Southwest is set to start flying with its first airline partner, Icelandair, in February. Next month, flyers can start booking itineraries that include flights with both carriers, connecting at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to start.
In the future, flyers will also be able to fly a mixed Southwest-Icelandair itinerary with a layover in Denver International Airport (DEN) or Nashville International Airport (BNA), though specific dates have yet to be announced.
This collaboration will make it easier to fly to Iceland’s Keflavík International Airport (KEF) — and from there, to more than 30 destinations in Europe — from the initial three focus cities (Baltimore, Denver and Nashville, Tennessee). Southwest flyers will also be able to redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points for Europe flights.
It’s a good time to be a Southwest flyer, as the airline anticipates adding more airline partners to its roster in 2025.
Southwest’s first interline partner
Icelandair will be Southwest’s first interline partner carrier. That means customers can check a bag when they arrive at their home airport and pick it up at their destination — even if they’re flying two or more airlines.
In this case, when you show up for your Southwest flight, you can connect to your Icelandair flight without having to claim and recheck your bag. It makes ticketing and travel more seamless, though at launch, you’ll only be able to book a mixed itinerary through Icelandair.
Booking Southwest flights via Icelandair
Starting February 2025, you’ll be able to book flights through Icelandair’s website, with connections through designated gateway airports. As of now, booking through Southwest’s platform isn’t available.
It’s also unclear what kind of reciprocal benefits customers will receive, like priority boarding, seat selection or potential upgrades, especially as Southwest recently ditched its choose-your-own seating policy.
How much are Europe flights on Southwest?
The Southwest-Icelandair flights to Europe aren’t available to book yet. But for travel in February 2025, round-trip flights from U.S. cities to Reykjavík, Iceland, on Icelandair are competitively priced. For example, round-trip flights from Baltimore to Reykjavík are available from $378, and from New York City to Reykjavík starting at $348.
Comparatively, Play, a budget airline, lists round-trip flights from Washington, D.C., to Reykjavík in February 2025 starting at just $254. The lowest prices on other airlines, including American and Delta, are around $600 for round-trip flights in February 2025.
Earning and redeeming points
Details regarding earning Southwest Rapid Rewards points on Icelandair flights have not been released. Typically, partnerships allow for points earning, like what Icelandair has with Alaska Airlines and JetBlue.
The upcoming option to book Icelandair award flights with Southwest points is intriguing. Southwest points are some of the most valuable among U.S. airlines, but previously, the loyalty program offered few opportunities to fly outside of the U.S. besides some locations in Mexico and the Caribbean.
Is this a worthwhile partnership?
The people who will benefit most from this partnership are budget travelers. Southwest is clearly interested in expanding the route network for customers, and more options to in-demand destinations is always a good thing because it helps bring down prices for everyone.
Keep in mind that these new routes to destinations abroad might come with multiple layovers, since they’ll be filtered through each airline’s gateway cities. That means that if you’re traveling from the U.S., you could potentially have a connection at BNA, BWI or DEN — and then another at KEF before arriving at your destination. But typically, when airlines have a partnership, they sync flight times to minimize long waits at the airport. Your deciding factors will likely be cost and schedule, especially if there are other flights available with fewer (or no) connections from your home airport.
Keep in mind that while Icelandair flies to several European cities including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, London, Paris and others, it doesn’t cover all of them.
But for Southwest flyers who want to explore Iceland, these new international flights are a welcome addition.
Top photo courtesy of Icelandair.
