Southwest Airlines Community

The seemingly small changes can have an outsized impact on a digital experience. Take look at how our Digital Trip Support team recently improved our check in experience to give Customers more context to reduce travel anxiety. These behind the scenes changes don't always get the fanfare, but they are oh so important.   Huge shoutout to this awesome Trip Support Team as they find ways to balance changing the big and small.     After working to help launch our new Flight Credits Don’t Expire policy change, they pivoted to improve error messages, an often overlooked area that can drive Customer frustration as well as phone calls or queues at the airport.   The team improved our Too Early To Check In experience by offering our Customers more details about when to come back, and in what time zone, if accidentally attempting to check-in ahead of 24 hours before departure.  Departing out of a different time zone, or daylight savings changes, can sometimes cause confusion for a check in.  And it happens a lot! This error was shown over 44 million times a year as our check in process is so time sensitive. So we're excited to improve it.   Too early to check in error message     Continuing, the team explored our next largest error and improved our Wrong Name at Check In experience.  Prior to this change, Customers may have entered a valid confirmation number, but simply typo’d a name which would generate a non-specific error.  The team added more context to the error message to help Customers realize it could be a name issue and to reinforce what was entered to offer a a chance to double check.  Improving this experience that occurred over 2.5 million times a year.   Wrong name at check in error message   Finally, the team identified an opportunity to help Customers that may have forgotten to check in until they are at the airport, or perhaps they did a last-minute ticket purchase or change.  Prior to this change we prevented digital check in up to 1 hour before scheduled departure time.  The team worked with our Airport teams and others to match our kiosk check in time limit of 20 minutes.  Making this change reduced the error by 75% and over 700 Customers a day now can check in between 60 and 20 minutes prior to departure.   Too late to check in error message   Way to go to our Digital Trip Support for making these changes!   And they have lots more they are cooking up with improvements to our A-List, Business Select, and EarlyBird check in messages, a countdown clock (hooray), and splitting a reservation. Akl A Allen P Andrew B Angela L Arrel R Bill T Caroline M Christi T Cindi S Clint K Drew B Greg R Hemanth J Jackie P Jeff J Jennell J Jennifer H Kritika P Nodir N Levoy W Malavika D Mark A Melissa M Otabek K Pence W Rachana T Ramana R Ryan G Satya T Shane A Sherrie M Stephen S Tony R   ... View more

Our Self-Service Optimization Team recently launched a test to improve our Airport Information Pages which you may be seeing in production.   Our Airport Information Page is visited over 2 million times a year and includes information about ticket counter opening times, airport facilities, and provides links to airport websites to learn more.  We prominently link to this content from our pre-trip e-mails, which account for more than half of the visits.     After researching with our Customers, we know that the current format is difficult to use on a mobile device and requires significant scrolling to find the accurate content. So our teams are testing an optimized version in production which you may be seeing.     We will closely monitor the new experience's performance and optimize as appropriate.  We hope that the improvements help Customers easily find information that helps them during their trip.         Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences. ... View more

We've made it even easier to access many of our digital features while on the go:   Our mobile friendly Low Fare Calendar links can now be found on our Mobile Website & Southwest App.  Use it to quickly find the lowest fare across a range of dates in a specific market We've added new sections to Buy Points, Earn Points, and expanded our Redeem Points  to our navigation in our Mobile Website and Southwest App We've added links in our navigation to Buy Carbon Offsets and to explore our Corporate Citizenship content to learn more about how we are Being Good by Doing Doing Good for our People, Planet, and Community           Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences.   ... View more

Our new and improved Southwest Citizenship experience has just launched. This is a fully revamped Southwest Citizenship section with improved information on our People, Planet, Performance and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.  It's mobile friendly and chock full of information about how Southwest Cohearts are working hard every day to be the best for our People and our Planet.         And the vastly improved Diversity Equity & Inclusion section is such a nice way to celebrate that it takes Every. Single. One. Of. Us. to bring the heart to Southwest. This is a major upgrade form our prior version which lacked being mobile friendly and had a format which prevented us from sharing more details on these topics.  We are excited to bring this to revamped version to our Customers, Cohearts, and Shareholders.   Special thanks to all of these Cohearts who worked on the improvements to the new Southwest Citizenship section!   Bill T Carolyn N Carole E Cindi S Corey E Corri R Gaurav M Helen G Jason S Jennifer B Jeffrey N Juan S Katie C Katy S Lauren T Lauren Y Laurie B Lisa M Lindsey L Lorren T Mary O Megan S Meredith H Rachel B Raquel D Ramabhadran V Roxanna S Ryan G Ryan M Sally A Sarah C Shane M Sheila T Stacy M Thea J Yvonne R ... View more

