Southwest Airlines Expects New Hawaii Routes Will 'Ignite' Credit Card Sign-Ups

When Southwest Airlines evaluates routes, it researches at all the data you expect, including how many travelers fly on existing flights, and the average fares they pay. But for leisure opportunities, it often examines something else — potential credit card applications. For U.S carriers, credit card partnerships are big business, with banks locking up airlines in multi-year deals worth billions. Companies like Chase and American Express buy points and miles from airlines and use them to reward their big-spenders, allowing travelers with the right cards to fly "free." It complements the traditional free ticket approach in which Southwest rewards its flying customers with points. But credit card deals are so lucrative some airlines are ambivalent about whether a customer pays with points or cash. "The credit card is core to the airline business," Andrew Watterson, Southwest's chief revenue officer, said in an interview. Southwest has long known its highest-value customers — both frequent flyers and consumers who have its Chase credit card — want free flights to Hawaii. Until recently, it didn't have an airplane that could make it year-round with a full payload, but now that it has the 737Max, Southwest soon will add Hawaii from the West Coast, though it hasn't said from where. (Southwest will start Hawaii flights with older 737-800s, but those aren't viable aircraft for the routes long-term, Watterson said.) The Hawaii new routes could help increase credit card sign-ups in San Diego, Sacramento, the Los Angeles basin and the Bay Ar