Southwest Airlines is expanding its international partnerships by teaming up with a prominent Asian airline.
On Monday, Southwest and Taiwan’s EVA Air announced their agreement, effective immediately. Southwest shared the news in an Instagram post.
“It’s official! We’re excited to announce our partnership with Taiwan-based @evaairus!” the company wrote in the caption.
“This partnership is another step forward as we continue our mission to bring more choices (and new horizons) to our Customers.”
What will this partnership look like?
Southwest announced some early details of its pact with EVA Air, which includes trans-Pacific trips out of four major U.S. cities.
“Starting TODAY, you can book and fly trans-Pacific itineraries with EVA Air through our initial four gateways,” Southwest said.
“These initial gateways cities are Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), and Chicago O’Hare (ORD).”
While other details have not been released, AeroExplorer.com wrote that the partnership appears to be a typical interline agreement, which involves the two companies being able to sell tickets that include flights operated by both carriers on the same itinerary.
Southwest has recently unveiled similar agreements with international lines China Airlines and Icelandair. EVA Air, meanwhile, has an interline deal with Alaska Airlines.
A season of changes at Southwest
The last few months have featured major shifts at Southwest, including the end of the company’s popular “Bags Fly Free” and no assigned seating policies.
Last week, Southwest launched Getaways by Southwest, its in-house vacation booking program, which includes trips to destinations such as Cancun, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Orlando, Montego Bay and Punta Cana, as well as deals for lodging and transportation.
In the last couple of days, Southwest also announced a change to its plus-sized seating policy, asking plus-sized customers to purchase extra seats ahead of time.
“Customers who encroach upon the neighboring seat(s) should proactively purchase the needed number of seats prior to travel to ensure the additional, adjacent seat is available,” the official Southwest website says. “The armrest is considered to be the definitive boundary between seats.”
