Get the Most From Southwest Rapid Rewards (2021)

Award Ticket Strategies, How Much are Points Worth?

As with most things, Southwest Airlines does things a bit differently.

Southwest’s frequent flyer program is “price-based”. The required number of points depends on the price of the underlying airfare, rather than being fixed for each region or based on the distance flown.

The more expensive the ticket, the more points you’ll need. For example, with Alaska Airlines, you’ll pay 25,000 points for a round trip flight anywhere in the US (if there is award space), regardless of whether the ticket would have cost $250 or $600. With Southwest, the $250 ticket would require around 18,000 points, and the $600 ticket would require around 43,000 points.

Essentially, your points work like cash. There is no such thing as limited award space. You can always get solid value from your points, but you’ll never get amazing value.

Because the required points are calculated just from the base fare, but most of the taxes and fees are also free when you book an award ticket, the actual value of your points depends on the breakdown for your specific trip. Lower-priced tickets have a higher proportion of taxes and a lower proportion of base-fare, so give you a bit more value from your points.

Depending on these two factors, your points are worth 1.2 – 1.6 cents each, with the best values for cheaper flights.

Up until recently, Southwest required more points per dollar for “Anytime” or “Business Select” fares. However, now all fares are calculated based on the same exchange rate. However, since these more expensive fare classes tend to have a high proportion of base fare to taxes, you'll tend to get less value for your points.

Elite status

Covid Modifications

For 2021, everyone starts out with 15,000 tier qualifying points and 10 flight credits. In addition, there are no limits to the amount of qualifying points you can earn from credit card spend.

Southwest A-List requires 25 one-way flights or 35,000 qualifying points in a year, and gives you a 25% bonus on points earned from buying tickets, free same-stay standby, and priority check-in and security line access. Perhaps its most important benefit is priority boarding, which is a tremendous help for getting a desired seat and avoiding stress on an airline that doesn’t have assigned seating.

A-List Preferred requires 50 one-way flights or 70,000 qualifying points in a year, increases the point bonus to 100% and adds free inflight Wi-Fi.

You’ll can earn up to 15,000 qualifying points each year by using one of Southwest Premier (not Plus) credit card. For each $10,000 you spend, you’ll get 1,500 qualifying points.

Other tips

If you frequently have the opportunity to fly Southwest with another person, the Southwest Companion Pass is an incredible deal. You get two for one air travel, whenever you travel on Southwest, regardless of whether you are flying on a paid or an award ticket. Simply purchase a single ticket, or use your points for a free ticket, and your companion can come along for free. It requires earning 125,000 points in a year, but it is possible to qualify just by signing up and using Southwest credit cards. Get 2 for 1 Travel with the Southwest Airline Companion Pass.
You can rebook your award flights for free, allowing you to save some points, if the tickets go down in price. You can lock in a price, and still be able to take advantage of a Southwest sale if it becomes available. Of course, you can do this with tickets that you purchase as well.
Because there are no change or cancellation fees, you can book award (and regular) tickets, even if you are not sure that you’re going to use them. For example, if you have a few vacation ideas for the upcoming holidays, you can book several different tickets to lock-in lower prices. Then when your plans firm up, you can cancel the tickets that you don’t need. Or you can book tickets as part of a sale and figure out if you can take advantage of them later.
You can earn huge quantities of points by signing up for Southwest credit cards, but you are limited by the Chase 5/24 rule. Southwest has several different variations of their credit cards, and you can earn 40-60,000 (or sometimes more) points just by signing up and meeting the initial spending requirement. This is a great way to quickly build up points for free Southwest flights. But Southwest’s credit cards are subject to something called the “Chase 5/24” rule. If you have received 5 new credit cards over the past 24 months, your application will be automatically denied, regardless of your credit rating and other information. So if Southwest miles are important to you, you’ll need to do some advanced planning. Dealing with the Chase 5/24 Rule.
You can freely convert Chase Ultimate Rewards points into Southwest Airline miles. This gives you more credit card options for earning Southwest points.
Your points will expire after 24 months of inactivity. Fortunately, there are many ways to earn or spend a few points to keep your balance alive, even if you wind up not flying on Southwest for two years.
Southwest operates one of the best programs for Dining Rewards. Simply register any of your credit cards and you’ll earn 3 Southwest points for every dollar you spend eating out (on top of whatever rewards you get from the credit card itself). This is another easy way to build up your balance.