Celebrating 20 years of Low Fares Online

[akaplan]

Today, March 16, is Southwest.com’s 20^th birthday! Explore the history of our website and enjoy these 20 fun facts to celebrate 20 years of low fares online:

1. The first version of Southwest.com was created by nine dedicated Employees over a span of nine months.
2. When the first version launched, Southwest Airlines became one of the first airlines to have a website.
3. Southwest’s website has allowed our Customer’s to book ticketless travel online since 1995!
4. In February 1997, Southwest first offered Rapid Rewards members double flight credits to incentivize Customers to book travel through Southwest.com.
5. Southwest’s website has been officially called Southwest.com since August 1, 1997.
6. Also in August 1997, Customers had the ability to receive instant travel and entertainment information from more than 20,000 destinations via Southwest.com
7. Southwest.com first gave Customers the opportunity to receive e-mails with sales and promotions in July 1998.
8. In September 2000, Southwest.com had already generated more than one billion dollars in passenger revenues for that year, which was about 30 percent of the airline’s total passenger revenues. This made Southwest.com one of the largest e-commerce websites in the world.
9. In April 2001, Jupiter Media Metrix released a report revealing that Southwest.com was the busiest airline web site in February of that same year. In that month alone, Southwest.com reached 2.9 million unique visitors.
10. In April 2001, Southwest.com was named the top ranking website for customer satisfaction by Nielson/NetRatings and Harris Interactive.
11. Southwest Airlines Customers have had the ability to check their flight status the site since 2001.
12. That online check in that you know and LUV? It’s been a feature on Southwest.com since January 2004!
13. In October 2005, Southwest began selling electronic giftcards on Southwest.com.
14. DING! A desktop application that allowed Customers to book flights was also a first within the airline industry. DING! was first introduced in 2005.
15. Southwest Airlines flights have been exclusively sold on Southwest.com since June 2006.
16. The "Southwest Shortcut" feature on Southwest.com was the first online tool to help Customers with flexible travel dates to find the lowest fares.
17. During 2014, 82 percent of Southwest Customers checked in online or at a kiosk.
18. Last year, 80 percent of passenger revenues were booked via Southwest.com, swabiz.com, or AirTran.com.
19. More than 18 million people currently subscribe to Southwest's weekly opt-in Click 'n Save e-mails.
20. Southwest.com isn’t just to book flights! You can also reserve hotel rooms, car rentals, and entire vacation packages for when you just Wanna Get Away.