Flying Southwest with Points: The Ultimate Guide for 2024

Southwest Airlines boasts about its low-cost flights and mission of providing “the highest quality of customer service,” but what is its rewards program like?

Many people have this question when deciding whether to include Southwest in their travel plans or look elsewhere. Their low airfare is certainly a draw, but if you like to pay for flights with points, your focus is on their rewards program. I can tell you that the Southwest Rapid Rewards® program offers easily redeemable points that never expire, two features that make the program worthwhile.

So, if you’re a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards member or wonder if it’s worth it, keep reading to learn more about how to fly Southwest with points.

How does Southwest’s Rapid Rewards Program Work?

Rapid Rewards is Southwest Airlines’ loyalty program that allows you to earn points to use toward travel, gift cards, merchandise, hotel stays, car rentals and exclusive Cardmember experiences.

Anyone can join the Southwest rewards program. To sign up, click enroll on the top of any Southwest page enter your personal information, a username and password. I recommend signing up even if you only fly Southwest occasionally. Why not rack up points and eventually redeem them for airline tickets or other rewards?

To earn rewards for your Southwest flights, just log into your account before buying tickets, and you’ll automatically receive credit. The good news is that your points never expire as long as you have activity on your account at least once every 24 months. There are also many other ways to earn points besides purchasing flights.

Ways to earn Rapid Rewards points

Buying Southwest Airline tickets is one of the most obvious ways to earn Rapid Rewards points, but there are a few other key ways too.

Flying on Southwest Airlines

The most obvious way to earn points is by booking your travel with Southwest. The number of points you’ll earn from booking airfare will depend on the amount spent, type of fare, tier status, and payment method.

The basic points for each fare class paid without a Southwest branded credit card are:

• Wanna Get Away: 6 points per dollar spent
• Wanna Get Away Plus: 8 points per dollar spent
• Anytime: 10 points per dollar spent
• Business Select: 12 points per dollar spent

*You can earn tier qualifying points by making purchases with a Rapid Rewards® credit card.

Book hotels and rental cars through Southwest

I love that you can earn Rewards points beyond purchasing airline tickets. Southwest partners with hotels and rental car companies to help you earn more rewards. For example, you could earn at least 1 point per $1 spent booking a hotel stay with a Southwest partner. If you can find a hotel or rental car with a great rate, plus you earn a bonus, it’s a win-win in my book.

Sign up for Rapid Rewards® Dining

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Dining pays you points for dining at Southwest partners, along with a healthy welcome bonus. All you have to do is link a debit or credit card to your account and search for participating restaurants, bars, or clubs to earn points.

You can browse restaurants by location, so you can earn points for dining locally or while traveling. I don’t know about you, but if I’m earning rewards to try a new restaurant, it’s motivation for me to go off the beaten path.

It’s free to join, using your Rapid Rewards number, and you can start earning immediately. The key is to opt-in to their emails to maximize your points earned. They pay up to three points per dollar spent if you receive their emails. If you opt out, they decrease the reward.

Shop using the Rapid Rewards portal

Like Rapid Rewards® Dining, you can earn money shopping through the Rapid Rewards® Shopping portal. They partner with 1,100+ stores but the deals change often, so it pays to check back frequently. Some of the most popular stores they work with include:

• Disney Store
• Home Depot
• Kohls
• Sephora

Like the dining program, it’s free to join and use the shopping portal. If you’d rather not search for items in the portal, you can download the browser extension and receive notification whenever points are available while you’re shopping.

Utilize welcome offers and everyday spending

The easiest way to earn points is by applying and getting approved for a Southwest credit card or spending on an existing one. Take the Southwest^® Rapid Rewards^® Premier Business Credit Card as an example. As a new cardmember, you can earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.

Earn points with a Southwest Business credit card

If you have a business, you can apply for one of Southwest’s business credit cards. The Southwest^® Rapid Rewards^® Performance Business Credit Card offers the chance to earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

You can also apply for the Southwest^® Rapid Rewards^® Premier Business Credit Card. If approved, you can earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.

Transfer points from Chase

Alternatively, if you have one of Chase’s premier cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest. Points transfer at a rate of 1:1, so you won’t lose any value in the process.

These credit cards often also include welcome offers after you meet the minimum spend requirements, which can translate to a lot of Rapid Rewards points right off the bat. For example, the Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card offers new cardmembers the chance to earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Southwest co-branded credit cards comparison

Southwest credit cards are among some of the best airline credit cards available today. They have attractive welcome offers and reward you well for purchases. If you pair the welcome and anniversary bonuses with points earned on regular spending, you’ll have plenty of points to use on your travels.

