Southwest is about so as to add its first airline companion, Icelandair, in February 2025. Subsequent month, flyers can begin reserving itineraries that embrace flights with each carriers, connecting at Baltimore-Washington Worldwide Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to begin.
Sooner or later, flyers can even be capable to fly a combined 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 enable Southwest vacationers to e book 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). Flyers can even be capable to redeem Southwest Fast 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 provider. Which means clients 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, while you present up in your Southwest flight, you possibly can hook up with your Icelandair flight with out having to say and recheck your bag. It makes ticketing and journey extra seamless, although at launch, you will solely be capable to e book a combined itinerary via Icelandair.
Reserving Southwest flights by way of Icelandair
Beginning February 2025, you can e book flights via Icelandair’s web site, with connections via designated gateway airports. As of now, reserving via Southwest’s platform is not out there.
It’s additionally unclear what sort of reciprocal advantages clients 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 out there to e book 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 funds 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 relating to incomes Southwest Fast Rewards factors on Icelandair flights haven’t been launched. Usually, partnerships enable for factors incomes, like what Icelandair has with Alaska Airways and JetBlue.
The upcoming choice to e book Icelandair award flights with Southwest factors is intriguing. Southwest factors are among the most respected amongst U.S. airways, however beforehand, the loyalty program supplied few alternatives to fly outdoors of the U.S. moreover some places in Mexico and the Caribbean.
Is that this a worthwhile partnership?
The individuals who will profit most from this partnership are funds vacationers. Southwest is clearly excited by increasing the route community for purchasers, and extra choices to in-demand locations is at all times an excellent factor as a result of it helps deliver down costs for everybody.
Remember that these new routes to locations overseas would possibly include a number of layovers, since they’ll be filtered via every airline’s gateway cities. That implies that in the event 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 sometimes, when airways have a partnership, they sync flight instances to attenuate lengthy waits on the airport. Your deciding components will doubtless be value and schedule, particularly if there are different flights out there with fewer (or no) connections from your house 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 wish to discover Iceland, these new worldwide flights are a welcome addition.
High picture courtesy of Icelandair.
