Amazon helped Southwest offer flight shopping in ChatGPT at 120 airports
Southwest Airlines launched a U.S. airline plugin in ChatGPT with OpenAI and Amazon Web Services that let travelers discover and shop for flights, at an airline operating at 120 airports across 12 countries.
What happened
Southwest Airlines Co. launched a first-of-its-kind U.S. airline plugin in ChatGPT, an add-on that linked the chat tool to flight options. The launch marked the first step in a phased AI-powered booking approach with OpenAI and Amazon Web Services (AWS) that allowed travelers to discover and shop for Southwest flights in ChatGPT. Customers could discover Southwest destinations and plan flights in an experience powered by OpenAI and Amazon Web Services.
By launching the plugin in ChatGPT, the airline could appear earlier in the Customer journey and offer a simpler, more direct path from inspiration and discovery to booking options with Southwest. Travelers could find more information about the plugin at Southwest.com/chatgpt. According to the company, the airline operated at 120 airports across 12 countries.
Earlier discovery and simpler booking path mattered for demand
Sabrina Callahan, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer at Southwest Airlines, said: “Customers are evolving how they plan their travel, and Southwest is helping to shape what comes next,”. According to the company, it was a meaningful example of how it tested and learned with AI innovation to continue the Customer-first approach that defined its brand.
Lauren Woods, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer at Southwest Airlines, said: “We’re putting the right technology in place to support what our Customers need today with flexibility to build what they’ll need tomorrow,”. By creating a secure, scalable foundation for AI, a term for computer systems that performed tasks that required human-like reasoning, the company could add new capabilities more quickly and thoughtfully, making it easier to serve Customers across their journey.
For Amazon, the collaboration showed its cloud technology in use in everyday travel planning alongside leading AI technology. For investors, the relevance lay in an earlier place in the journey and a more direct route to booking options, combined with a foundation that allowed faster and careful additions to service.