We've updated our Southwest App on iOS with new Offline Alert banners to help improve your experience the your device isn't yet connected to the network.     This will be coming soon to our Android app.     We added this feature as we often hear that Customers may be unable to retrieve a boarding pass at security or at the gate.  This can happen when your device connects to a network WiFI connection which requires activation or authentication.  When this occurs, your device may look connected, but it can't reach our servers to get your boarding pass.   These new alerts will help you understand if you're in that situation so you can quickly connect, especially at time sensitive moments such as trying to pass through security or board the aircraft.  We also recommend using an Apple Wallet or Google Pay boarding pass just in case you lose connection while traveling.   These passes are available even if you do not have network connectivity.    In the future we will be adding a feature to cache your trip details and your boarding passes directly on your device.  That way, if you lose connectivity for a moment you'll still have access to critical details.   Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences. ... View more

We've launched improvements to the Accessible Travel Content  in our Help Center to make it even easier to travel with us.  This follows on our other effort to improve the mobile accessibility in our Mobile Friendly Help Center     This includes updated and mobile friendly content our Customers that may need additional assistance for travel.  Here you'll find helpful information related to    Wheelchairs Airport & Boarding Assistance Traveling while blind or with low vision Traveling with oxygen Traveling with trained service animals Traveling with Allergies Obtaining a non passenger escort for assisting a Customer   We hope that these improvements make it even easier to travel with us.   The prior version was very difficult to use on a mobile device.   Now all the content has been refreshed and is much easier to navigate in the Help Center. Great news since this content received over 1 million page visits int he last year.   Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences.   Thank you to the following Cohearts who have helped to improve this content as part of our Mobile Friendly Content updates.   Bill T Brenna R Carole E Catherine G Christopher H Cindi S Corri R Gaurav M Karen S Katy S Kelly D Kimberly A Laurette S Lisa M Megan S Rohan P Ryan G Sally A         ... View more

Our new Mobile Friendly Route Map has landed! You can find it on out websites and in the Southwest app.    https://southwest.com/route-map     This new route map includes: Mobile friendliness - find great destinations on your device of choice. Non-stop and connecting route filtering A list option to quickly view things outside of a map A design that was inspired by Customers and underwent extensive usability research directly with Customer feedback   Now that we have launched this first phase, we can consider how we might work on future enhancements including adding our lowest price point & date in the market, destination types, and more.   Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences.   Please join me in wishing a huge thanks to the following Cohearts and Partners who worked on this.  Digital Experience Web Content Management Team Corey E Roxanna S Digital Experience Quality Control Chad A Sheila T Digital Platforms Web Content Management Engineering Team Amanda C David S Heather T Ramabhadran V Digital Platforms Engineering Team  Andy H Ashley L Harsha A Christina C Conlee M Kritika P Linda G Qi F Sailaja M Vinod J Revenue Management Technology Ashwini P Charles W Jourdan M Mark B Mary W Michael W Mike D Roli M Supply Chain Tamara C Quality Management Office Jonathan B Media Monks & Visa Team Joe F Hector M Merri W Kaine C Christel R ETO Erika B Mario R Reuben W Go To Market Strategy Allison L Megan J Leadership Bill T Byron F Carole E Christi T Corbitt B Edward L Gaurav M Howard P Jim J Megan S Mike C Nancy P Vince B Ryan R SWA Alumni Pierre C (Marketing WCM) Dana M (UX)   ... View more

Our Enhanced Inflight Route Map Has Landed!     This new update will provide our Southwest Customers with features that they may be used to seeing when using a seat-back flight tracker, but now on their own device. Which is great as more than a third of all time spent while in the SouthwestWiFi experience is spent watching the flight tracker. And there's just something very meta about watching a virtual view of the plane you are on that is going 500 mph over 5 miles in the sky, all while sitting inside that plane and looking at your device. Here's a few things you'll find with this enhancement A mobile first design since nearly 80% of our SouthwestWiFi users are on a mobile device A 3D View with a total of five different map views including simulated views from the flight deck, window views, and top-down views. Flight information displays including ground speed, altitude, heading, distance remaining and time at destination Access to a Destination Guide with videos of things to do when at the destination Plus, it's even so smart that it will change the look of the Southwest livery based upon whether you are flying on a special livery aircraft or not. So cool!               Throughout July & August we will continue to update the remaining ~100 aircraft with the enhanced flight tracker. Check it out on your next trip and let us know what you think!   Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences.   Special thanks to the following Cohearts & Partners who helped bring this to life Steven Rollinson Kuan Chin Duncan Jackson Boris Veksler ... View more

