Southwest Joins Galileo, Worldspan to Gain Corporate Business

Southwest, which becomes available in Galileo in November, said it also is going to put its product on Worldspan next year as part of a big push to court more business travelers. Southwest also has increased its corporate sales force from 5 to 15 people since August.

One part of that is Southwest’s new boarding procedure, which should be in place system-wide by early November. Southwest still isn’t offering assigned seats, but it is assigning passengers a letter and number on the boarding pass, such as A32, to indicate not only the passenger’s boarding group but also his position in line within that group.

With the change, passengers won’t feel compelled to get to the gate early and “camp out” in the front of the line to board. Southwest also is redesigning its gate waiting areas with some business traveler-friendly features including tables with power outlets and power stations with stools.

The redesign is already complete at San Antonio and Dallas (Love Field), and Southwest said it expects to complete its “gate makeover” system-wide in the first half of 2008.