Comments on: Short hops — May 17, 2007 — Southwest gets searchable, airlines barely better than cable companies, luggage gouging, and make your own ID

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Wed, 23 May 2007 00:18:21 +0000

Thanks, Dan!

By: Dan S

Dan S — Sun, 20 May 2007 18:19:37 +0000

Mark: I’m pretty sure the deal excludes Southwest fares from showing up on on-line booking sites.

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Sun, 20 May 2007 00:53:50 +0000

Ok, Joe, I’m correcting/clarifying the post. When I wrote the first sentence you cite, I meant “major online” to refer to both online “booking systems” and online “travel agencies.” I was unclear. But I also admit I wasn’t aware that travel agents who are part of Sabre could book Southwest tickets for their clients through that system. So thanks for clarifying.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 19 May 2007 01:32:47 +0000

Let me quote to you the first line of this article, “It’s a bizarre reversal of their earlier strategy of keeping their fares out of the major online booking systems and travel agencies, and forcing you to go to their website to check their prices.” That says that they were keeping them out of the hands of travel agents which is untrue. SABRE agents have been able to sell WN for years.

By: Mark Ashley

Mark Ashley — Fri, 18 May 2007 20:38:07 +0000

Can anyone besides travel agents who subscribe to Sabre see those fares? If I recall correctly, Travelocity is powered by Sabre, but Southwest doesn’t show up there.

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 18 May 2007 10:09:06 +0000

You’re wrong about Southwest. Their fares have been available for years when searching fares in the SABRE GDS system.