Our Frequent travelers feature we added to our desktop website just got even better! Now our mobile Customers on southwest.com and the Southwest app can use this feature while on their phone.     Check it out by making a booking while logged in and selecting the option to “Add a Frequent Traveler.”  From there you can select one you have previously saved to your account or add an additional one for later use.   To add more or edit Frequent Travelers simply visit your Southwest Account on a computer or laptop.   Huge shoutout to the team that worked on this including   Amy L Anji I Ashely S Blair R Brian B Erin S Jennifer V Jerel K Jim J John D Jole M Kathi O Karabi A Michael B Monalisa S Ram M Reshma S Sangarsh P Shradda K Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences. ... View more

Each year tens of millions of Customers go to Southwest.com or the Southwest app to learn about their travel or to answer a question.  A key section to support them is our  Help Center which we have been overhauling over the past few years.   In 2020 we made the Help Center more mobile friendly which doubled engagement nearly overnight.  In 2021 we rebranded our Help Center from the previous name of FAQs which also resulted in a major jump in usage.  And now we are working hard to improve our Help Center even more.       Making our Digital Help Center as helpful as possible is key in ensuring our Customers know about our product & policies when they choose to fly with Southwest, and are informed as possible to best be prepared during their trip.   When surveyed we hear from the majority of Customers want to be able to find their answers on their own.  So we are working hard to improve our Digital Help Content.   Our Digital Cohearts are centralizing all helpful content across various parts of our website and app, while also making it mobile friendly. This include moving much of the following content into our Help Center including: Our Digital Customer Service Center, which receives tens of millions of annual views about bags, travel accommodations, and policies Rapid Rewards Center, which includes  information about the program and partners Product Content which provides information views about Early Bird, Upgraded Boarding, and more A first phase of this improvement includes a fully revamped More Helpful Help Center which includes A continued focus on Mobile Friendly design as more than 60% of our visitors are on a mobile device while in the Help Center A more intuitive Help Center landing page organized into key topic areas that are easy to quickly understand along with a more prominent search bar when viewing on a computer New Help Topic Landing pages that provide the quick bits of information that Customers frequently request, as well as let them dive into the details on topics Redesigned Help Page Templates that are more digestible to allow Customers to quickly find information if they are exploring. Information now is organized into bite sized pieces to help Customers discover answers. A Search Engine Friendly Design so that when Customers type a Southwest related question in a search engine it is easy to discover  in our Help Center   This release includes a first phase of our Customer Service Section Retirement with the following high usage content being moved to the Help Center. Old links to the content have been preserved and will redirect to the new Help Center pages including: Checked Bags Carryon Bags Special Bags Mobile Boarding Pass   After this release we’ll be continuing this summer to update the Help Center by porting in more digital content that currently resides in other locations. We’ll also be refining the Help Center to ensure the most helpful content is surfaced at the top.   This most recent update has had great impact.  We’ve already observed a 51% increase in our Help Center visit rate and dwell time in this part of the store has increased 27%.  That means to use that more people are able to find this Helpful part of the store and the content is even more meaningful.   Huge thanks to our Mobile Quick Wins team that continues to ensure our experiences are mobile friendly.   And an extra special thanks to the following Cohearts that made this release possible:   Technology Web Content Management Team Azhar K David S Heather T Moises E Padmavathi T Ramabhadran V Randy S   Digital Solutions Web Content Management Team Amber G Chad A Chris H Corey E Kelly D Roxanna S Sheila T   CDN Team Aaron S   Digital Experience Design Ashley S   Mobile Quick Wins Core Team & Leadership Sponsors Bill T Byron F Carole E Cindi S Corri R Gaurav M Howard P Katy S Jim J Mandy M Megan S Ryan G Sally A Sarah L   Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences. ... View more

