As you can tell from our announcement today, we have a lot of exciting news for our business travelers and our frequent Rapid Rewards Members, and these enhancements go into effect tomorrow, hand-in-hand with the systemwide rollout of our new streamlined boarding procedures. Much of my time and focus (and that of the entire Marketing Team) over the past year or so has been devoted to these changes, and I see them as reconfirming the vision of our Founders, Herb Kelleher and Rollin King, who envisioned an airline that would allow business travelers to park the car and travel by air. Herb and Rollin intuitively knew that business travelers want safe, affordable, frequent, and friendly flights that provide outstanding value for their money, and today's announcement is dedicated to that goal.
Road Warriors have special travel needs; their plans usually change at the last minute; and because their time is so important, they often arrive at the airport just before boarding begins. If ever there was an airline that recognized the benefits of productivity, it is Southwest, and while great fares are extremely important for business travelers--and their companies--making the most of their time is critical. The exciting changes that we have announced today will help these Customers meet both their productivity and budget goals. We have a great interactive page at southwest.com, and it will provide you specific details.
However, I do want to touch on the more significant aspects of these changes. Our new Business Select Fare category ensures that, for a few bucks over our Business Fare, our Business Select Customers will be among the first to board and will also receive extra Rapid Rewards credit for their travels and a free cocktail (or beer or wine). Along with this new fare category, our current unrestricted walkup fare is being renamed our Business Fare, and it gives business travelers total flexibility in their travel plans. And, we haven't forgotten our leisure travelers with our Wanna Get Away Fares that offer our world famous discounted leisure fares. (DING! fares remain generally our lowest fares and can only be accessed through the DING! "widget," which is downloaded directly to your desktop. To sign up for DING!, click here.)
Along with the changes in our fare platform, you will see enhancements at southwest.com as we have simplified our initial fare displays to help you find the fare that best suits your travel needs. The Wanna Get Away fare section will always show the lowest available fare (again, except for DING! fares) for your selected travel date. Searching for lower fares on other travel dates is also easier now with the newly improved "Southwest Shortcut."
Aside from new fare product and web display, we have another exciting enhancement for our most frequent travelers, the Customers we call our A-Listers. To be a part of this A-List, you don't have to walk a red carpet, hire a publicist, or hide from the paparazzi; you just need to complete 32 one-way flights (16 roundtrips) in a 12-month period. Once you reach this milestone, you move to the A-List, and we will check you in automatically for your flights and hold your boarding pass(es) for you. All you (or your publicist) have to do is print out your preassigned boarding pass and be at the gate at least 20 minutes before departure. We'll do the work for you.
Another exciting change is the availability to redeem two Standard Awards in our Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program for an unrestricted Freedom Award. We listened to our frequent travelers who wanted "last seat availability" on our flights, and we're introducing this new program today. With the exception of a few select blackout dates, Southwest is making it possible again to redeem frequent flyer Awards for unrestricted travel.
Today is exciting because these new enhancements give us the ability to differentiate our product to meet the differing needs of our Customers without having to change our decades-long dedication to low fares and great Customer Service. I am hoping that you will be just as excited as we are about these enhancements to our product because we really want to be your airline of choice for both your business and personal travel needs.
Comments
I agree with many of the posters here. I was a loyal customer of SW because their fares were so competitve that I didn't care about waiting on the floor to board the planes. With these HUGE price increases, I will now pay the same, if not lower fares with the "other" airlines and get to PICK my seat in advance. Southwest made a big mistake and their profits, or lack thereof will begin to show. My loyality has left the building, along with the rest of my family.
Like many others on this blog I have been a faithful customer of SWA for over 20 years. Living in Dallas from the late 80's until 01. My family and I pretty much exclusively made SWA our airline of choice. Hey lets face it ,you guys were good. Good service, great prices, great FF program, an airline that actually cared about it's customers. After moving to FLA. I chose to drive the 150 mile round trip to continue supporting an airline that cared not only about it's customers but about the community it works and lives in. I was even more impressed with SWA's committment to thier own employee's. Encouraging that freedom of thought gained valuable insite into what makes an airline passenger choose how they travel. OMG,,,somehow a bean counter has infiltrated the ranks of those sage employee's who have had their finger on the pulse of your customers and initiated the recent change is your RRewards program. In my opinion it is a step in the wrong direction. De-valueing my time to reward will indeed result in considering other options when choosing an airline. I'm hoping someone comes to their senses.
