Southwest Airlines is not a member of any global airline alliance. It does not belong to Oneworld, Star Alliance, or SkyTeam, the three major alliances that connect most large carriers worldwide. For decades, Southwest operated as a fully independent, domestic-focused airline with no international partnerships at all. That has started to change, but alliance membership is not part of the picture.
Why Southwest Stays Out of Alliances
Global alliances are built around the hub-and-spoke model, where airlines funnel passengers through major hub airports and hand them off to partner carriers for connecting flights. Southwest has always operated a point-to-point model instead, flying passengers directly between city pairs without requiring connections through a central hub. That fundamental difference makes alliance membership a poor fit.
Alliance membership also comes with obligations: shared booking systems, coordinated frequent flyer programs, aligned service standards, and revenue-sharing agreements. Southwest’s business model has historically prioritized simplicity and low costs. Joining an alliance would add operational complexity that conflicts with that approach.
Southwest’s Growing List of Airline Partners
While Southwest hasn’t joined an alliance, it has been rapidly building one-on-one interline partnerships with international carriers. These agreements let you book a trip that combines a Southwest domestic flight with an international flight on a partner airline, all on a single itinerary. As of early 2026, Southwest has partnerships with six international airlines:
- Icelandair was the first partner, connecting through Baltimore/Washington, Denver, Nashville, Orlando, Pittsburgh, and Raleigh/Durham.
- Philippine Airlines launched in November 2025, with gateway cities including Honolulu, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco.
- China Airlines began booking in January 2026, connecting through Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ontario, and Seattle.
- Turkish Airlines also launched in January 2026, with ten gateway airports including Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare, Miami, Denver, and Washington Dulles. This partnership opens access to more than 350 destinations in 132 countries through Istanbul.
- Condor Airlines connects through Las Vegas, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco, and Seattle, with European destinations including Frankfurt, Rome, Paris, Prague, Barcelona, Budapest, and Venice.
- All Nippon Airways (ANA) launched in March 2026, with connections through Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle for travel to Asia.
These partnerships are interline agreements, not codeshares. The practical difference: you can book a connected itinerary, but the experience is less seamless than what alliance members offer. Bookings are typically made through the partner airline’s website or a third-party booking channel, not directly on southwest.com.
What This Means for Rapid Rewards
One major limitation of Southwest’s partnership approach is that loyalty programs are not integrated. You cannot earn Rapid Rewards points when flying on a partner airline, and you cannot redeem Rapid Rewards points directly for flights on Icelandair, Turkish Airlines, or any other partner. Southwest has acknowledged this gap but has not announced a timeline for loyalty integration.
There is a workaround, though it comes at a cost. If you hold a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, the More Rewards shopping portal lets you use points to book international flights on carriers like Air France, British Airways, Delta, United, and American Airlines. However, these redemptions carry a significant markup. Based on NerdWallet’s analysis, international flights booked this way cost roughly 51% more in point value compared to using those same points for Southwest flights. That makes it a poor-value option for most travelers.
How This Compares to Alliance Benefits
If you’re used to flying an alliance carrier like American (Oneworld), United (Star Alliance), or Delta (SkyTeam), the difference is significant. Alliance members share frequent flyer earning and redemption across dozens of airlines. They offer reciprocal lounge access, priority boarding on partner flights, and coordinated rebooking when things go wrong. Southwest’s interline partnerships offer none of that.
What they do offer is something Southwest passengers never had before: the ability to book international travel on a single itinerary that includes a Southwest domestic leg. If your nearest airport is served primarily by Southwest, these partnerships make it meaningfully easier to connect to international flights without booking separate tickets and managing your own connections.
Southwest’s Broader Shift
The partnership strategy is part of a larger transformation at Southwest. The airline is also introducing premium seating, adding baggage fees, and selling through online travel agencies for the first time. Southwest has said it is exploring new international destinations it could serve directly with its Boeing 737 fleet, though aircraft limitations and Boeing certification delays have slowed that effort. The carrier is in early discussions with its unions about expanding international routes beyond its current network, which primarily covers the U.S., Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
For now, Southwest remains firmly independent of any global alliance. Its interline partnerships give you more international options than the airline offered even a year ago, but they lack the deep integration, shared loyalty benefits, and seamless rebooking that come with true alliance membership.