Southwest Airlines is offering a 20% discount on Rapid Rewards points redemptions when you book by September 17 (Thursday) for travel through October 31, 2020 with promo code SAVE20NOW. This makes your Rapid Rewards points go farther, worth more.

So if you even think you might want to travel in the next six weeks, Southwest is a great choice and booking with points is better (for those not chasing status or a companion pass) than booking with cash.

Three points:

1. Southwest is limiting capacity so no one has to sit in a middle seat. Whether you think this matters for Covid safety, it certainly means offering more value to customers. The most important factor in having a pleasant flight is having the space of an empty seat next to you.

2. Southwest lets you cancel and redeposit your points free, so there’s no risk. You can book speculatively.

3. You can convert travel credits from cancelled trips into points and that happens at the regular value of points, so there’s an arbitrage play here. You’re effectively taking past travel purchases and using them for future travel with a 20% bonus.

Rapid Rewards is a revenue-based program. A ticket costs around 78 points per dollar all the time. Take 20% off that and you’re really getting a 20% discount on travel with your points. And this works whether you’re buying cheap fares for flights that are going to go out empty, or the last seat available on the flight (which costs more money, and so more points, but you still get a 20% discount).