[Roundup] Southwest Airlines Usurious Travel Financing Offered Through Rapid Rewards

News and notes from around the interweb:

  • Southwest Airlines has a new points purchase subscription program where they give you less than you spend Pay $1200 over the course of a year, get $805 worth of travel.

    My father’s family was in the car business. They had a low end used car lot at one point, and financing was available at 38.12% APR – plus a ‘loan origination fee’ of 1% of the prevailing rate on the 25th day of the second month of the quarter preceding the quarter in which the loan was originated. That’s the sort of travel financing being offered here?

  • American Airlines Executive Vice President Elise Eberwein comments on the blog about United Airlines and seat back entertainment

  • United targets Southwest with new Denver ad campaign a better approach was what they used in that market 15 years ago, United’s “Denver You Mean The World To Us” promotion which layered bonus miles and free flights for accumulating segments in and out of that airport on top of usual Mileage Plus rewards (there was a space between the two words in the loyalty program name back then).

  • Southwest then fired back at United on twitter.

  • Drive yourself to the airport and park there before you fly because it’s good for the environment (HT: One Mile at a Time)

    For those traveling, parking at the airport brings you close to your terminal and reduces the impact on the environment. #EarthDay

  • Register for Hilton’s new promotion, double points on stays of 1 and 2 nights and triple points on stays of 3 or more nights, from May 3 – September 6, 2021. There’s no reason not to register, there’s a good argument for doing so even if you aren’t planning Hilton stays – in case you wind up staying at a Hilton you’ll never remember to go back and register later.

  • Joining Hilton Honors by December 31, 2021 offers 2000 points after first stay and 3000 points after second stay within 6 months of joining.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Did Southwest recently hire someone from Delta who is now teaching them how to screw their customers?

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