Southwest Airways has been within the information for all of the fallacious causes up to now in 2025, however a vivid spot has been its transfer so as to add worldwide companions. The airline has now introduced a brand new partnership with China Airways, Taiwan’s largest service. The transfer follows its first worldwide partnership, with Icelandair, which was introduced in February.
The China Airways partnership, introduced June 2, 2025, is slated to start in early 2026, with joint itineraries anticipated to go on sale later this 12 months. China Airways says the aim of the partnership is to attach its passengers flying into U.S. gateway cities to the remainder of the US on one ticket.
I reached out to Southwest concerning the partnership. The airline confirmed it’ll give China Airways prospects a strategy to join all through the U.S., however did not present further particulars.
Right here’s what we all know up to now and what the partnership would possibly appear to be.
What we all know: Two airways, one itinerary
China Airways will probably be Southwest’s second interline accomplice. An interline settlement allows accomplice airways to handle passenger and baggage dealing with on a single itinerary, permitting vacationers to attach throughout a number of airways with out rechecking baggage or having a number of tickets.
The settlement between Southwest and China Airways will present connection alternatives for China Airways vacationers by way of cities the place each airways function, together with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Ontario, California. The settlement might also add connections for vacationers to Asia from the U.S., although no specifics have been launched.
Interline tickets will probably be out there within the third quarter of 2025 for journey starting in early 2026. These will probably be out there for buy by way of the China Airways web site and third events like Expedia and Kayak, in accordance with an e mail from a Southwest consultant. Nonetheless, no further data was supplied relating to the power to earn miles or e-book award journey.
What we don’t know
Will Southwest Fast Rewards factors be redeemable for China Airways flights?
Southwest didn’t reply to my questions on whether or not you’d have the ability to e-book China Airways flights with Fast Rewards factors. If it turns into attainable sooner or later, it raises different questions on award pricing. For instance, will the award pricing observe the identical pricing as a home award flight on Southwest?
Will passengers have the ability to earn China Airways miles when flying on Southwest, and vice versa?
Interline agreements usually present the chance to credit score miles to both airline loyalty program. China Airways is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and allows you to credit score miles earned to different frequent flyer applications inside the alliance. However since Southwest is just not a member of SkyTeam, we nonetheless don’t know in case you’ll have the ability to credit score miles earned when flying on China Airways to Southwest (or if it could present a superb worth). Equally, we don’t know in case you’ll have the ability to credit score factors earned from flying on Southwest to the China Airways Dynasty Flyer loyalty program.
Will China Airways miles be usable to e-book Southwest flights?
The Dynasty Flyer program isn’t a switch accomplice of any of the key bank card rewards applications, however you possibly can nonetheless earn their miles by flying with China Airways or crediting miles to this system whenever you fly on a SkyTeam accomplice. Nonetheless, we nonetheless don’t know if you’ll redeem Dynasty Flyer miles for a devoted or joint itinerary on Southwest.
How Fast Rewards redemptions with the airline might work
Once more, Southwest has not confirmed that Fast Rewards factors will probably be redeemable for China Airways flights.
But when the partnership operates like many interline agreements, you’d have the ability to e-book dual-carrier itineraries by way of the Southwest web site utilizing Southwest Fast Rewards. For instance, Southwest’s interline settlement with Icelandair will permit flyers to redeem factors for flights from the U.S. to Iceland and onward to over 30 locations in Europe. If this new settlement is analogous, Southwest passengers departing from the U.S. will acquire entry to over 35 locations in Asia and Oceania after connecting by way of China Airways’ hub in Taipei, Taiwan.
Southwest lately transitioned to dynamic pricing of award flights, the place the variety of factors required fluctuates with the ticket worth. Meaning we don’t know what number of factors will probably be required to e-book a flight throughout the Pacific (if that’s an possibility in any respect).
As of this writing, a one-way financial system flight from Los Angeles to Taipei prices round $450. If Southwest presents related pricing by way of the Southwest web site (which is perhaps an enormous assumption), the flight may cost round 35,000 factors based mostly on our present valuation of 1.3 cents every for Southwest Fast Rewards factors. However we’ll have to attend and see how a lot flights will actually price.
Is it a worthwhile partnership?
Southwest’s addition of a transpacific accomplice is definitely thrilling and will present vacationers from Asia with further choices for accessing the Midwest and East Coast of the U.S. It could additionally present home vacationers further choices for accessing Asia and Oceania by way of Taipei.
Nonetheless, for now that is merely an interline settlement that lacks particulars. We nonetheless don’t know if the pricing will make sense for both income or award tickets, or what availability will appear to be. However given the multitude of destructive modifications Southwest has applied over the previous few months, the addition of one other accomplice is promising.
High picture courtesy of Southwest Airways.