Southwest Airlines flights now listed on Expedia and other travel sites
SWA flights now listed on Expedia. other sites
Southwest Airlines is teaming up with Expedia, finally allowing customers to make reservations with the online travel company.
DALLAS - Southwest Airlines is teaming up with Expedia, finally allowing customers to make reservations with the online travel company.
Book Southwest Airlines flight on Expedia
What's new:
Up until now, people who wanted to fly on Southwest could only book their flights directly through the Dallas-based air carrier’s website.
But as of Thursday, all Southwest flights are listed on Expedia and its companion sites –Cheaptickets, Hotwire, Orbitz, and Travelocity – with over 10 million visits to the websites daily.
"We look forward to welcoming new travelers to our extensive network, inviting them to experience our unique Southwest hospitality," Southwest Airlines said in part in a statement.
What they're saying:
Travel expert Gabe Saglie said he thinks the move will create better opportunities for customers when it comes to comparison shopping.
"I think what’s happening here is that as competition has ramped up, it has needed to look at other ways of providing service and reaching out to its not only loyal consumers but beyond that to a growing base of followers out there," he said.
The other side:
But a lot of what has made Southwest unique over the years is going away.
Southwest made a lot of changes under pressure from Elliott Investments, which acquired a large share of the airline.
Assigned seating will soon be the norm, and the airline has also begun offering red-eye routes to provide overnight cross-country travel.
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Holiday travel is breaking records, with the TSA screening nearly 3.1 million passengers on Dec. 1, the busiest day in its history. Meanwhile, airlines are rolling out significant changes.
SMU economist Mike Davis said it is quickly becoming more like its biggest U.S. competitors.
"So that has to be weighed against the additional traffic Southwest is going to get when they change their model," he said.
Davis believes the Expedia partnership makes financial sense.
"You can’t ever know whether they would have done this without Elliot. But we know for sure Elliot has been pushing Southwest in this direction. The board members want changes made and Southwest is making changes," he said.
The Source: The information in this story comes from a news release from Southwest Airlines. FOX 4's Alex Boyer also talked to travel expert Gabe Saglie and SMU economist Mike Davis.