In this Skift Take Sessions episode, Wil Slickers sits down with Skift hospitality reporter Sean O’Neill for a quick, high-signal setup on what mattered most from IHG CEO Elie Maalouf’s Skift Global Forum appearance.

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Alaska Airlines is in one of the most important transition moments in its modern history, and it is happening under real operational pressure.

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This episode starts with a quick setup conversation between Wil Slickers and Skift’s airlines editor Gordon Smith, teeing up why this JetBlue session hits differently: it opens with a real-time operational disruption and a leadership test you cannot spin your way around.

Then we roll into Gordon’s on-stage conversation from Skift Aviation Forum with JetBlue CEO Joanna Geraghty, covering what happened, what JetBlue learned, and how the airline thinks about making high-stakes calls when customers only remember the day something breaks.

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If AI becomes the front door to travel, who wins and who pays?

Wil Slickers sits down with Dennis Schaal for a sharp, no-fluff breakdown of the biggest takeaways from Skift Global Forum, including the question everyone is asking: Is ChatGPT a paid marketing channel yet, or just the start of a new distribution shift?

Dennis and Wil unpack what matters for the future of travel discovery, how monetization pressure could reshape the funnel, and what it means for platforms like Booking when the interface changes.

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In this Skift Take Sessions episode, Wil Slickers opens with a quick conversation with Skift’s airlines editor Gordon Smith to break down the real story behind Breeze Airways, and why most people misunderstand what the airline actually is.

Then we roll into Gordon’s on-stage session from the Skift Aviation Forum in December 2025 with Breeze founder and CEO David Neeleman. Neeleman walks through Breeze’s thesis of connecting overlooked secondary cities to major leisure hubs, shares his view on how hard it is for new airline challengers to survive today, and delivers a moment that lit up the room with his take on sustainable aviation fuel.

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In this Skift Take Sessions episode, Wil Slickers opens with a quick conversation with Dennis Schaal to break down what mattered most from Skift Global Forum, before we roll the full on-stage session featuring Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky in conversation with Skift CEO Rafat Ali at Skift Global Forum.

Wil and Dennis tee up the two storylines listeners should watch closely: Airbnb’s push into services and experiences, plus the bigger strategic play around hotels, and Chesky’s belief that AI will turn travel search into “matching,” not just a chatbot. Then Chesky explains how Airbnb is thinking about the next interface for trip planning and what that shift means for marketplaces trying to own the customer journey.

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Southwest Airlines is rewriting its identity, and the story is bigger than “assigned seating” and “bags fly free.”

To kick off the first episode of Skift Take Sessions, Wil Slickers sits down with Skift airlines reporter Meghna Maharishi for a quick pre-session breakdown of why these changes are happening now, including activist pressure from Elliott Investment Management and the post-pandemic shift toward premium demand.

Then we roll into a live session from the Skift Aviation Forum in December 2025, where Tom Doxey lays out the transformation in plain terms: assigned seating, extra legroom, bag fees, basic economy, free Wi-Fi, new destinations, and what it all means for Southwest’s margins in 2026. Moderated by Brian Sumers.

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Skift Take Sessions is a new weekly podcast for anyone who wants to understand how the global travel industry really works.

In this trailer, host Wil Slickers introduces the show and explains what listeners can expect each week — candid, journalist-led conversations with CEOs and senior leaders across airlines, hotels, and travel platforms, recorded live at Skift events.

Rather than headlines or press releases, Skift Take Sessions focuses on how decisions are made, how companies compete, and what these conversations tell us about where travel is headed next. You’ll hear directly from leaders at companies like Hilton, Expedia Group, Booking Holdings, Airbnb, JetBlue, and more.

If you’re new to Skift or new to travel business podcasts, this trailer is the best place to start.