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Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

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Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#11

Post by [deleted] »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #7
catapart wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how you would have come to that conclusion, after reading the article? It says pretty plainly that the new government regulations, which force airlines to show all "additional" charges alongside the ticket price, means that Southwest's bundled price will now SHOW as cheaper, rather than showing as a larger base price (but less without the added additional 'baggage check' fees, or whatever) than other air…

Google flights has long shown the total price including taxes and bag fees if you specify number of carry on and checkin bags. I would bet it was just a negotiation of travel agent commission paid to Google.

[deleted]

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#12

Post by catapart »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #7
catapart wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how you would have come to that conclusion, after reading the article? It says pretty plainly that the new government regulations, which force airlines to show all "additional" charges alongside the ticket price, means that Southwest's bundled price will now SHOW as cheaper, rather than showing as a larger base price (but less without the added additional 'baggage check' fees, or whatever) than other air…

Google flights has long shown the total price including taxes and bag fees if you specify number of carry on and checkin bags. I would bet it was just a negotiation of travel agent commission paid to Google.

Understood, but trusting Google to do something (in perpetuity) that it is not legally obligated to do is a hard sell to shareholders wondering why you would let your prices be misrepresented (in relation to other airline tickets) in that way.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#14

Post by rockostrich »

lxgr wrote: post #4
22c wrote: post #2

I didn't know they weren't listed on flight aggregator services and I almost certainly did not consider Southwest when flying to FL for this very reason. Seems to me that Southwest are learning the hard way that not being competitive and transparent with consumers about their pricing is bad for business.

I suspect that the commission that Google presumably gets for each referral played a much larger role than a desire to not be transparent. Google Flights is not just a search engine – they get paid by the airlines, as far as I know! As far as Southwest being listed on OTAs is concerned: I'm pretty sure they always have been, or I wouldn't have bought a ticket with them a while ago. They're just apparently not on all…

AFAIK they aren't on any OTAs. I just checked Expedia and Booking for a route that I know they have inventory on (PHL to DEN).

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#15

Post by lotsofpulp »

catapart wrote: post #12
lotsofpulp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google flights has long shown the total price including taxes and bag fees if you specify number of carry on and checkin bags. I would bet it was just a negotiation of travel agent commission paid to Google.

Understood, but trusting Google to do something (in perpetuity) that it is not legally obligated to do is a hard sell to shareholders wondering why you would let your prices be misrepresented (in relation to other airline tickets) in that way.

What was the misrepresentation? The lowest price offered by Southwest is still the same.

Southwest having a different pricing strategy does not make it misrepresentation.

Edit to respond to fragmede below:

If a customer selects 0 or 1 checked bags, would it be better for the customer if Google flights did not show Southwest as an option at all?

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#16

Post by toast0 »

catapart wrote: post #5
22c wrote: post #2

I didn't know they weren't listed on flight aggregator services and I almost certainly did not consider Southwest when flying to FL for this very reason. Seems to me that Southwest are learning the hard way that not being competitive and transparent with consumers about their pricing is bad for business.

I don't know how you would have come to that conclusion, after reading the article? It says pretty plainly that the new government regulations, which force airlines to show all "additional" charges alongside the ticket price, means that Southwest's bundled price will now SHOW as cheaper, rather than showing as a larger base price (but less without the added additional 'baggage check' fees, or whatever) than other air…

It certainly appears as a principled stance now, but they opted out of OTAs back when any ticket on any airline got you two checked bags.

They didn't want to be easily compared back then on a level playing field. So it's a bit surprising that they want to be easily compared now, but the industry is also different.

Most likely if there was a principle, it was that they didn't want to pay Sabre to be in it, especially since Sabre was part of American Airlines until 2000.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#17

Post by mfkp »

impish9208 wrote: post #13

I noticed this the other day when I saw SWA flights listed in the Chase Travel portal. Previously, you could only book directly from them.

The article mentioned that they have a special deal worked out specifically with Chase, so that would have been there previously.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#18

Post by _huayra_ »

Besides the 2 bags you get for free, the ability to rebook whenever you want and pay the difference / get a credit is so incredibly useful. I am not super well-versed on airline policies, but last time I looked, I think they were the only US airline that did this (at least for the economy class level of tickets).

One neat trick: you can rebook your exact same itinerary if you see it cheaper and get the difference as a credit (for the Wanna Get Away class fares; if you booked with the pricier ones, you'll get it back as a refund to your credit card).

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#19

Post by catapart »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #15
catapart wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Understood, but trusting Google to do something (in perpetuity) that it is not legally obligated to do is a hard sell to shareholders wondering why you would let your prices be misrepresented (in relation to other airline tickets) in that way.

What was the misrepresentation? The lowest price offered by Southwest is still the same. Southwest having a different pricing strategy does not make it misrepresentation. Edit to respond to fragmede below: If a customer selects 0 or 1 checked bags, would it be better for the customer if Google flights did not show Southwest as an option at all?

If I look up a price for Delta compared against a price for Southwest and the Delta price is cheaper, that is a "representation".

If I go to Delta to buy the ticket, but cannot actually purchase the ticket for the price quoted (which was the problem), then there has been a misrepresentation of the actual cost of a Delta ticket.

Compounding that, if the actual price I pay for a Delta ticket is more than the comparison price for a Southwest ticket that would have allowed me to get the same fare, then the comparison is a misrepresentation. The comparison is no longer apples to apples. That's not a problem with Southwest having an issue with pricing model, that's a problem with the comparison sites not being forced to show comparisons between like products. That comparison, between unlike products, is a misrepresentation, if a reasonable person could believe that they were looking at a comparison of like products.

I'm not going to belabor the point further; the law was changed for exactly this type of nonsense. It's a misrepresentation.

Re: Southwest Airlines now available on Google Flights

#20

Post by catapart »

toast0 wrote: post #16
catapart wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how you would have come to that conclusion, after reading the article? It says pretty plainly that the new government regulations, which force airlines to show all "additional" charges alongside the ticket price, means that Southwest's bundled price will now SHOW as cheaper, rather than showing as a larger base price (but less without the added additional 'baggage check' fees, or whatever) than other air…

It certainly appears as a principled stance now, but they opted out of OTAs back when any ticket on any airline got you two checked bags. They didn't want to be easily compared back then on a level playing field. So it's a bit surprising that they want to be easily compared now, but the industry is also different. Most likely if there was a principle, it was that they didn't want to pay Sabre to be in it, especially…

Addressed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40456196
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