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Basic economy fares and changes to the validity of flight credits may be terrible for Southwest Rapid Rewards redemptions, on top of the reduction in points-earning and changes to how award tickets are priced.
Points currently have a fixed value, more or less, getting you the same amount of value towards any ticket you redeem them for. That is changing.
Southwest Airlines will devalue its points by about 4% on January 1, 2024. The Rapid Rewards program announced several changes a month ago to much fanfare, but this one they buried.
Southwest Airlines filed its annual 10-K with the SEC and it contains disclosures about the carrier’s Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program – related to how much travel is being done with miles, and what that tells us about how they’re recovering from disastrous service during the holidays.
Southwest Airlines made four announcements about the Rapid Rewards program today. The best change is announcing something that’s been in effect for two years – priority boarding for Companion Pass companions. The worst change is more points required to earn a Companion Pass, but that won’t apply to the airline’s credit card holders. On net these are good updates to know, but not ones to be concerned about.
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards will never be the stuff dreams are made of. There are no first class upgrades (Southwest has no premium cabin). You can’t redeem your miles to the Maldives or Seychelles (no partner airline redemptions). But there are some simple changes that could supercharge the value of the Rapid Rewards program.
Southwest Airlines filed its 10-K with the SEC and as always it’s a treasure trove of information not just about the airline, but also about the Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program.
Effective immediately and without notice, Southwest Airlines has started requiring 6.5% more points for flight redemptions. The change comes as Southwest celebrates its 50th anniversary this week. Award tickets used to cost 78 points per dollar of base fare and now cost 83 points per dollar.
Southwest Airlines filed it annual SEC 10-K and it contains some interesting information about the Rapid Rewards program.
They continue carrying a higher percentage of award passengers than anyone else – by a lot, and even more so during the pandemic – and leveraged the Rapid Rewards program for a $600 million cash advance from Chase.
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.
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 »
