Southwest Rapid Rewards points could soon take you to Asia

The date is set: Early next year, travelers will be able to board a Southwest Airlines plane, fly to one city and then catch a connecting flight to Asia. Pretty soon, they'll be able to book those trips with Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

At a ceremony in Texas on Wednesday, Southwest and Taiwan-based China Airlines made their brand-new partnership official, and committed to exploring a deeper loyalty tie-up.

As of this week, passengers can now book itineraries featuring seamless connections between Southwest and China Airlines.

Those flights will launch Jan. 19, executives revealed, with five major western U.S. airports serving as the primary gateways: Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Ontario International Airport (ONT) in California.

While the two airlines' partnership will start as a more limited interline agreement, Southwest Rapid Rewards members will have a lot to gain from it: In the not-too-distant future, members should be able to earn and redeem points on flights to Asia.

On Wednesday, Southwest told TPG that it's accelerating plans to make partner award bookings (and earnings) possible sooner than expected.

"It's coming soon, and more partners are coming soon," Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said Wednesday while speaking at the company's Dallas headquarters.

Southwest's new China Airlines partnership

The launch of joint Southwest-China Airlines itineraries in January will come roughly 11 months after the carrier began its first-ever international airline partnership with Icelandair in February.

Like with Icelandair, this latest tie-up will start smaller.

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From the outset, you can go to China Airlines' website and book a trip featuring flights on both carriers.

Here's an example trip I plugged in: You'd start with a Southwest flight from Dallas Love Field (DAL) to LAX before boarding a China Airlines Airbus A350 for the transpacific flight to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE).

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Sample booking from Dallas to Taipei via Los Angeles. CHINA AIRLINES

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Within the next several weeks, you'll be able to book similar itineraries through certain third-party booking sites, which could include sites like Expedia.

Then, when Southwest finishes tech work to get its booking systems fully ready for partnerships, it'll start offering these bookings (and award redemptions soon after) through its website and mobile app.

Related: Southwest Airlines' 'variable' Rapid Rewards redemption rates take effect

Growing global reach expected — and quickly

Once that groundwork is in place, the airline expects its list of international airline partners to grow at a much faster pace, executives said Wednesday. This should lead to many more places around the world you can fly to on Southwest points.

"Our intent is to build a very viable partner network quickly," Jordan said. "We intend to build a partner network that can reach the majority of the world — the majority of, certainly, the destinations our customers want to travel to — in a manageable period of time."

All of this is a major shift for Southwest, an airline long known for its largely domestic footprint. Keep in mind, it was only 11 years ago that the carrier launched its first short-haul international service to Mexico and the Caribbean — and just six years ago that Southwest began Hawaii flights.

But recent years have seen long-haul international flights prove to be a boon for the carriers that fly them — and a top reason for customers to prioritize spending on airlines' lucrative cobranded credit cards in hopes of earning the points to reach a far-flung destination in Europe, Asia or elsewhere.

Southwest hopes its new (and future) network of partners helps it tap into that wave, making its Rapid Rewards program and revamped credit card lineup more attractive to big-spending customers.

Booking assigned seats on Southwest: Here's what to know

What about Southwest-operated long-haul flights?

Yet the airline also seems increasingly open to the idea of someday flying its own long-haul routes. Jordan first broached the subject during public remarks in May, noting then that longer flights "could require that you think about a different aircraft" than Southwest's all-Boeing 737 fleet.

He was similarly coy on the subject on Wednesday, citing a need to meet customer demand.

"If we can't get you there, they're going to fly somebody else," he said. "It's important that we develop a partner network, and at the same time work on our own capabilities at Southwest to fly other geographies."

Meanwhile, at a time when premium seats and airport lounges have proven to be a top selling point for top competitors, Jordan also made his latest suggestion that Southwest may eventually offer a spiffier seat than the extra-legroom rows it's planning to debut alongside assigned seating in January.

"I've been very open about this," he said. "As we look at things like, 'Do our customers want even more premium? Do they want a lounge network?' — as an example only — then we must explore those things. Otherwise, our customers will go and fly someone else."

Related reading:

• Best Southwest Airlines credit cards
• How to quickly earn the Southwest Companion Pass
• Southwest A-List status: What it is and how to earn it
• Maximize your airfare: The best credit cards for booking flights
• The best credit cards to reach elite status
• How to change or cancel a Southwest Airlines flight