If you’ve never flown southwest airlines you might not understand why its loyal fans love it so much. But there’s a reason why Southwest Airlines seems to have it’s own cult-like following. Here in the points community, we have even more reasons to love them!
Consider this your introductory tour to the world of Southwest Airlines and their Rapid Rewards Program!
SOUTHWEST’S POLICIES
Southwest is known to have some of the most customer-friendly, and flexible policies in the airline industry. The term they have coined is “transfarency”. What exactly does transfarency mean? Well, first let’s look at what is included for ALL southwest passengers.
BAGS FLY FREE
No status is required, your first and second checked bags fly for free. You also get to bring a carryon size suitcase as well as a personal item (such as a purse or backpack) on the plane with you for free. Clearly one of the most generous baggage policies in the industry.
NO CHANGE OR CANCELATION FEES, EVER.
We love this one! Southwest policies state that you can change or cancel your flight up until 10 minutes before take-off (yes you read that right, 10 minutes!) FOR FREE without any change or cancellation fees. Depending on which ticket class you booked (Southwest has 4 different ticket classes which we’ll talk about later), you will either get a full cash refund, or you will get the full value of your ticket back as a future-flight credit which never expires.
And if you booked your flight using southwest’s rapid rewards points, you will get an instant and full refund of your points back to your Rapid Rewards Account.
This generous policy also means that should your flight drop in price between the date you originally book it, and your travel date. You can literally cancel and re-book your flight (or just “change” your flight to your exact same flight) and get the difference credited back to you. Many people have saved hundreds of dollars taking advantage of this policy.
Check out this Youtube Short I put together illustrating the best quickest way to do this!
OPEN SEATING POLICY
If you’re brand new to Southwest Airlines you might not know this but they do not do assigned seating. If you’re used to flying other airlines, alarm bells might be ringing in your head right now thinking “how in the world?!”. But don’t worry, it’s not as crazy as you think and this policy has actually led Southwest to consistently have some of the fastest airport turnaround times in the industry.
Now you should know that southwest planes only have one type of seat, so there is no “premium economy” or business, or first class. All seats are the same with the exception of exit row seats which naturally have a bit more legroom. So it’s not like the first people on the plane get the best seats, they just get first access to choose window, aisle, or the dreaded middle seat.
So who gets to get on the plane first? This brings us to the boarding process!
BOARDING PROCESS
Southwest separates passengers into 3 boarding groups, A, B, and C which are allowed to board in that order. Each boarding group has about 60 boarding positions. Your boarding position is assigned when you check in for the flight. Check-in becomes available exactly 24 hours before the flight. There are a few factors that determine your boarding position but the biggest one is how early you check in. Many people set an alarm on their phone to remind them to check in EXACTLY 24 hours before the flight in order to get the most favorable boarding positions. There are also options to pay for upgraded boarding, (usually about $30 per flight segment, based on availability) and some ticket classes such as business select automatically include an A1-A15 boarding assignment.
At the gate prior to boarding, Southwest asks its passengers to line up numerically, one group at a time to prepare for boarding. There are usually columns at the gate with the board numbers on them to show passengers where to line up. There is also usually quite a shuffle of people asking each other their boarding positions so that they can properly place themselves in line.
Once boarding begins, you simply file onto the plane, and choose any open seat you like! Simple as that!
Southwest also allows passengers in wheelchairs who need special assistance to board the plane before any of the boarding groups. There is also family boarding between groups A and B which allows up to 2 adults traveling with a child 6 years or younger to board together.
You can check out southwest’s own “Boarding FAQ” section right here.
STATUS OVERVIEW
Southwest offers 2 tiers of elite status, A-List and A-List Preferred, as well as their companion pass which I’ve decided to cover in its own section down below.
A LIST ELITE STATUS
A-List Elite status can be earned by flying 25 southwest flights or earning 35,000 tier-qualifying points in 1 calendar year. While A-List Preferred can be earned by flying 50 southwest flights or earning 70,000 tier-qualifying points in 1 calendar year.
So what are the perks? Check them out below!
RAPID REWARDS OVERVIEW
How much are RR points worth?
The cash value of southwest points, I.e the amount they can be redeemed for, is right around 1.4 - 1.5 cents per point. This means that 10,000 points would be worth about $150. While this is a decent cash value, Its worth noting that I would still value transferable currencies such as chase Ultimate Rewards higher due to the flexibility of transfer partners. You can transfer your chase UR points to Southwest for redemption, however, you cannot transfer the other way around.
