Southwest adds Japan’s biggest airline to its growing partner list

Southwest and ANA strike a new deal

Southwest Airlines and All Nippon Airways, better known as ANA, announced a new partnership on March 10, 2026.

ANA is Japan’s largest airline and the seventh international carrier to team up with Southwest since the Dallas-based airline started building these partnerships in early 2025.

The deal lets travelers book connecting flights on both airlines with a single ticket and without worrying about their bags in between.

Here is what the partnership actually means

This type of deal is called an interline agreement. It is a basic partnership that lets two airlines work together on bookings.

Under this agreement, travelers can book Southwest and ANA flights on one ticket.

Bags get checked all the way to the final destination, so there is no need to pick them up and recheck them at a connecting airport. Passengers also get all their boarding passes at the first airport.

The deal does not include shared frequent flyer benefits or codesharing.

Six U.S. airports link the two airlines

Travelers can connect between Southwest and ANA flights at six shared airports: Honolulu, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago O’Hare, and Washington Dulles.

Someone flying out of a smaller U.S. city, for example, could take Southwest to Los Angeles and then connect onto an ANA flight to Japan.

It also works the other way around, with ANA passengers using Southwest to reach cities that ANA does not serve.

Honolulu sits at the center of this deal

Japan is one of Hawaii’s biggest international visitor markets, and this partnership leans into that. ANA flies its widebody Airbus A380 on the Tokyo-to-Honolulu route.

Southwest has run a large Hawaii operation since entering the market in 2019, including flights between islands.

Philippine Airlines was the first Asia-based carrier to set up an interline with Southwest through Honolulu. ANA is now the second.

Southwest is also building its first-ever airport lounge at Honolulu’s Terminal 2.

Bookings were not ready on launch day

As of the March 10 announcement, connecting itineraries were not yet showing up on either airline’s website. This has happened before.

Several of Southwest’s recent partnerships went live before the booking tools caught up.

Southwest has also said Rapid Rewards points redemptions on partner flights may become available at some point, but the airline has not set a timeline.

For now, the deal covers booking coordination and baggage handling only.

Seven partners added in just over a year

Southwest signed its first interline deal with Icelandair in February 2025, using Baltimore as the gateway. China Airlines and EVA Air, both based in Taiwan, followed in the summer of 2025.

Philippine Airlines joined in November 2025, Condor in December, and Turkish Airlines in January 2026. ANA rounds out the list as the seventh partner in March 2026.

Together, the partnerships connect Southwest travelers to destinations across Asia, Europe, and beyond through Southwest’s airline partnerships page.

An activist investor pushed Southwest to change

Southwest spent decades as a strictly domestic airline with no international partnerships.

That started to shift in 2024, when activist investor Elliott Investment Management took a large stake in the company and pushed for big changes.

Elliott and Southwest reached a settlement in October 2024 that reshaped the airline’s board, with five Elliott-backed directors joining.

The airline then began rolling out sweeping changes, including assigned seating, checked bag fees, and the international partnership strategy.

Southwest overhauled its core model

The changes went beyond partnerships. Southwest introduced assigned seating on Jan. 27, 2026, ending the open seating system it had used for decades.

The airline also began charging for checked bags, dropping its long-running “bags fly free” policy. Southwest posted record full-year operating revenue of about $28 billion in 2025.

The airline also carried out its first-ever mass layoffs in April 2025, cutting roughly 1,750 corporate employees. Elliott has since reduced its stake in Southwest to about 9%.

Southwest’s approach differs from big alliances

United, Delta, and American all belong to global airline alliances with deep cooperation, including codeshares, shared lounges, and reciprocal loyalty benefits. Southwest’s interline agreements are far simpler.

They cover ticketing and baggage coordination and nothing more. Southwest does not belong to any global alliance and has no plans to join one.

The airline has described its approach as building a “virtual network” that connects travelers to international destinations without Southwest having to fly those long routes itself.

Hawaii’s connecting market is shifting

Hawaiian Airlines is merging into Alaska Air Group, which has long been the go-to carrier for connecting international passengers arriving in Honolulu to other Hawaiian islands.

As Hawaiian transitions into Alaska’s systems, Southwest is positioning itself as an alternative for those connecting passengers.

Both the Philippine Airlines and ANA partnerships use Honolulu as a connecting hub between Asia-Pacific flights and Southwest’s domestic and interisland routes.

Aviation observers say this could shift the competitive picture for connecting traffic through Honolulu.

What travelers should know right now

Rapid Rewards points cannot currently be earned or redeemed on ANA flights. Travelers should check both airlines’ websites for when booking actually goes live.

The agreement covers six airports, so passengers flying from cities without direct ANA service can use Southwest to reach one of those gateways.

Southwest has also hinted that more airline partnerships are on the way in 2026.

Southwest is just getting started internationally

Southwest also announced its first new international destination since 2021: St. Maarten, launching in April 2026.

The airline has applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation for permission to serve any country with an Open Skies agreement with the United States.

Southwest has said it is exploring its own long-haul flights to Europe and Latin America using its Boeing 737 fleet. For now, the interline partnerships remain the fastest path to international connections.

More partner announcements are expected before the year ends.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• Southwest’s new assigned seating is live in Texas and flyers say the chaos started fast
• Southwest adds seven routes and its first international red-eye
• Southwest now makes you show your power bank while charging on flights