I understand ads for terms like "cheap tickets", but why would I want an ad for the term "Southwest Airlines"?
From what the example shows it's not so much an ad as a really quick way to visually see that when you click you will be going to the right place.[1]
I mean visually it's probably quicker to see the big honking ad and airplane and focus and click than it is to read type. I'm guessing. User testing would prove or disprove this. (After all why do people use icons for that matter?)
[1] If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck.
I'm just a bit concerned that we're moving more and more to the point where your business can only be successful if you're paying Google. I'm not sure if it's fair to say that and I understand that Google is a business that has to earn money, but there are some red flags showing up for me.
The banner at the top of the box is a traditional (and somewhat large) banner ad.
The rest of the content of the box is exactly what you get as the top result of the same search on Google when you aren't getting the experimental ad.
This makes it much, much easier now that all I have to do is search for the airline and click the section I want from the box at the top that signifies that what I'm about to click is the exact official site I'm looking for.
-Check in Online -Book Travel Award -Check Flight Status -Special Offers -Flight Schedules -Customer Service
This may be different in other countries. I am inclined to believe this is showing for nearly all US users as I have seen these direct links for airlines for quite some time.
What Southwest is doing is trading their free clicks for paid ones.
If it pushes southwestsucks.com or something similar off the first page of google results it has some value.