Can I transfer from other points’ currencies?
Yes! Chase UR, Marriot Bonvoy, World of Hyatt, as well as Best Western and Radisson Rewards, are all transfer partners that allow you to transfer points from their own currency to Rapid Rewards at varying rates. However, Chase is the only partner that has a favorable 1:1 transfer rate and I wouldn’t recommend transferring from any of the other partners.
Can I transfer to family members?
Technically yes, however, there are fees associated with transferring points to/from family members to the tune of 1 cent per point. That would be about $10 per 1,000 points transferred. Instead of transferring, I would recommend simply booking the person’s flight that you intended to transfer points to from your own rapid rewards account. You can do this by selecting the flight and putting the other person’s name and information down as the passenger, and then still checkout using your RR points to pay for the ticket.
Are Flights booked with RR refundable?
Yes! If you pay for a flight with your RR points, and you decide to change or cancel the flight, you would receive a full refund (or the difference in fare in the event of a flight change) immediately back to your RR account.
HOW TO EARN RAPID REWARDS
There are a handful of ways you can earn Rapid Reward Points!
FLYING —
You can earn points to your rapid rewards account for every dollar you spend on a flight. The amount you earn depends on the ticket class you book.
Wanna get away fare earns you 6 points per $1
Wanna get away plus fare earns you 8 points per $1
Anytime Fare earns you 10 points per $1
Business Select Fare will earn you 12 points per $1
If you are an A-List or A-List Preferred member, then these rates would be either 25% or 100% higher respectively.
CREDIT CARDS —
Woooo! Now we’re talking! The fastest and most effective way to earn Southwest Points is by opening one of their Chase co-branded Credit Cards and meeting the criteria for the Sign-up Bonus. Southwest currently has a great lineup of several personal and business cards co-branded with Chase with a variety of perks.
Below you can find links to all of the current offers and perks offered by these cards!
Personal Cards:
Southwest Rapid Rewards PRIORITY
Southwest Rapid Rewards PREMIER
Business Cards:
Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card
Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card
HOW TO REDEEM RAPID REWARDS POINTS
Redeeming Rapid Reward points couldn’t be any easier. After logging into your Rapid Rewards account, simply search for a flight using the search tool on the website, and be sure and select the option to show fares in points.
You’ll see all the flight prices in points like the image below.
COMPANION PASS
The Companion Pass is one of the most sought-after, and most valuable perks in the points and miles world! Once you’ve earned a Southwest Companion pass, You can choose one person to designate as your companion and they can travel with you on any flight for only the cost of taxes and fees ($5.60 each way domestically). There are no restrictions or blackout dates. Any Southwest flight that you are flying on, your companion can come with you!
So how do you earn the Companion pass?
To earn the companion pass you either have to fly 100 one-way flights in a calendar year (yikes!), OR by earning 135,000 qualifying points (much better option). The quickest way to earn those 135,000 points is by opening Southwest Credit cards because the welcome bonus points count towards companion pass status. Typically, by opening one personal SW credit card (you are only allowed to hold one SW personal card at a time) and one SW Business credit card, you can earn the necessary 135K points with sign-up bonuses alone! If you already have a SW personal card, you can also earn the points by opening 2 SW business credit cards, as there is no rule about holding multiple SW business credit cards.
It’s important to note that the points MUST be earned in 1 calendar year; I.e. between Jan 1 and Dec 31.
Once 135K qualifying Rapid Rewards points have been credited to your account between Jan 1st, and Dec 31st, you will earn companion pass status. And your Companion Pass will be valid for the remained of the calendar year in which you earned it, as well as the full following calendar year. So if you earned the Companion Pass on March 1st, 2023, it would be valid until Dec 31st 2024.
NOTE: Southwest often runs a “promotional companion pass” campaign early in the year. The offer is usually something like 30K points for meeting a minimum spend requirement along with a “promotional Companion pass” that’s good till the end of the current year. I DO NOT RECOMMEND getting the companion pass this way. Firstly, you only earn 30K points which is more than 100K fewer points than you would have when earning it the traditional way outlined above. And secondly, the promotional Companion pass is valid for less than 12 months whereas earning it the traditional way, it can be valid for up to 23 months!
BOTTOM LINE:
While Southwest Airlines may not be the airline of choice for everyone, especially after their 2022 holiday logistics meltdown, we still find plenty of reasons to love them and they remain a SOLID value for points and miles redemptions.
Happy Travels!