SEATTLE, WA — (Marketwired) — 07/30/13 — Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV), the world-s leading low-fare carrier, has renewed its relationship with , a market leader in customer interaction management, to consistently reach customers, pilots, and employees with critical, time-sensitive information. This three-year agreement extends a relationship that began in 2007. In the last year, Varolii delivered more than 35 million communications across voice, text, and e-mail on behalf of the carrier to consumers and employees.
Southwest Airlines is known for its superior service, maintaining one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings for airlines according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index. With more than 1.2 million flights each year, serving over 100 million customers, the carrier must be able to quickly inform their customers of flight status updates.
Leveraging the Varolii Interact Platform, Southwest Airlines proactively communicates with customers in nearly real-time — reaching them with personalized messages and self-service options — that allow customers to quickly and easily make changes to their flight itineraries. This effort not only delivers a high quality customer experience, it deflects stress on the carrier-s call centers and Customer Service Agents.
“The flexibility, immediateness and scalability that we receive from the Varolii platform has become a core component of our operational infrastructure, and enables us to maintain the highest quality of service,” said Teresa Laraba, Southwest Airlines Senior Vice President of Customers. “With Varolii Interact, we can reach large numbers of Customers in a fraction of the time and without any massive spikes in inbound calls. Use of this platform has translated into higher Customer satisfaction and cost savings. As we continue to expand on this relationship, we look forward to building on this success and driving further innovation with Varolii.”
As part of Southwest-s renewal with Varolii, the two companies are making further enhancements to quickly and easily communicate important information to key stakeholders. For instance, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires that all airlines notify passengers of any flight status changes or delays within 30 minutes of the change. Leveraging Varolii-s Interact Platform, the carrier is not only compliant with DOT regulations but is able to reach customers with important information in less than five minutes.
“This contract renewal is a testament to the success we make possible for Southwest Airlines across all its critical, time-sensitive communications,” said Andrea Austin, vice president at Varolii. “As we continue to add new capabilities to reach the digital consumer, such as and , we look forward to exploring how we can further support and enhance the airline-s reputation for delivering the best experience possible.”
Varolii also enables Southwest to communicate more effectively with pilots and employees. The Varolii Interact platform powers Southwest-s to efficiently match pilot availability with flight needs. The solution helps the carrier quickly staff unassigned flights, ensure on-time flight operations, and reduce costs from a previously manual process. The OTA solution provides pilots with an opt-in program to deliver SMS text messages directly to the employee-s mobile device to alert them of open flights and give real-time opportunities to choose their work schedule. Southwest uses Varolii to exchange more than 100,000 OTA messages with pilots each month.
For Internal Employee communications, Southwest uses Varolii to share critical information seamlessly with employees across the company. Varolii allows the carrier to communicate new policies, department information, and operational updates to more than 46,000 employees. For example, Southwest uses Varolii communications to keep employees informed during any significant business disruptions where immediate information is critical, such as an airport closure caused by extreme weather that will disrupt flight schedules and staffing.
Varolii is a leading provider of customer interaction management applications. Our cloud-based communication service helps organizations more effectively interact with large numbers of customers and employees through voice, text messages, smartphone applications and email, reducing cost of operations and improving service. The company-s award-winning enables companies to deliver personalized communication on a large scale, achieving . More than 450 companies trust Varolii to manage more than four million interactions every business day. For more information, visit .
In its 42nd year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) continues to differentiate itself from other carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by nearly 46,000 Employees to more than 100 million Customers annually. Southwest is the nation-s largest carrier in terms of originating domestic passengers boarded, and including wholly-owned subsidiary, AirTran Airways, operates the largest fleet of Boeing aircraft in the world to serve 97 destinations in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and six near-international countries. Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for its triple bottom line approach that takes into account the carrier-s performance and productivity, the importance of its People and the communities it serves, and its commitment to efficiency and the planet. The 2012 Southwest Airlines One Report can be found at .
Southwest Airlines
From its first flights on June 18, 1971, Southwest Airlines launched an era of unprecedented affordability in air travel quantified by the U.S. Department of Transportation as “The Southwest Effect,” a lowering of fares and increase in passenger traffic wherever the carrier serves. On every flight, Southwest offers Customers the first two pieces of checked luggage (weight and size limitations apply) and all ticket changes without additional fees. Southwest-s all Boeing fleet consistently offers leather seating and the comfort of full-size cabins, many of which are equipped with satellite-based WiFi connectivity and a new, sustainable cabin interior. With 40 consecutive years of profitability, the People of Southwest operate nearly 3,400 flights a day and serve communities around 85 airports in Southwest-s network of domestic destinations. Southwest Airlines- frequent flights and low fares are available only at
AirTran Airways
AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co., offers coast-to-coast and near-international service with close to 600 flights a day to 47 destinations. The carrier-s high-quality product includes assigned seating and Business Class. As Southwest continues to integrate AirTran-s People, places, and planes into Southwest Airlines, Customers of both carriers may book flights at and exchange earned loyalty points between both AirTran-s A+ Rewards® and Southwest-s Rapid Rewards® for reward travel on either airline.
Kelsey Shively
Edelman PR
206-505-6576 (office)
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