Before they went mainstream low-cost carriers were the disruptors. Then business travellers discovered that not only did these darlings of the backpack crowd fly to places they needed to be at times they needed to be there for less money but that their service was actually pretty good.
These carriers could reduce fares because they had a lower cost base for a number of reasons, not least of which was their direct distribution model — no fees to an intermediary such as a GDS.
As time has moved on, content and traveller taste has changed. Much of the transport and accommodation that business travellers want is not available on the GDS but only through direct channels or other consolidators. So travel managers and travel management companies have had to work out how to deal with multi-channel booking.
And now the grand-daddy of low-costs, Southwest has launched Southwest Business, designed with the corporate market - and going on the GDS - in mind.
Some interesting points . . .
1. Southwest may have a massive and enviable route network but it does not have the ancillaries of an easyJet or Ryanair to sell. Southwest president Tom Nealon told Business Travel News this week that its model meant that the inability to sell ancillaries such as business class or extra leg room didn't matter. Southwest does not offer those kind of products although Nealon did suggest that priority boarding and other, yet-to-be-announced, extras were part of a product that its target business customers did want.
2. GDS membership facilitates partnerships whether they be codeshares, air alliance memberships or joint ventures. At present Southwest flies only within the US and to some Caribbean and Latin American destinations, but in the past CEO Gary Kelly has expressed the ambition to fly to Canada and Europe.
In Southwest's words, being on a GDS "allows travel managers to book, change, cancel and modify reservations."
It will certainly make buying and booking flights between a whole raft of American business destinations and Europe a whole lot easier.
In a statement it said, "By increasing the Company's participation within these channels to the highest level, travel managers and travel management companies will have access to more of the airlines' fares and flight schedules. Southwest is also partnering with ARC to implement industry-standard processes to handle the reporting and settlement of tickets booked through Travelport and Amadeus channels."
3. Southwest is not going on all the major GDSs. It is going on Amadeus and Travelport which are small in the US in comparison with market leader, Sabre. (Between the lines it sounds as if the commercials with Sabre at present are not working for both parties.)
But if the ambition is to offer seamless connections to points in Europe and for European businesses to access many US business destinations at a reasonable cost, does that matter?