Southwest Airlines plans to launch its corporate travel portal to current Southwest Business customers on Aug. 24, the company announced Monday at the Global Business Travel Association convention in San Diego. Southwest initially announced the development of the portal in November 2021.
Dubbed Southwest Business Assist, the self-service tool will enable corporate travel buyers and travel management companies to manage business travel on Southwest using elements including dashboards, automated processing of contractual benefits, travel funds management, account performance and receiving or requesting customer service, according to the company. It also will offer expanded sustainability reporting.
The new tool was developed “to provide easy access to real-time information, reporting and benefits designed to improve efficiencies and communication for our business travel partners and continues our journey of making it easy to manage business travel on Southwest,” VP of Southwest Business Dave Harvey said in a statement.
Future features planned for the tool include expanded duty-of-care reporting and the ability for travel managers to manage eligible flight credits, according to the company.
In addition, Southwest EarlyBird Check-In now is available for booking within the Travelport and Amadeus global distribution systems and is planned to be available in Sabre, according to the company.
The carrier also rolled out ATPCO’s Express Contracts, a commercial contract automation mechanism, and its Routehappy content “to further enhance and streamline the management of business travel” on the carrier.