Southwest Airlines Cargo and Descartes Raise the Bar on Customer Service with Real-Time Cargo Visibility

In a recent press release, we announced that Southwest Airlines successfully deployed Descartes' cloud-based Air Messaging Service to its cargo customers. We were very pleased to work with the award-winning cargo division, of Southwest Airlines, to continue their great tradition of outstanding customer service. Shipment status messaging, provided by Descartes, now enables Southwest Airlines Cargo to deliver real-time alerts to its freight forwarders and direct shipper customers. With Descartes' extensive community of freight forwarders already connected to Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN), Southwest Airlines Cargo was able to quickly connect to its customers, dramatically reducing the time to improve customer satisfaction, reducing costs, and streamlining operational processes.

Kevin Russell, Director of Cargo Revenue Management and Automation at Southwest Airlines Cargo, commented on roll-out highlights, “We initially launched Descartes Air Messaging Service to select freight forwarder trading partners. The cloud-based service was fast and easy to implement and delivered immediate service improvements to our customers and provided full transparency into their shipments. Based on the positive customer feedback that we received about the improved customer service, we are pleased to now offer shipment status messaging to all of our cargo customers."

As a key success factor, the strength of Descartes’ network of pre-connected freight forwarders helped Southwest Airlines Cargo to reduce the time-to-value for its customers. Electronic air messaging services, including status messaging, are provided by Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN), which processes over 1 billion electronic messages annually. The GLN is a cloud-based logistics platform that connects 35,000 trading partners and leverages over 50 value-added services. The GLN spans the entire shipment management process, from contract management, to freight bookings, shipment tracking, security and trade compliance filings, mobile resource management, and more.

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