Southwest Airlines and Amadeus expand their alliance

Southwest Airlines Co. and Amadeus announce that the airline's complete offering for business travel is now available through the Amadeus Travel Platform.

The change comes at a time when business travelers need the highest level of service when they start traveling again. Southwest's partnership with Amadeus will enable corporate travel buyers, travel management companies and business travel decision makers to easily book and book on the world's largest distribution system.

Today's announcement further expands the partnership between Southwest and Amadeus after the airline migrated its international and domestic passenger services to the Amadeus Altéa solution in 2015 and 2017, respectively. Since Amadeus Travel Platform and Altéa are hosted on the same system, corporate travel consultants will benefit from an unrivaled experience, exclusive to Amadeus, with the precision and visibility of the Unique Passenger Name Register (PNR). This means instant and easy access to all changes to a customer's journey, including changes made by the airline such as scheduled and voluntary changes and disruptions at the airport.

In addition, travel consultants will have access to accurate, real-time information about flights, including arrivals, delays and changes, so that they can provide excellent customer service during the booking process and throughout the entire travel. In the event of unexpected schedule changes, Amadeus-connected travel consultants can rest easy knowing that their corporate clients will be automatically reassigned with instant special service requests - a critical functionality for business travelers, especially those who fly again when they leave. COVID-19 travel restrictions lifted. Also important for business travelers is real-time validation of frequent travelers. These examples of post booking services will be crucial to help restore confidence to the traveler.

"With Amadeus Travel Platform, we can bring our iconic low rates, consumer-friendly policies, and world-leading hospitality offering to one of the world's largest global distribution systems that business travel decision makers depend on. "said Andrew Watterson, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Southwest Airlines. "By joining Amadeus, we continue our mission to eliminate friction for corporate travel managers and travel management companies to make it easier and more hassle-free to book and manage travel on Southwest Airlines."

The Amadeus travel platform gives Southwest Airlines greater access to technology and innovation that will differentiate the airline from its competitors. Amadeus has consistently invested 15-18% of its revenue in research and development, ultimately benefiting clients like Southwest, and is the only travel technology company whose distribution system has completely migrated from mainframe technology. Legacy to open cloud-based systems.