Business is about staffing. I just wanted to compliment your employee Albert, who was working at Ontario Airport on 12/30. I made an error in my flight time for a trip on my wife's birthday. He saved the trip by re-scheduling us, and getting us pre-boarding to make a tight switch of planes in Phoenix. We so appreciated his efforts!
Wow. Perhaps I am a bit behind, but I just read about your new seating priorities. I'm very disappointed. The two reasons my husband and I have flown loyally with SW for the past 6 years was because of your great fares, and the ABC seating system. Now you have neither . My husband and I will be likely choosing other airlines to fly with these days. I'm sure the same will go for most of our family. Thats a shame...you really should rethink your new procedures.
I was not sure of the new boarding procedures at first but I'm a big fan now. I travel almost every week and 75% is with SW. Sure is nice to not have to stand in line to secure a aisle seat for an hour. Keep up the good work
Those to those who think that SWA's RR program is becoming closer to the rest of the industry. I have a feeling that go are mistaken. It is my opinion that all of the airlines that have "frequent flyers" are also more aggressively are controlling their programs as well. Before you bolt, ask the customer as DFW is it getting harder to use your AAdvantage miles. ask the customers at ORD the next time your are in Chicago is it harder to use your miles on United. The next time you are in Houston go over to the Bush airport and ask the Continental customer is they are having trouble using their miles. I suspected that they will ALL say that they are. But I don't think at SW had in mind that 8 round-trips from DAL to HOU should earn me an roundtrip from OAK to BWI even though you can. I also wish that JP Morgan Chase stop offering new accounts that include 8 RR credits when the account is open. Maybe JPM is also contributing to the problem of too many outstanding Rapid Award credits and not enough flights to use them on. Just some things to consider.
I fly oversees on a regular basis, but always use SWA for flights in the US. I was not happy at all with the restriction on the number of rapid rewards seats. If you are concerned with not being able to sell the last few seats to business customers, simply allow every seat less the last few to be taken by rapid rewards flyers.
I am also not happy with the new boarding policy. It seems very un-egalitarian (un-SWA). Did business travelers really complain that much for you to change your boarding policy? SWA was the only airline that could actually get people in line to board the aircraft in a timely manner. If you are concerned with late arrivals, just shut the doors 10 minutes prior to departure and walk away (like RyanAir, except they walk away 15 minutes prior to departure).
SWA had the best rewards program by far, but is now slouching towards the industry. I still like SWA better than the others, but stop devaluing the rewards to your best customers.
Having posted the above -- let me just say that I do so only because I consider Southwest the best of the air carriers and it is "disappointing".
Yes, some other airlines do have specials to the same destination (or fly more convenient flights to IAD or DCA instead of to BWI from MHT for instance) but - overall - Southwest is still an exceptional value.
What I am disturbed about is loss in value of Southwests "loyalty" program.
To be fair, I have also noticed other programs (notibly hotel programs) also showing a higher use of points in order to get a "free" room.
I hope Southwest listens -- with a slowing economy and ridership and airline stock prices falling in response - this does not speak well for the future of airline programs.
It's easier to keep a customer than to try to regain a lost customer.
I (too) was disappointed to see that the Standard Award travel has been devalued to the 2 for 1 "Freedom" Award. I understand the business in trying to make yourselves more competitive in the air market - especially given $100 oil - however it does not make the enhanced cost of this type of award travel any more palitable.
Nor - given this change - does my having to charge $ 38,400 on my Southwest Visa in order to get that type of award. I understood the 2-for-1 conversion on the ATA flights to Hawaii....but not this.
My card comes up for renewal in July 2008 and whether I will renew or not will depend on what Southwest does between now and then. Any further
"degredation" of awards will determine this.
I don't know if this was even mentioned or not, since 200+ comments are a lot to go through, but I was wondering if it would be an idea to board the families after the first 30 A's. That way, you're still giving the business select and A-listers the chance to reap the benefits, yet still allowing the families to get decent seats together. Being a mother of a 3 yr old, I've found that flying on a full flt with 40+ thrus on it, then letting another 60 ppl go on board in front of us...we weren't able to sit together, and my son harassed a poor guy who never knew what was in store for him (quite possibly one of your bussiness selects that unfortunately just paid extra to have his "choice" of seats) for 2 hrs. Just a thought!!