Southwest Airlines to Close Reservations Centers

As of September 1, Southwest Airlines Reservations Centers will no longer have a brick-and-mortar structure in the seven U.S. cities where such centers are located.

Instead, in a decision likely influenced by the work-from-home atmosphere being done by numerous companies the last two years during the pandemic, the airline will instead continue to use remote customer service agents.

“Southwest Airlines just announced they are closing all the Reservation Centers and transitioning to 100% remote work,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union wrote to its members, as reported by CNBC.

Southwest said that most of its customer service agents have already been working remotely, including 3,200 based at the physical places of work its home hub in Dallas, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Oklahoma City, and Phoenix. The airline said those Reservations Centers will be repurposed into spaces for other departments.

There are no layoffs involved for the agents switching to remote work.

“Evolving to a fully remote workforce brings increased flexibility, both in attracting and hiring new Employees from across the country, and in scheduling current Employees who have worked at record efficiency in a remote work environment,” Southwest told CNBC in a statement.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers did say that the decision was made without union input. Whether that becomes an issue for its members who will now work in a remote location remains to be seen.