if they lose a cut to travel agents or online referrers, their bet is that the increased visibility will get more people to book with them.”
The airline has also considered changing its open seating policy. During the earnings call last month, Jordan said Southwest was studying customer preference around seating.
While Southwest is known for bucking trends, executives are looking for places to improve its offerings.
“They have always marched to the beat of their own drummer when it came to things like free check bag free changes and all these benefits to the consumer,” Nastro said. “But now it appears that they've sort of taken a look at where they've excelled but also where they've sort of lost out.”
