100 points if you know the title reference.

Southwest Airlines is making incremental progress towards going international with steps like instituting flights to San Juan, Puerto Rico and rebuilding Houston Hobby Airport into an international gateway.

Some think that San Juan is international travel.  Not so much.  It’s a US Territory but, hey, it’s in the Caribbean and many of its residents speak Spanish.

Southwest will embark on travel to Caribbean and Mexican destinations over the next 2 years as it replaces Airtran flights with its own.  To add density to those destinations, Southwest is eyeing other destinations in Central and South America that are within range of its 737-800 ETOPS aircraft and which could be served well from Houston, TX.

It’s got some things to do before that happens.  First, it needs to build that international terminal fast.  Second, it needs to build an international reservations system and it’s got Amadeus working on that part.  Sabre is working with SWA on its domestic system and while many think that Amadeus might take over SWA, I do not.

The bottleneck isn’t going to be that terminal, however.  It will be the IT systems . . . again.  Southwest still hasn’t gotten things kicked into a gear with a Big Boy reservations system that will permit it to interface with other airlines or travel systems.

More importantly, it’s time SWA rework its own website which certainly met the needs of its travelers in 1999 but it really does not now.  It’s time to build a travel site that shows the opportunities for travelers instead of being a place that continues to look “temporary” when it comes to booking a flight.

Filed under: Airline Service, Airports, Mergers and Bankruptcy by ajax
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