The mountain of flight credits accumulated by many
organizations amid the Covid-19 flight shutdowns of 2020 spotlighted what can
be a tricky corner of travel management. Finding, collecting, managing and
ensuring the use of credits for paid-for but unused air tickets can be a
delicate but arduous process, but it's an important one to help keep travel
costs in line.
Southwest Airlines in July helped to smooth that process a bit
by becoming the first—and as of this writing, the only—major U.S. airline to eliminate
the expiration date on all Southwest flight credits earned after July 28, or
that were unexpired after that date. Previously, those credits would expire
after one year, although those expiration dates were extended amid the
pandemic.
“It’s an industry-leading flight-credit policy,” Southwest
CEO Bob Jordan said in July during an earnings call.
The new flight credit policy wasn't the only move carrier
made under Jordan, the longtime Southwest vet who on Feb. 1 succeeded Gary
Kelly, who stepped down after 18 years as the company's CEO. Jordan, most
recently EVP of corporate services, joined the airline in 1988 and served in
numerous executive positions over the subsequent decades, including VP of
procurement, VP of technology, SVP of enterprise spend management and chief
commercial officer.
Jordan presided over several initiatives, including the
introduction of a new fare category, Wanna Get Away Plus, and a new corporate
portal, as well as a commitment to invest more than $2 billion on enhancing its
customer experience. Those plans include the upgrade of Wi-Fi equipment on its
existing fleet with connectivity provider Anuvu's latest-generation hardware,
the installation of USB power ports in every seat and larger overhead bins,
among other enhancements.
Southwest this year rolled out the new fare category, which
offers same-day confirmed changes and sits between the carrier's Wanna Get Away
and Anytime categories. Southwest last summer touted the nascent fares' appeal
to the corporate market, given the same-day changes.
The carrier's new corporate portal, dubbed Southwest
Business Assist, debuted in August. The tool offers buyers dashboards,
automated processing of contractual benefits, travel funds management, account
performance and receiving or requesting customer service, according to the airline,
as well as expanded sustainability reporting.