Southwest Looks to Connect to WestJet in Nevada and Florida

Nice catch by Terry Maxon over at Airline Biz when he combed through the DOT filing in which Southwest and WestJet announced they signed a codesharing agreement. The airlines have hinted where the first connections will happen, and I'm not so convinced how well this will work.

According to the filing, first connection points are likely to be Las Vegas, Orlando and Tampa. Las Vegas I get. It's easy to feed people from Southern California, Arizona, and really the rest of the Southwest region. But Orlando and Tampa? That's the far corner of the US. There aren't too many places that Southwest can connect people into the WestJet network there. Ft Lauderdale? Yeah, but WestJet already flies there.

Looking at the WestJet route map, there aren't that many other opportunities at this point, but I have to think that flights to Chicago/Midway will be on the map. That would be the best way to connect east with west and vice versa.