Last-minute travel is a regular part of business for most airlines, and Southwest Airlines aims to capitalize on this sales market through the use of mobile technology.
Southwest has begun utilizing mobile as a platform for launching this new business initiative via an integrated platform that uses mobile ads connected to mobile sites. With ads running inside the IMDb iPhone app, users are encouraged to click through to the mobile site in order to inquire on flight status, trip booking, and inform themselves on the airline itself.
Says Chris Mainz, spokesman for Southwest Airlines, Dallas, TX:
“As an airline, we know our customers are constantly on the go, and the feedback we have received in focus groups lets us know how best to communicate with our customers – it is important for us to give access to our customers to book tickets on Southwest in a manner that suits them, and mobile is an important part of that strategy.”
Operating over 3000 flights daily to 73 cities and 38 states across the U.S., Southwest is an airline in high regular use largely due to its value-oriented proposition of low-cost airfare. It is therefore not surprising to see the company move to the mobile space to increase last-minute trip purchases.
Their mobile system is quite simple in construct: an ad indicates, “Low fares at Southwest.com” with a clickable button connecting users to the mobile site. Once there, users can toggle through four main areas: 1) Booking 2) Check-in 3) Change Flight and 4) Cancel Flight, all of which are protected through an account system that users access with a login and password.