The partnership is slated to begin in early 2026, with joint itineraries expected to go on sale later this year. China Airlines says the goal of the partnership is to connect its passengers flying into U.S. gateway cities to the rest of the United States on one ticket.
I reached out to Southwest about the partnership. The airline confirmed it will give China Airlines customers a way to connect throughout the U.S., but didn’t provide additional details.
Here’s what we know so far and what the partnership might look like.
What we know: Two airlines, one itinerary
China Airlines will be Southwest’s second interline partner. An interline agreement enables partner airlines to manage passenger and baggage handling on a single itinerary, allowing travelers to connect across multiple airlines without rechecking bags or having multiple tickets.
The agreement between Southwest and China Airlines will provide connection opportunities for China Airlines travelers through cities where both airlines operate, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Ontario, California. The agreement may also add connections for travelers to Asia from the U.S., though no specifics have been released.
Interline tickets will be available in the third quarter of 2025 for travel beginning in early 2026. These will be available for purchase through the China Airlines website and third parties like Expedia and Kayak, according to an email from a Southwest representative. However, no additional information was provided regarding the ability to earn miles or book award travel.
What we don’t know
Will Southwest Rapid Rewards points be redeemable for China Airlines flights?
Southwest did not respond to my questions about whether you’d be able to book China Airlines flights with Rapid Rewards points. If it becomes possible in the future, it raises other questions about award pricing. For example, will the award pricing follow the same pricing as a domestic award flight on Southwest?
Will passengers be able to earn China Airlines miles when flying on Southwest, and vice versa?
Interline agreements often provide the opportunity to credit miles to either airline loyalty program. China Airlines is a member of the SkyTeam alliance and lets you credit miles earned to other frequent flyer programs within the alliance. But since Southwest is not a member of SkyTeam, we still don’t know if you’ll be able to credit miles earned when flying on China Airlines to Southwest (or if it would provide a good value). Similarly, we don’t know if you’ll be able to credit points earned from flying on Southwest to the China Airlines Dynasty Flyer loyalty program.
Will China Airlines miles be usable to book Southwest flights?
The Dynasty Flyer program isn’t a transfer partner of any of the major credit card rewards programs, but you can still earn their miles by flying with China Airlines or crediting miles to the program when you fly on a SkyTeam partner. However, we still don’t know if you’ll be able to redeem Dynasty Flyer miles for a dedicated or joint itinerary on Southwest.
How Rapid Rewards redemptions with the airline could work
Again, Southwest has not confirmed that Rapid Rewards points will be redeemable for China Airlines flights.
But if the partnership operates like many interline agreements, you would be able to book dual-carrier itineraries through the Southwest website using Southwest Rapid Rewards. For example, Southwest’s interline agreement with Icelandair will allow flyers to redeem points for flights from the U.S. to Iceland and onward to over 30 destinations in Europe. If this new agreement is similar, Southwest passengers departing from the U.S. will gain access to over 35 destinations in Asia and Oceania after connecting through China Airlines’ hub in Taipei, Taiwan.
Southwest recently transitioned to dynamic pricing of award flights, where the number of points required fluctuates with the ticket price. That means we don’t know how many points will be required to book a flight across the Pacific (if that is an option at all).
As of this writing, a one-way economy flight from Los Angeles to Taipei costs around $450. If Southwest offers similar pricing through the Southwest website (which might be a big assumption), the flight might cost around 35,000 points based on our current valuation of 1.3 cents each for Southwest Rapid Rewards points. But we’ll have to wait and see how much flights will really cost.
Is it a worthwhile partnership?
Southwest’s addition of a transpacific partner is certainly exciting and should provide travelers from Asia with additional options for accessing the Midwest and East Coast of the U.S. It may also provide domestic travelers additional options for accessing Asia and Oceania through Taipei.
However, for now this is simply an interline agreement that lacks details. We still don’t know if the pricing will make sense for either revenue or award tickets, or what availability will look like. But given the multitude of negative changes Southwest has implemented over the past few months, the addition of another partner is promising.
Top photo courtesy of Southwest Airlines.
