Southwest Airlines has always done things differently, but lately, it’s been embracing industry norms in the corporate market. It’s participating in more distribution channels and fielding a bigger sales team. It offers a basket of options for corporate dealmaking, including at least one throwback idea: back-end rebates. Those may be instead of or in addition…
What airlines want from their corporate customers and what they’re willing to give in return is changing. For many U.S. accounts, the request for proposals process and resulting contracts look very different than they did five years ago, especially for American and United clients. Airline corporate discounts are getting downsized or eliminated, and carriers want…
Due out this spring, the Southwest Business TravelTrack service aims to mitigate a growing challenge for corporate travel programs — missing data from changed itineraries. Bookings originally made through online booking tools and global distribution systems, as supported by travel management companies, often end up getting changed directly with airlines when flights are disrupted. Those…
Southwest Airlines finished last year with roughly 12 percent of U.S. domestic managed corporate travel bookings, based on its analysis of ARC data, up from zero four years earlier. The jump resulted from a combination of market and Southwest-specific developments. Measured by passengers, the dataset encompassed global distribution system bookings through a few dozen of…
Reaction: Responding to Scott Gillespie’s Op Ed on how today’s corporate travel market demands “long-sighted travel policies” prioritizing value and sustainability over traditional cost-cutting, readers generally agreed with the need for change. Microsoft’s Eric Bailey echoed the goal of reducing emissions and minimizing low-value trips but suggested different methods. He recommended carbon taxes and budget…
Major carriers face ongoing pilot shortages, air traffic control deficiencies, aircraft supply chain and engine troubles, and softer domestic demand. Where they are adding capacity, it’s in their strength markets, primarily with bigger planes and denser seat configurations. Southwest’s growth in major markets notwithstanding, the big carriers are staying out of each other’s way. American,…
While the latest sales reorg at American Airlines appears to dim any hopes for the carrier reversing its shift away from managed corporate travel, an important entity won’t rule out the notion: American Airlines. “If managed corporate travel becomes a bigger share of the pie, we will quickly add back resources to support that growth,”…
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