Southwest adds Philippine Airlines as 4th international partner
Southwest Airlines has added its fourth partnership with an international airline.
The carrier on Tuesday announced a new tie-up with Philippine Airlines. As part of the interline agreement, you'll be able to book an itinerary that includes a seamless connection between Southwest and the Manila-based carrier.
Eventually, the tie-up could open up Rapid Rewards redemptions to destinations in Australia, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.
Southwest-Philippine Airlines partnership
This new partnership comes on the heels of Southwest launching similar arrangements with Icelandair, China Airlines and EVA Air earlier this year.
Like those partnerships, the Philippine Airlines setup will be a bit limited from the outset. For now, you'll only be able to book joint Southwest-Philippine Airlines itineraries through Philippine Airlines' website or certain third-party booking platforms like Expedia.
Customers will be able to connect through one of four "gateways" where both airlines operate:
- Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)
- San Francisco International Airport (SFO)
- Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA)
- Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (HNL)
So, you could conceivably board a Southwest plane at Harry Reid International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, fly to HNL in Honolulu and connect onto a Philippine Airlines flight to Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL).
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What about Rapid Rewards redemptions?
Important to note: you won't be able to earn (or redeem) Rapid Rewards points on these trips ... at least for now.
However, Southwest executives have said they hope to expand many of these international partnerships in the near future to allow both earning and redemption, as a way for customers to use Southwest points on a global scale.
So, this partnership (and others like it) will likely be a far more attractive option to Southwest loyalists — at least from a points perspective — in the future.
"Each airline partnership brings unique and incremental reach to places around the globe for both carriers and gives more consumers an opportunity to begin or end their journey with Southwest," Andrew Watterson, Southwest's chief operating officer, said in a statement Tuesday.
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Growing partner list
Southwest is the second new U.S. airline partner for Philippine Airlines. Earlier this year, Philippine Airlines announced a tie-up with Alaska Airlines. Through that arrangement, Atmos Rewards members can redeem points for their flights to Manila and elsewhere in the South Pacific.
Along with LAX, SFO, SEA and HNL, Philippine Airlines' U.S. route map includes Guam's Antonio B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM) and New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK).
The carrier is not currently part of any of the three major global airline alliances.
As for Southwest, the carrier on Tuesday said it's "actively exploring" additional transatlantic partnerships "for later this year."
So far, three of its first four partners are carriers based across the Pacific.
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