Southwest Airlines is going to start offering tickets to Asia! The all-Boeing 737 airline isn’t go to fly there themselves. Instead they’ve announced their second partner – Taiwan’s China Airlines – following Icelandair across the Atlantic.
- This is just an interline agreement, allowing passengers to have both airlines on the same reservation and to connect bags between the carriers.
- It’s surprising because China Airlines is a Delta partner and member of SkyTeam. However China Airlines and Delta are not close partners, and directly compete on the Seattle – Taipei route.
There’s no frequent flyer earn and burn partnership at this point. They’re just selling connections, then, that are inferior to what competitors offer. However Southwest hints that they will be adding more Asian partners. According to the airline,
As we continue our mission to bring more choices to our Customers, we’re thrilled to announce our newest interline partnership with China Airlines (CAL), a Taiwan-based carrier. This agreement brings the opportunity for China Airlines’ customers to experience our renowned Southwest hospitality.
Initially, China Airline Customers will be able to seamlessly connect from their west coast destination points at Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Ontario (ONT), and Seattle (SEA), on through to our Southwest network. Published connections should go on sale later in 2025, with service operating in early 2026. Keep an eye out for more details as we continue to develop our trans-Pacific airline partnerships.
For this to make any sense for Southwest they’re going to need a lot more partners. The infrastructure to support transfer passengers and bags is an added cost for which they need enough ticket sales volume to generate a return. And China Airlines, as important a destination as Taipei is for chip manufacturing, isn’t going to suffice for that (and at this point doesn’t offer redemption options to Southwest customers, so isn’t supporting of the Southwest credit card business).
China Airlines is a bit confusing to U.S. customers since they are not based in mainland China (People’s Republic of China). Along with EVA Air and Starlux they are a global carrier based in Taipei, Taiwan (Republic of China). And the more links that Taiwanese carriers have with the United States, the better for Taiwan’s security to deter an invasion by Beijing to reunify the two. This deal is small, but more important on the other side of the Pacific perhaps, though Taiwan is strategically important for the United States chip supply.
Is Hawaiian Airlines a bit confusing to E.U. customers since they are not based in the continental U.S.? ???
Hawaiian is as American as China Airlines is Chinese. Taipei is Chinese. Taiwan is China.
This headline is misleading. Southwest is not going to be selling the tickets. Similar to how the Icelandair partnership is designed, China Airlines will be able to sell itineraries to its customer that connect to Southwest’s network, at least to start.
@Un — Nope. No. Naw.
Taiwan is an independent, free country, worthy of its own sovereignty, our defense and respect. Yes, they speak a similar language, but the Taiwanese people are not part of the CCP.
@Un — One more thing, *totally* unrelated: Porcupine. I just wanted to say that I personally like the animal. Wouldn’t touch it, though. Ouchie.
@Un:
Hawaii is nothing more than one of the 50 states comprising the United States.
Taiwan is the Republic of China and is generally considered a democracy with democratically elected leaders and an independent judiciary.
The People’s Republic of China (mainland China) is a unitary communist state with no separation of powers and no democratically elected leaders.
The government of the Republic of China is recognized by 11 countries and the Holy See and is ranked 33rd on the Diplomacy Index with 110 diplomatic posts worldwide. The Republic of China’s passport is ranked 32nd on the Henley Passport index allowing its citizens visa-free entry to 141 countries.
So no, Taiwan (ROC) IS NOT China (PRC) and Hawaii, contrary to the murmurings of some of its residents, is just another U.S. state.
In 1972, the United States signed onto an agreement that there is ONE China, of which Taiwan is a part.
All other viewpoints are DISRESPECTFUL to the Chinese people and are contrary to the word of United States diplomacy.
G’day!
@Gentleman Jack Darby — Thank you. Or, as @Un might say it: ‘xiè xiè,’ which again, similar language (Mandarin), different countries (ROC vs. CCP); kinda like UK vs. USA, both generally speak ‘English,’ but, one more time, each is its own sovereign.
