Kayak now shows Southwest Airlines fares – A breakthrough after 20 years

The price comparison service Kayak has made a significant move after twenty years: it now includes fares from Southwest Airlines for leisure travelers in its offerings. This addresses a gap that previously existed in Kayak's product portfolio. Until recently, vacationers could book Southwest fares only on Southwest.com. Google Flights took on this challenge recently and began displaying the airline's fares two months ago. Unlike online travel agencies such as Booking.com, Expedia, Priceline, and CheapOair, which do not have these flights in their portfolios, Kayak is now making strides in this area. While business customers have had access to Southwest fares through tools like Kayak for Business for years, the airline insisted until recently that leisure travelers must make their bookings directly with Southwest. Kayak has long desired to include fares from the second-largest U.S. domestic airline in its offerings. Southwest, which also flies to destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean, has even taken legal action in the past against websites like Skiplagged and Kiwi to prevent the unauthorized use of their fare information. On Monday, Kayak announced that Southwest fares are now officially displayed. A soft-launch phase began last Friday. Users can now view "Wanna Get Away" and "Wanna Get Away Plus" fares for a flight from Dallas to Denver, for example. As usual, the booking directs the buyer to Southwest.com. Additionally, the listing of Southwest flights on Kayak indicates that travelers can bring one carry-on and two checked bags for free and that there are no change fees. Steve Hafner, co-founder and CEO of Kayak, expressed his pleasure with the collaboration, emphasizing that Southwest has never sued Kayak or required it not to use their fare information. "Our relationship with them has always been great," Hafner said. "It just took 20 years to convince them to expand their reach through metasearch engines." Southwest's revised distribution strategy reflects various adjustments to their business model in response to demands from an activist investor. Currently, no online travel agencies are authorized to display Southwest fares. Bookings through metasearch sites like Google or Kayak are always completed on Southwest.com. Hafner concluded: "I have no idea what other distribution plans they have. Meta is a much more cost-effective channel than OTAs, and we direct our referrals straight to Southwest so they can complete their booking." He suspects that Southwest will take these factors into account in their future decisions.