On your next Southwest Flight you can now enjoy getting a quick taste of one of our free movies with our new movies trailer feature, where available.  Plus, you can now watch all of that onboard TV content back to back with our new Play All functionality.     So enjoy watching Leslie Knope as she continues to work to improve Pawnee across all our episodes onboard.  Or check out a movie trailer to find the best free movies we offer as you sit back and relax during your trip to one of our 100+ Southwest destinations.     Special thanks to our amazing Cohearts who brought this improvement to the portal including Steven, Cindi, Brittany, Kiran, Tara, and our partners at Anuvu with a special shout out to Kuan.   Find out what entertainment to expect onboard here    Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences. ... View more

Our Digital Team just made booking even easier with the launch of Frequent Travelers on the desktop version of Southwest.com.       Now you can save your frequent travelers in your account or while making a booking on the Purchase page.  Next time you're booking you can choose your Frequent Travelers to save you time.   All of their information will be copied over into your new reservation so you don't need to keep track of their middle name, their Known Traveler Number, or slyly try to obtain their birthday, yet again.  We will keep all that information on file to make things even easier for you.   Add up to 25 of your favorite friends, family members, or coworkers to make it even easier to travel together.  Plus, use your account to edit, delete, and add more numbers.             While we made things easier, unfortunately for our Seinfeld fans, now Jerry has one more speed dial list to worry about.   If it helps, the list is sorted alphabetically so no need to try getting boosted to #1.   Though, there is always the risk of getting deleted!   Great news too, it looks like our Customers are really enjoying using this new feature.  In the first 48 hours of launch there have been 21,771 frequent travelers added to accounts.  Plus, 2,346 bookings have been made with a frequent traveler.  We’re so happy to see this feature being used to make travel even easier for our Customers.   Our vision is to be the Most Loved, Most Efficient and Most Profitable Airline.  We hope that this helps you love our digital booking experience even more, makes it even faster to book a great low fare, and brings you coming back for more travel on Southwest.    Soon we will add the ability to book with a frequent traveler when making a booking on the Southwest app or the mobile version of our website.  For now, enjoy this feature while using the desktop version of Southwest.com on a laptop, computer, or while using a mobile device using Desktop mode.   Thank you so much to the e following Cohearts and partners that helped bring this experience to life.   Anant K Ashley S Blaire R Blake B Clayton R Danny L Edward G Grant D Jerel K Jesus G Jim J Jole M Kathi O Krunal K Louis R Meredith H Michael B Mike C Mo C Qi F Rachel H Samba P Sean M Stephanie B Vanessa M Vinoth D Yedil W   Learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences. ... View more

It’s even easier to get the right messages from Southwest.  Our Digital Team recently launched Push Settings in the Southwest iOS App.  This allows Customers to easily subscribe to the push messages that are most relevant to them.           Opt-in to receive messages when we announce new service, extend our schedule, or launch a great new sale for low fares.  Plus, you can choose what is best for you so you don’t miss out on important trip related messages such as check-in reminders and now boarding messages.   To access this new features just tap Settings in the navigation.         We will be bringing this feature to our Android app later in Q2.   Thank you so much to our Southwest Cohearts who brought this new capability to life including:   Allen P Amanda B Amber B Angie S Angie S Ashley L Brenna R Brianna S Caitlin K Carole E Chandra G Chasya H Chris G Corri R Dana M Erin S Gaurav M Harry M Harsh C Jim J Jole M Josh L Kevin L Krizia D Kyle D Laurette S McGuinn M Megan S Meniza B Meredith H Nick S Penelope Y Rebecca D Sai A Saritha E Vijaya C Vince B Wade M   You can learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences here.     ... View more

You can now purchase our $8 Inflight Internet* using Venmo.  Browse the web or check your email all from the comfort of your Southwest seat while flying over 500 mph in the sky!     Simply select the Venmo option and be directed to your Venmo app or sign in to use your Venmo account.   We started the deployment process on Jan 26 and the full fleet should be activated in the coming weeks.   Learn more about our Inflight Entertainment and Connectivity services available on your flight.   Congratulations to Steven R, Tara B, and our Anuvu partners with some special thanks to Kuan for bringing this to life.   You can learn about other recent improvements to our digital experiences here.   * Available only on WiFi-enabled aircraft. Limited-time offer. Where available.   Internet access for $8 a day, per device. In order to provide the best experience, we block access to certain high-bandwidth applications, websites, and video conferencing services, including, but not limited to, Netflix, HBO Max, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams. In consideration of the public environment onboard, we also block potentially offensive online content.       ... View more