@Will – Southwest will absolutely be selling their seats on tickets to and from Asia, even if they don’t have the capacity to sell direct to consumer at launch
@Un — ‘Disrespectful’? You mean like what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989, or Tibet, or the Uyghurs… you cannot mean ‘xenophobic’ because this has nothing to do with the ‘people’ and everything to do with the politics. As with Ukraine, Taiwan must remain free. There is a right and wrong side here. Maybe Xi should as Putin how things are going with his ‘three-day’ special military (blunder)… oof. Those drones today. Surprise!
Nothing happened in 1989
You succumbed to misinfo just like Fox News dishes out to middle America so they have a warped view of coastal cities. You have a warped view of China. I do not speak Mandarin, btw.
UK: English (traditional)
US: English (simplified)
@1990
Taiwan is not an independent country. Taiwan is part of the Republic of China. The Republic of China is the legitimate government of China.
The mainland authorities are an illegal separatist group. Just look at the undisputed history. The Republic of China was formed in 1912. Look when the People’s Republic of China was formed. 1949. 1949 is after 1912. They separated and are, therefore, the separatists.
Jimmy Carter showed that America is unreliable when he broke defense treaties and broke diplomatic relations with the Republic of China.
@Un, you made a mistake when you wrote “In 1972, the United States signed onto an agreement that there is ONE China, of which Taiwan is a part.”
The United States acknowledges that China has a One China Policy but differs on interpretation.
The UK was so stupid in 1783. They should have insisted on a One Great Britain Policy and that the US is part of the UK.
The Republic of China is the original 1912 government. The mainland government are the separatists, not vice versa. They separated from the Republic of China in 1949.
Trump is all wrong. He should use the People’s Republic of China tactic. Claim Canada is part of the US then invade then say it is purely a domestic matter. (not really….Trump shouldn’t invade Canada and call it a domestic matter)
@Un nothing going on here, move along
@Gary Leff — Epic. True courage there.
@derek — Well said. ROC is the real China; therefore, China Airlines (based in Taiwan) makes perfect sense. I’d go a step further and say Nixon’s strategy of détente (1972) was another error.
@Denver Refugee — Bah! Good one.
@Un — I’ve been multiple times (both ROC and CCP, and whatever has become of HK, Macao, great egg tarts, btw, though the south speaks Cantonese, so ‘thank you’ sounds like ‘doh jeh,’ anyway…)
@1990
For a very short time, the United States had diplomatic relations with both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China. That short period was 12 hours up to 11:59 a.m. (local time in Taiwan) on January 1, 1979.
The reason for that was the time zone difference between Taipei and Washington.
@derek — I love it! Keep going! Never stop! (One of my favorite memories there is hiking up Elephant Mountain and enjoying delicious boba tea. So good!)
@1990 — you know that’s like a tourist in Manhattan saying they loved Times Square and enjoyed a meal at Olive Garden, right?
@1990
I have never been to Elephant Mountain. I only have been to Taipei twice on brief business trips. One was on a Monday and Tuesday. The other was Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. However, I read up on the Republic of China topic and other topics so that I would not be seen as a foreign idiot.
@Un — Well, at least… ‘when you’re (there)… you’re family.’
I applaud your use of enshitification in this post. Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year in 2024 🙂
What ever happened in 1989 apparently did not cause the United States to recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) as an independent nation.
@1990:
“@Gentleman Jack Darby — Thank you. Or, as @Un might say it: ‘xiè xiè,’ ”
bu keqie
Always helps to learn the language in order to better understand the people and the culture. Too bad more Americans don’t because it would go a long way to clearing up some of the misconceptions repeated in this thread and make Americans less susceptible to the fearmongering that’s been going on of late regarding the PRC.
@Gentleman Jack Darby — Yup. Not perfect, but trying our best. I wish we, in the USA, were more welcoming of other languages, but we do have our fair share of ‘speak American!’ folks (they mean ‘English,’ even though we did not technically have an official language, until March 1, 2025.) We, who speak English, are fortunate that it is currently the language of business in many places, though, if I were able, I’d try to learn at least Mandarin, and probably also Spanish and Hindi. Through our travels, I’ve picked up enough ‘hello,’ and ‘thank you,’ in various forms, just to be polite. I wonder how technology and further globalization might create a global language, but, of course, this will come at the expense of many cultures. See, @Un, we are not ‘bigoted,’ we’re just not in-favor of the CCP overtaking ROC.
main land china should be known as WEST CHINA. the government of China had to flee a communist civil war take over. at no point has the murderous (100miillion+++) CCP ever controled the island of Taiwan
@JOJO — Yes! Bah! And, it doesn’t matter how many ‘dashes’ they put on an old map… like, there’s a whole lotta neighbors that also do not take kindly to their territory being threatened either. See the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Brunei, for a few others. My goodness, let their fishermen fish!
