Southwest Airlines

Prior to 1978, commercial airlines sold millions of airfare tickets, but in a much different fashion than they are today. In these past times, the only way that a flight ticket could be booked or reserved was to call a customer service line and speak to an airline representative, or to actually go through a travel agency to purchase a fare. In these times the government regulated the cost of airfare to a fixed amount that was consistent to the economy and travel destinations. During the government’s regulatory period many airlines who were growing struggled to keep their financial status ‘in the black’, creating a push for airlines to push for independent control of airfare that led to profit within means of their operating costs they incurred. In these years, aviation became an extremely popular and affordable means of transportation, and the need of a better system was required to keep up with the demand of air travel. Airline reservations became available in computerized systems that were named computer reservations systems (CRS), and were eventually available throughout travel agencies everywhere.

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