Southwest has a new promotion on purchased points allowing you to buy points up to a 50% discount. This post will go over all the details and whether its a good deal to purchase Southwest Rapid Rewards points.
Current Promotion on Purchased Points
Through August 19, 2024, you can purchase Southwest Rapid Rewards points for a cost as low as 1.5 cents per point, which equals a discount of 50% over the normal rate of 3 cents per point.
You can buy a maximum of 60,000 points and you need to buy at least 5,000 points to get the 50% discount. For example, you could buy 60,000 points for $900, which equals 1.5 cents per point.
However, even with the discount, this is below our Southwest points value of 1.37 cents per point.
Deal History of Purchased Points
For context of the current deal, here’s the previous deal history of purchased points:
| Cost With Discount | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | July 29, 2024 | August 19, 2024 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | June 10, 2024 | July 21, 2024 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | April 16, 2024 | May 15, 2024 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | March 5, 2024 | April 2, 2024 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | January 8, 2024 | February 23, 2024 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | November 14, 2023 | December 24, 2023 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | October 4, 2023 | October 25, 2023 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | August 30, 2023 | September 20, 2023 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | July 11, 2023 | August 20, 2023 |
| 1.65 Cents Per Point (45% Discount) | May 30, 2023 | June 20, 2023 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | April 18, 2023 | May 19, 2023 |
| 1.5 Cents Per Point (50% Discount) | March 7, 2023 | April 4, 2023 |
| 1.65 Cents Per Point (45% Discount) | January 17, 2023 | February 20, 2023 |
How Many Southwest Points Can You Buy?
Southwest Rapid Rewards lets you buy points without an annual limit, but there’s a daily cap of 60,000 points. If you need more than 60,000 points, you can make multiple purchases on different days.
What Credit Card Should You Use to Southwest Points?
Buying points from Southwest Rapid Rewards goes through a third party called Points.com, which means the points you buy won’t be categorized as airfare or travel purchases.
Use a card that earns high rewards on everyday spending to maximize your points purchases. Here are great options for you to choose from:
When Do Southwest Rapid Rewards Points Expire?
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards points never expire if your account is open and in good standing. Previously, Southwest points would expire after 24 months of inactivity, so this is a nice improvement over the old policy. However, you should regularly redeem your Southwest points just in case they are devalued.
Redeeming Southwest Rapid Rewards Points
Southwest Rapid Rewards offers a flexible and straightforward way to redeem points for flights. The program’s simplicity is one of its key strengths, and its value is fairly onsistent across different fare types and destinations. Our data study found that the value of Southwest Rapid Rewards points is 1.37 cents per point, making it easy for members to gauge the worth of their rewards. Redemptions are seamless on Southwest’s website, where you can book any available seat without blackout dates. One of the program’s standout features is its generous change and cancellation policy. You can modify or cancel award bookings without fees, with points returned to your account and taxes refunded to your original form of payment. While Southwest primarily serves domestic routes, it also flies to select international destinations in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. The airline’s extensive U.S. network makes it a popular choice for domestic travelers, despite not belonging to a major alliance. For maximum value, focus on redeeming points for Wanna Get Away fares, which often provide the best return. Avoid using points for gift cards, hotels, or rental cars, as these options typically offer significantly lower value than the 1.37 cents per point average for flights. The Southwest Companion Pass is a potential game-changer for frequent travelers. This benefit allows a designated companion to fly with you for just the cost of taxes and fees on both paid and award tickets, effectively doubling the value of your points when traveling together.
Other Ways to Earn Points
There are many other ways you can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points:
You earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points based on the base fare of a flight, which excludes taxes and fees, usually 15% to 20% of the advertised flight price. You will earn points at a rate of 6 points per dollar for Wanna Get Away Fares, 8x points for Wanna Get Away Plus, 10x points for Anytime, and 12x for Business Select fares. Additionally, Southwest elite members get a 25% bonus for A-List and 100% bonus for A-List Preferred. Below is an estimate of how many points you will earn for your next Southwest flight, which may vary slightly depending on your starting, connecting, and ending airports.
A great way to earn Southwest points and potentially earn the valuable Southwest Companion Pass is to hold Southwest credit cards. You are limited to one personal and one business card at a time. Here are the current welcome bonuses on Southwest credit cards: If you need Southwest points quickly, one option is to transfer points to Southwest from Chase Ultimate Rewards at a 1-to-1 ratio. Cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can transfer to Southwest include: You can also transfer points from Marriott Bonvoy at a ratio of 3 Marriott to 1 Southwest, with a 5,000 Southwest point bonus if you transfer points in increments of 60,000 Marriott Points. For example, you could transfer 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and net 25,000 Southwest points with the bonus. Cards that earn Marriott Bonvoy points that you could transfer to Southwest include the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card, the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card, and the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card. The last two transfer options are from World of Hyatt and Choice Hotels, but I don’t think they are a good value. You can transfer Hyatt points to Southwest at a rate of 5,000 Hyatt Points to 2,400 Southwest Points, but if you transfer 50,000 Hyatt Points, there is a bonus netting you 30,000 Southwest points in total. Lastly, you to redeem 6,000 Choice Privileges points for 1,800 Southwest points. Southwest offers several options to earn Southwest Points instead of hotel points. You can earn the most points via Southwest Hotels and RocketMiles, but you will forgo any elite benefits you may entitled to, such as room upgrades, free breakfast, and Wi-Fi. The amount of points varies by hotel. Most larger cities offer 3,ooo to 6,000 points, and smaller cities usually have hotels that offer 1,000 to 3,000 points. Other options where you can still get elite benefits but forgo hotel points are: Southwest partners with several rental car companies where you can earn 600 Southwest Rapid Rewards points per rental at Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, National, Payless, and Thrifty. You can earn Southwest points by clicking through the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal before visiting a store’s website. Some stores have really high earning rates, like 4,500 points for switching to AT&T Internet or 2,700 points on your first cooking box from Sun Basket. You can see the stores offering the most points by clicking here and then “Stores by earn rate.” You can also add the Google Chrome Rapid Rewards Shopping button to get reminders to easily activate points directly at over 850 stores. You can link any credit card to the Rapid Rewards Dining program to automatically earn points every time you pay using that card at participating restaurants. You earn 3 points per dollar if you opt-in for dining emails and one point per two dollars if you opt-out of their emails. Plus, you earn 10 points for every review you complete. You can also check our bonuses section to earn extra points when you sign up. Home Chef: Earn 1,200 points on your first five Home Chef meal boxes. Wine: You can earn 2,000 points on your first Laithwaites wine case order and 1,000 points for each order thereafter. Gift Baskets: Earn 1,000 Southwest points on purchases of $29.99 or more at Harry & David when you use promo code SW44. Surveys: Earn extra points by taking surveys with E-Rewards and Rewards for Opinions Electricity: NRG and Reliant Energy customers can earn points when they sign up for new services. Emergency Insurance: Earn 1,400 points annually with a yearly Emergency Assistance Plus membership that offers 24-hour emergency medical assistance to its subscribers when they travel.Flying on Southwest Airlines Flights
Southwest Credit Cards
Transferring Points to Southwest
Hotels
Rental Cars
Rapid Rewards Online Shopping Portal
Rapid Rewards Dining
Other Ways
