Philippine Airlines Teams Up with Southwest for Effortless Travel on One Ticket

Philippine Airlines (PAL) has entered into a partnership with Southwest Airlines, creating an interline agreement that simplifies the booking process for travelers wanting to connect flights with both airlines on a single ticket.

This arrangement, finalized during the week of November 3, 2025, is already open for bookings. The collaboration enhances the travel experience by facilitating connections to PAL’s extensive international network across the Philippines, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. It also integrates with Southwest’s domestic routes in the U.S. through four major airports: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Seattle Tacoma Airport (SEA), San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu (HNL).

Under this interline agreement, passengers can book a single ticket that includes their international flight with PAL and connects to Southwest’s domestic flights. This can be done via the Philippine Airlines website or through various travel booking platforms.

These four gateway airports function as key transition points where passengers can switch between the two airlines. Notably, in Honolulu, Southwest operates around 48 daily interisland flights.

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According to Christoph Gaertner, PAL’s Vice President of Revenue Management, this partnership enhances travel options for those heading to the United States.

“Our interline partnership with Southwest Airlines enables seamless connections and single-ticket journeys across both of our networks,” he explained. “As we expand PAL’s global reach, this collaboration provides our guests with more destinations and greater flexibility while traveling.”

Booking through an interline agreement presents advantages over separate ticket purchases. Passengers benefit from having their baggage checked through to their final destination. Should delays on the first leg result in a missed connecting flight, the airlines will coordinate any necessary rebooking.

In contrast, when separate tickets are purchased, passengers must collect and recheck their baggage, and if flights are missed due to delays, the responsibility typically falls on the traveler.

For PAL flyers connecting to other U.S. cities beyond the key gateway airports, the Southwest partnership offers access to destinations that aren’t directly served by the Manila-based carrier.

Andrew Watterson, Southwest’s Chief Operating Officer, emphasized the mutual benefits of the partnership.

“Each airline partnership brings unique and incremental reach to places around the globe for both carriers,” he noted. “With nearly 90 flights daily serving the Hawaiian Islands and being California’s largest air carrier, Southwest is uniquely positioned to serve PAL’s passengers arriving or departing from the United States.”

This agreement represents PAL’s broader strategy of enhancing connectivity in the U.S. without establishing direct flights to every location. By collaborating with domestic partners like Southwest, international airlines can provide access to secondary cities while concentrating their resources on major airports.

Moreover, for Southwest, which operates solely within the U.S. and its territories, these interline partnerships with international airlines add vital passenger flow into its domestic network. This collaboration reinforces existing travel connections between Philippine and U.S. travelers, a market driven by family ties, business engagements, and tourism between the two nations.

Have you considered how this partnership could improve your future travel plans?