Southwest Airlines declared Wednesday it will not buckle under to attempts by three computerized airline reservation services - owned by some of the major air carriers - to deny travelers access to Southwest flights.
"We decided more than 20 years ago that paying fees to all of the computer reservations systems owned by our competitors would undermine our commitment to low costs and low fares," said Southwest Chairman Herb Kelleher, whose Dallas-based, low-cost airline acquired Utah's own no-frills carrier, Morris Air, last December.In a full-page ad in Wednesday's USA Today, Southwest's flamboyant chairman said that on Monday the computer reservations system known as Apollo - primarily owned by full-service carriers United Airlines and USAir - reprogrammed its computers so that travel agents using the system could no longer issue computer-generated tickets for Southwest.
Kelleher said he has also learned that Worldspan computer reservations system - owned by several other major airlines, including Delta and TWA - plans in coming months to "bias its (computer) displays" by eliminating Southwest flights from its "availability" screens and from its primary fare displays.
He said System One, another computerized reservation system which is owned by Continental Airlines, has also "indicated the possibility" of taking similar actions to hamper sales of Southwest flights. He says System One has indicated it must deny travel agencies easy access to Southwest, quoting an unnamed source at System One as saying, "We really have to do it as an industry."
Kelleher said a "significant number" of travel agencies depend on one or more of the three ticketing systems for schedule and fare information as well as ticketing. This means, he said, that travel agents may "suffer some inconvenience" in providing travelers with information on Southwest flights.
"We anticipated that a small number of travel agencies may even decline to book travel or issue tickets on Southwest Airlines," said Kelleher.
But reservations and ticketing on Southwest flights will remain available through other means, said Kelleher. He said most agents will still provide customers with Southwest tickets, and even those using Apollo, Worldspan or System One will retain the ability to issue tickets manually or through other computerized systems to which they subscribe.
If, however, a travel agent does refuse to book travel or issue tickets for Southwest, Kelleher urged travelers to either try another agency or contact Southwest directly and tickets will be delivered to the traveler's home or office. Another alternative, he said, is to buy tickets directly at Southwest's airport counter.
Kelleher declared that the airline he founded 23 years ago has "survived many challenges" but has determined it will "fight the inevitable pressure to increase costs, thus allowing us to keep fares low."