Southwest is ready so as to add its first airline companion, Icelandair, in February. Subsequent month, flyers can begin reserving itineraries that embody flights with each carriers, connecting at Baltimore-Washington Worldwide Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to start out.
Sooner or later, flyers may even have the ability to fly a blended Southwest-Icelandair itinerary with a layover in Denver Worldwide Airport (DEN) or Nashville Worldwide Airport (BNA), although particular dates have but to be introduced.
This collaboration will permit Southwest vacationers to guide flights to Iceland’s Keflavík Worldwide Airport (KEF) — and from there, to greater than 30 locations in Europe — from the preliminary three focus cities (Baltimore, Denver and Nashville, Tennessee). Fyers may even have the ability to redeem Southwest Speedy Rewards factors for these flights.
It’s an excellent time to be a Southwest flyer, because the airline anticipates including extra airline companions to its roster in 2025.
Southwest’s first interline companion
Icelandair will probably be Southwest’s first interline companion service. Which means prospects can verify a bag after they arrive at their dwelling airport and choose it up at their vacation spot — even when they’re flying two or extra airways.
On this case, whenever you present up in your Southwest flight, you possibly can hook up with your Icelandair flight with out having to assert and recheck your bag. It makes ticketing and journey extra seamless, although at launch, you will solely have the ability to guide a blended itinerary by Icelandair.
Reserving Southwest flights by way of Icelandair
Beginning February 2025, you’ll guide flights by Icelandair’s web site, with connections by designated gateway airports. As of now, reserving by Southwest’s platform is not accessible.
It’s additionally unclear what sort of reciprocal advantages prospects will obtain, like precedence boarding, seat choice or potential upgrades, particularly as Southwest lately ditched its choose-your-own seating coverage.
How a lot are Europe flights on Southwest?
The Southwest-Icelandair flights to Europe aren’t accessible to guide but. However for journey in February 2025, round-trip flights from U.S. cities to Reykjavík, Iceland, on Icelandair are competitively priced. For instance, round-trip flights from Baltimore to Reykjavík can be found from $378, and from New York Metropolis to Reykjavík beginning at $348.
Comparatively, Play, a price range airline, lists round-trip flights from Washington, D.C., to Reykjavík in February 2025 beginning at simply $254. The bottom costs on different airways, together with American and Delta, are round $600 for round-trip flights in February 2025.
Incomes and redeeming factors
Particulars concerning incomes Southwest Speedy Rewards factors on Icelandair flights haven’t been launched. Sometimes, partnerships permit for factors incomes, like what Icelandair has with Alaska Airways and JetBlue.
The upcoming choice to guide Icelandair award flights with Southwest factors is intriguing. Southwest factors are a number of the most respected amongst U.S. airways, however beforehand, the loyalty program provided few alternatives to fly exterior of the U.S. apart from some places in Mexico and the Caribbean.
Is that this a worthwhile partnership?
The individuals who will profit most from this partnership are price range vacationers. Southwest is clearly serious about increasing the route community for patrons, and extra choices to in-demand locations is at all times an excellent factor as a result of it helps convey down costs for everybody.
Needless to say these new routes to locations overseas would possibly include a number of layovers, since they’ll be filtered by every airline’s gateway cities. That implies that in case you’re touring from the U.S., you would doubtlessly have a connection at BNA, BWI or DEN — after which one other at KEF earlier than arriving at your vacation spot. However usually, when airways have a partnership, they sync flight instances to reduce lengthy waits on the airport. Your deciding elements will possible be price and schedule, particularly if there are different flights accessible with fewer (or no) connections from your property airport.
Whereas Icelandair flies to a number of European cities together with Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Paris and others, it doesn’t cowl all of them.
However for Southwest flyers who need to discover Iceland, these new worldwide flights are a welcome addition.
Prime photograph courtesy of Icelandair.