Travel Agencies Have Long Struggled With Southwest. Now This Is Changing

Over the past 50 years, Southwest Airlines has grown from a regional, low-cost operation to one of the biggest airlines in the United States. Yet even through its rapid expansion, the company chose to keep its distribution very limited, forcing most travelers to book flights directly on its website. In the world of corporate travel, where most employees book through company policies, this was not just odd but frustrating and costly for travel managers. Now, all this is changing. At the Global Business Travel Association's annual convention in August, the airline announced it had signed agreements with Amadeus and Travelport, two major global distribution providers. The company is finally making its inventory widely accessible to travel managers, and in doing so, it hopes to grow its renamed business platform, Southwest Business. The agreements, which will take effect by summer 2020, will give both Amadeus and Travelport full access to Southwest's flight schedules and pricing. It will allow travel managers to change and cancel flights through the system without having to pick up the phone and call the company directly. For travel agencies this moment has been a long, long time coming. “Southwest is moving in the right direction,” said John Bukowski, director of global content and distribution strategy f