Southwest's new GDS agreements with Amadeus and Travelport are
strictly business-to-business endeavors. The airline will continue to eschew
OTAs and metasearch sites.
"We are not changing our B2C model of being direct-to-consumer,”
spokesman Dan Landson wrote in an email.
Southwest announced Monday that it had entered into
agreements with Amadeus and Travelport that will enable travel advisors to
book, change, cancel and modify reservations through the GDSs. Up until now,
Southwest has worked with just one GDS, Sabre, and only at a limited level.
Advisors booking Southwest through Sabre must call the airline for any ticket
modification that is not a cancellation.
Southwest expects its content to be ready for booking in
Amadeus and Travelport by the middle of next year.
The carrier is also partnering with ARC to implement
processes for reporting and settling tickets booked through Amadeus and
Travelport.