Putonghua (Pǔtōnghuà) is the common language in China. The term Mandarin is a European invention (from Portuguese change of the name of Chinese officials used to describe the language they used). If you use the term Mandarin Chinese to an educated Chinese person who has not had the chance to understand how westerners characterize Chinese language, you may make them confused as they would never use the term Mandarin Chinese for Putonghua. This was my experience with a young Chinese lady immigrant who came to work as a fellow employee. I used the term Mandarin Chinese for the standard dialect taught in schools and she was immediately confused.
Gary, I know you think the whole SouthWest strategy is a mistake, but what about the data they have? I.E., while I don’t fly SouthWest now, I did in the past- and the every hour afternoon shuttles between Dallas and Houston were timely, reliable and granted, even fun. (Open containers in the airport allowed back then!). I remember it fondly as a business traveler.
So I think these partnerships- in the interim of let’s say 3+ years- make sense? Everyone says there’s going to be consolidation, but then everyone’s wrong.
Meanwhile, AA’s attempt to upmarket is not impressing me as an EP. No PFB the last 4 segments, and out of hub airports like PHL and MIA. All FA’s saying because they don’t have time and pushing back.
Instead of China, I like to refer to it as West Taiwan not China.
The Chinese people are great.
As for the CCP, not so much.
Yeah I know, I’m probably on their watch list for my posts….
SW offering tickets to Asia sounds like a good thing.
A few years ago, early in the morning, I was the first customer to enter a business lounge at Taipei (TPE) airport. There were about 15 young female employees wearing silk kimono looking dresses and they all bowed to me as I entered the room. I was stunned and got a huge kick out of it! They made me feel like a king.
@OnePatriot77 — Well said! We’re trying to draw a clear distinction between the people (whom we all love and respect) and authoritarian, totalitarian one-party dictatorships, which, I hope no one here supports, though, I’m not exactly sure @Un is on the same page…
@jns — A quick search shows “Putonghua” is the Mandarin dialect of Beijing. Hmm; not sure the ROC would approve. Regardless of whether the word ‘Mandarin’ is a so-called ‘European invention’ or otherwise, the broader category appears to be called ‘Sinitic languages,’ including Mandarin. If anyone cares, I see for Taipei and southeast mainland, specifically there is a dialect called ‘Min,’ and that the Taiwanese refer to Mandarin as “Guoyu,” or “Hokkien.” So, it’s all more nuanced, just as we have variations in English (and other languages) as well.
@1990 You are right to point out that Taiwanese people refer to Mandarin as “Guoyu”. However, “Hokkien” is a word for the Min dialect. Specifically, the one branch spoken by Southern Hokkien Province and many Taiwanese people is called “Minnanyu” (or “Taiyu”, as referred to by some people).
Learning to write and read Chinese could indeed be challenging.
To the contrary of what many people believe, learning to speak Mandarin is actually not difficult for an English speaker. You share the SVO structure, which already places you at an advantaged position. I’m sure curiosity and positive feedbacks from tools such as LLMs during the learning process can help people to acquire new languages faster than before.
@Gary This partnership is particularly interesting in one aspect, as Southwest would no longer enjoy the immunity from the series of drama show directed by Beijing as detailed in this article: https://viewfromthewing.com/partially-caving-to-chinas-demands-heres-how-us-airlines-refer-to-taiwan-now/
Did we solve the dialect issue? Which one can I expect on the SWA connecting flights to “China”?
I came back here to taunt @Un: 36 years ago today, June 4, 1989, was the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. Never forget.
@Un:
“All other viewpoints are DISRESPECTFUL to the Chinese people and are contrary to the word of United States diplomacy.”
And? We have that freedom of expression in the US. We are allowed to be DISRESPECTFUL to China should we so choose, and speak contrarily of US diplomacy.
The Tibetan and Taiwanese people have no desire to be part of China, and *I* recognize their right to self determination.