Southwest Airways’ brand-new partnership with Icelandair is formally reside and obtainable for reserving — however be warned, it will be a bit restricted in the interim.
Starting Thursday, prospects are capable of e-book itineraries that includes connections between Southwest and Icelandair through Southwest’s sturdy station at Baltimore/Washington Worldwide Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
Meaning you can begin a visit with a flight on a Southwest jet and join seamlessly — each you and your luggage — to an Icelandair flight to Keflavik Airport (KEF) in Reykjavik. From there, you can even proceed onward, on the identical itinerary, to further locations in Europe.
The launch of its first airline partnership, for which TPG witnessed the formal signing earlier this 12 months in Washington, D.C., is a significant step for Southwest.
“This is a vital milestone in our plan to develop how and the place our prospects can journey,” Southwest’s govt vice chairman Ryan Inexperienced mentioned final month on the service’s earnings name.
A slender partnership — at first
As talked about, the partnership — often known as an interline settlement — shall be pretty slender from the outset.
In the intervening time, you’ll be able to solely e-book Southwest-Icelandair itineraries utilizing Icelandair’s web site and a few third-party on-line reserving providers.
You can also’t earn or redeem Speedy Rewards factors on these abroad itineraries simply but.
That is set to alter in 2026 when Southwest’s shift to assigned seating goes reside. At that time, you can e-book flights to Iceland and on to Europe by means of Southwest’s reserving channels.
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And you can pay money and earn Speedy Rewards factors on these bookings, or redeem factors in your journey — a shift that ought to be a giant increase for the utility of Southwest’s factors.
Learn extra: Southwest quietly unveils A-Record perks for brand spanking new assigned-seating setup
e-book by means of the Southwest-Icelandair partnership
Within the meantime, although, we wish to present you tips on how to e-book a Southwest-Icelandair itinerary underneath the partnership because it stands proper now.
Flights to Iceland
Beginning with Icelandair’s web site, as an example I wish to take a March spherical journey from Dallas Love Discipline (DAL) — Southwest’s dwelling airport — to KEF.
As you’ll be able to see, Icelandair’s web site provides up an itinerary that includes one leg from DAL to BWI aboard Southwest, adopted by a connecting flight over to Icelandair for the BWI-to-KEF leg of the journey.
Reserving flights to Europe
You can even technically e-book an itinerary to Europe by means of this partnership, although it is probably not probably the most environment friendly strategy to get throughout the Atlantic; on prime of creating a cease at KEF, you’d additionally must undergo BWI (in the interim, a minimum of).
Here is a visit that begins at Chicago’s Halfway Worldwide Airport (MDW) on Southwest and ends at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR).
You’d fly on Southwest to Baltimore earlier than connecting over to Icelandair for the Reykjavik flight. As soon as at KEF, you can make a normal connection earlier than the ultimate leg to Europe — or spend a day or two (or extra) in Iceland as a part of a stopover; you’ll be able to slot in stopovers of as much as seven days.
Enlargement of partnership coming quickly
Much less circuitous itineraries to Europe by means of this partnership ought to emerge because the airways deliver new Southwest bases on-line. Proper now, the partnership is concentrated solely on connections at BWI, however that can develop to Denver Worldwide Airport (DEN) and Nashville Worldwide Airport (BNA) within the not-too-distant future.
“Then we’ll consider issues from there,” Inexperienced advised TPG final month.
Backside line
Southwest’s new partnership with Icelandair is formally reside and obtainable for bookings through Icelandair’s web site and a few third-party websites. Although it is restricted proper now (and never obtainable but for Speedy Rewards earnings or redemptions), it will develop considerably over the course of the subsequent 12 months.
Throughout that point, Southwest additionally plans to announce a second worldwide airline companion, so keep tuned.
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