Lyft and Southwest partner to order rides to the airport

Southwest and ride-hailing app Lyft inked a deal last month, but after the airline put out an email Friday about the partnership, people seemed confused about what it entails.

Instead of a mile-earning opportunity, the partnership just means you can order Lyft rides in the Southwest mobile app — if you keep location services on.

It’s reminiscent of Uber fully integrating into Google Maps, letting users book a ride without ever leaving the map app (that feature has sadly since ended). It’s mostly for convenience — especially for business travelers who solely use Lyft. 

Here’s the Southwest-Lyft integration in action:

Through Southwest’s app, you can order a car up to four hours ahead of your flight, or when you land. The app will show the estimated car ride length and cost.  

For ride-share passengers who compare prices between Lyft and Uber, this may not be convenient enough to persuade someone to stick to Lyft just because it’s already queued up … but who knows?

Although Southwest clarified that the partnership is purely an app integration and nothing more, its comment on Twitter — “you never know what the future holds” — makes it seem like there’s the possibility of a deeper partnership.