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A year ago, Southwest Airlines had no international airline partners. Now it has three. The newest addition is EVA Air, which is particularly interesting because it makes the second Taiwan-based carrier Southwest has partnered with. And bookings are already live, but only on EVA Air's website.
Here’s what you need to know about where this partnership can take you — and how some Southwest customers are reacting to the news.
EVA Air Becomes Southwest’s Third Partner Airline
Southwest is rapidly adding airlines to its partner network, and EVA Air is the latest to join, following Icelandair (announced September 2024) and China Airlines (announced June 2025). These partnerships are still rather basic and in the early stages, but it's pretty clear that Southwest is making a concerted effort to connect passengers through its network onto international carriers.
Interline partnerships like the one with EVA Air make this possible. They let customers book flights through one airline that include segments operated by both, while also checking bags through to the final destination.
Soon you’ll be able to book a trip through Southwest, fly on a Southwest plane, connect at a shared gateway airport such as Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Seattle-Tacoma (SEA), or Chicago (ORD), and then continue on EVA Air to its hub at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE) or onward across Asia.
For now, these bookings are available on EVA Air’s website, but they should appear on Southwest’s site sometime in the near future.
Longer term, it’s reasonable to expect this partnership to expand. For example, Southwest has plans to grow its partnership with China Airlines to include reciprocal mileage earning and even Rapid Rewards redemptions, though there's no official timeline. EVA Air will likely follow a similar path.
Taiwan or two free bags?
Southwest has long gone at it alone, and building out a robust partnership network takes time. But what's interesting is that two-thirds of its partners are based in Taiwan.
Beyond destinations, EVA Air and China Airlines differ in their alliance memberships and the U.S. gateways they serve. That gives Southwest a chance to capture more revenue from travelers moving between the U.S. and Asia. The airline has been clear that its decisions (especially the more recent ones) are driven by money — like scrapping its free bags policy — which isn't unreasonable, but it has also come at the expense of some longtime customers who were led to believe changes like this wouldn't happen.
So, the question becomes whether customers really care about Southwest adding new partnerships, or if they care about something else entirely. Based on the airline’s Instagram comments, it looks like most people value two free bags far more than another partner. Here's just a small snapshot of the airline's comments section:
These comments should obviously be taken with a grain of salt since there’s no way to know if each person actually flew Southwest before its recent operational changes. But it’s still pretty telling that the vast majority of comments just call for the return of the two bags fly free policy.
I doubt that’s the reaction Southwest was hoping for with this new partnership announcement, but who knows.
Bottom Line
Southwest Airlines continues to add partners at a rapid pace. EVA Air is the Dallas-based carrier's third international airline partner and the second based in Taiwan. You can already book one of these interline itineraries on EVA Air's website, but keep in mind that you won’t earn Rapid Rewards on these bookings. That said, it’s possible that earning and redeeming rewards on these flights will be an option in the future.
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