Dive Brief:
- Southwest Airlines appointed Sabrina Callahan its first chief digital and marketing officer and Nandika Suri VP of its loyalty program, Rapid Rewards, the company announced Tuesday.
- Callahan is charged with charting the airline’s marketing and digital strategy to enhance Southwest’s relationship with its customers and create a reliable, seamless, customer-centric experience across channels.
- Suri will head Rapid Rewards, working across the organization to deepen loyalty, increase program membership and drive engagement.
Dive Insight:
Southwest has made a number of changes to its experience over the past year, ditching its bags fly free policy and upending its open seating policy. But it has remained committed to the customer experience, executives say, and its latest appointments underline that commitment, particularly its loyalty program.
"Southwest is highly focused on continuing to evolve the customer experience, especially for our most loyal customers and under Nandika's leadership, her team will be a powerful driver of enhancing customer choice and long-term value — a critical connection that we continue to invest in,” EVP and Chief Customer and Brand Officer Tony Roach said in a press release.
Loyalty programs are massive revenue drivers across airlines. In Q3 2025, Southwest saw its loyalty revenue grow 7% year over year, while its passenger revenue grew just 1%.
Other airlines have seen its loyalty program growth outpace most other revenue sources. Delta saw loyalty and related revenue increased 13% year over year, helping drive overall revenue growth of 9.4% in Q1 2026.
Southwest expects its new seating policies to enhance its loyalty program.
Callahan has held positions leading e-commerce, brand, and marketing strategy at companies like Hilton, Walmart and AT&T.
Suri most recently served as VP of loyalty, co-brand credit card, and partnerships at Choice Hotels International. Previously, she helped launch Under Armour’s first-ever loyalty program, and held leadership roles with United Airline’s MileagePlus loyalty program.
