Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has announced plans to launch a new category of tickets starting next year.
The new fare type will now see the airline add to its traditional three-tier “Wanna Get Away,” “Anytime,” and “Business Select” fares. The news was announced on Wednesday during Southwest’s investor meeting in New York.
According to Southwest Airlines’ chief commercial officer, Andrew Watterson, the new ticket category is “essentially a new fare offering,” or a fourth column that would be displayed on the company’s website along with the Wanna Get Away, Anytime and Business Select.
“I would encourage you to think about this as being above Wanna Get Away; that’d be an upsell,” Watterson said, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Southwest did not reveal the perks that would come with the new ticket fare but hinted that it would be better than Wanna Get Away fares.
Watterson revealed that the company will still maintain the services rendered to customers who fly on the Wanna Get Away tickets but is adding an enhancement to its cheapest ticket.
Watterson added that the new ticket fare will cost a little more than the Wanna Get Away tickets, a price he said Southwest’s customers would be more than happy to pay.
During the investor meeting, Southwest further announced that it will increase the benefits of its three existing ticket fares.
“So our goal is to have four fare products with more modest upsell in between each of the fare products,” Watterson said, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. “We expect this to be attractive to business customers as well as leisure and we intend to offer it across our channels.”
Waterson added that, for competitive reasons, the airline would not provide the full details on the new fare until mid-2022, when it will be launched.