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Southwest Becomes First US Airline With a ChatGPT Booking Plug-In, Built With OpenAI and AWS
Southwest Airlines has introduced a custom plug-in that lets customers explore and book flights from within ChatGPT, which the article describes as a first for a US airline. The tool was developed with OpenAI and Amazon Web Services. Users can ask the chatbot for travel ideas or supply dates and a destination so it can look for the best offers; ChatGPT then sends them to Southwest's website, where the booking is completed. Chief Digital and Marketing Officer Sabrina Callahan said the airline tests and learns with AI while keeping a customer-first approach, noting that customers are changing how they plan trips. Chief Information Officer Lauren Woods said a secure, scalable AI foundation will help the airline add capabilities faster. The article notes that Virgin Atlantic has launched a similar plug-in, and that OpenAI's model is not yet fully agentic, so payment still has to be handled manually on the airline's site. It also mentions Meta's Muse agent, which Meta says can book and pay for flights inside its app, and cites a Reuters report that ChatGPT has passed one billion monthly users. Estimates of how many travellers use AI for planning or booking range widely, from about 10% to about 90%.
Southwest Airlines has launched a plug-in that lets customers search for fares inside ChatGPT, then finish the purchase on its own website. It was developed with OpenAI and Amazon Web Services.
Original reporting
World Aviation Festival · Elsie Clark
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