Transforming Travel with Kevin Kleist of Southwest Airlines

Written by Vanessa Rosado | Jul 7, 2022 6:39:06 PM

"There are things we can do to make travel better, more efficient, and simpler for our passengers. But we have to design around the person. [...] It's a fine balance because you want to grow and you want to expand and you want to do more from an innovation perspective to improve upon things. But you ultimately have to make sure that the people are the core and you're thinking about their needs and their wants and what's going to work for them ultimately in the end."

— Kevin Kleist, Emerging Trends Advisor at Southwest Airlines on customer centric innovation.

Recorded at our most recent event, What’s Next Now: Travel, Tourism, and Hospitality, we sit down with Kevin Kleist, Emerging Trends Advisor, Southwest Airlines — one of the world's most admired and awarded airlines, offering its one-of-a-kind value and hospitality at 121 airports across 11 countries.

As part of the Emerging Trends Team, Kevin explores and brings to life unconventional ideas to encourage change and identify new opportunities for the airline. With more than 16 years of experience with Southwest Airlines, Kevin is collaborating with innovation-driven companies and startups to study, design, develop, and test emerging technologies and complex solutions in real-world environments.

We talk about the trends shaping travel tech, the role of collaboration in their commercialization, and the future of flight.

VentureFuel builds and accelerates innovation programs for industry leaders by helping them unlock the power of External Innovation via startup collaborations.

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