Keep in mind that each card has an annual fee. I suggest using the Southwest points estimator to determine if a credit card is worth it based on your typical credit card spending.

How to earn more Rapid Rewards with Southwest Status

Anyone can join and earn Southwest Rewards points, but Southwest rewards its most frequent fliers with an elite status, either A-List, A-List Preferred or Companion Pass member.

A-List

To qualify, you must fly at least 20 one-way qualifying flights or earn 35,000 tier qualifying points per year and will receive:

• 25% bonus points on purchases
• Priority boarding
• Access to Priority Lane and Express Lane
• Dedicated customer service line
• Free same-day changes
• Potential to earn 1,500 tier qualifying points for $5,000 in spending

A-List Premier

To qualify, you must fly at least 40 one-way qualifying flights or earn 70,000 tier qualifying points per year and will receive everything in A-List members get, plus:

• 100% earning bonus on purchases
• Free WiFi while flying
• Premium drinks

Companion Pass

To qualify, you must fly at least 100 one-way qualifying flights or earn 135,000 tier qualifying points per year and will receive the option to bring along one passenger for free, with the exception of $5.60 in taxes for one-way tickets. Plus Companion Pass members receive a 10,000 points boost each calendar year.

When you earn a Companion Pass, you get to use it for the remainder of the year you earned it, plus the entire next year. So the earlier in the year you earn it, the more benefit you’ll get from it. Starting January 1, 2023, the number of qualifying points you’ll need to earn the pass will be 135,000.

The easiest way to earn your Companion Pass is through credit card welcome offers. Take the Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Priority Credit Card, for instance. If you're approved, you can earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.

Try timing when you open the Southwest credit card to the end of the year. For example, if you open it in October, you have three months to earn the welcome bonus. If by January, you’ve also used the card for other travel and high-paying points purchases, you can reach Companion status early in the year, giving you almost two years of the Companion Pass since it’s good for the current year, plus the following year.

How to fly Southwest with points

Now that you know how to maximize your Southwest Rewards points earnings, the next step is understanding how to redeem them.

Fortunately, Southwest makes it simple to pay with points versus cash; you just switch the toggle to points instead of dollars at the top of the screen. Then, instead of displaying the flights in dollars; they will appear as points, with options for different fares including Wanna Get Away and Business Select.

You can search for flights like you would if you were paying cash. You can also toggle between points and cash to easily compare which option is best. You never know when you’ll find an amazing deal on a cash-pay flight. Then you can save your points for another, more expensive flight in the future.

You can modify your search while in the points setting, or even use the Low Fare Calendar to determine the best time to use your points. Even though points aren’t ‘real money,’ you earned them and should ensure you get the most for your money.

I always recommend checking the dollar value of the same flight first. You want to ensure you aren’t overpaying in points for a cheap flight. Try to keep your point redemption to around 1.5 cents per point.

For example, I could take a flight from Chicago, O’Hare to Nashville for $175 on a non-stop flight in the Wanna Get Away category, or $265 for Business Select.

I can also pay points for the flights of 12,345 or 19,294 respectively. But which makes the most sense?

You can also divide the cash price by the points required to determine the point value. For the flights above, it would be:

• Nonstop flight: $175 divided by 12,345 points = 0.0142
• Business Select: $276 divided by 19,294 points = 0.0137

The difference may seem minimal, but the closer you are to 1.5 cents, the more value you get out of your points.

FAQ

Bottom line

I get excited whenever I can redeem a reward, even though I know it’s because I’ve spent money, it's a nice feeling like you get something ‘for free.’ Plus, when you use points to fly on Southwest, you not only get the experience of traveling with the points you worked hard to earn but also with the famous Southwest hospitality.

If you aren’t sure if Southwest is for you, start by signing up for a free Rapid Rewards account. You have nothing to lose. If you find you enjoy flying Southwest and begin earning points for each flight, you’ll reap the rewards in the form of free flights.

Generous Welcome Bonus

Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card

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Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card

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Current Offer

Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$69

Rewards Rate

2X points on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners; on local transit and commuting, including rideshare; and on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming; plus 1X points on all other purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• Solid rewards rate
• Redeem points for flights, gift cards, and more
• 3,000 bonus points after cardmember anniversary
• 2 EarlyBird Check-Ins® per year

Drawbacks

• Has annual fee
• Has foreign transaction fee
• Limited travel benefits compared to premium Southwest cards

Card Details

• Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
• 3,000 anniversary points each year.
• Earn 2X points on Southwest® purchases.
• Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
• Earn 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming.
• 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
• Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
• Member FDIC