Southwest Airlines Hopes to Capture More High-Spend Customers With New Lounges

Skift Take Southwest is looking to lure in more premium customers with the new lounges and credit card it will launch next year, making Rapid Rewards more “aspirational.” Southwest Airlines chief financial officer Tom Doxey said the carrier is expecting loyalty benefits from the lounges it plans to open next year. “It brings the ability to have a premium credit card,” he said at the Morgan Stanley Laguna investor conference on Wednesday. “What does that do? Well, that brings in higher FICO score customers — you tend to be top of wallet more frequently when you have a card like that. It brings more of an aspirational halo to your entire loyalty program and to your brand.” Southwest announced earlier this month that it will launch its first four lounges in Austin, Baltimore, Nash