Southwest
Airlines has rolled out a tempting new deal for its Rapid Rewards loyalty
program members, offering an up-to-50 percent discount on the purchase of
points through its latest rewards sale.
Buying points,
rather than earning them through flying actual miles or with affiliated credit
card purchases, is a simple way to bolster your Rapid Rewards account to
qualify for the rewards you seek for your next flight.
In promoting the
offer on its website,
the airline teased, "Spring into big savings." With this promotion,
travelers can avail themselves of the limited-time bargain when buying 3,000 or
more Rapid Rewards points.
Now through May 15
at 11:59 p.m. PT, loyalty program members can acquire Rapid Rewards points for
just 1.5 cents each with the discount. Points are available in increments of
1,000, with a maximum limit of 60,000 points per transaction. Interestingly,
the terms and conditions do not note any annual limit, so travelers could
potentially purchase an unlimited number of points at these reduced rates
during the on-sale period.
However, you
cannot return these points after purchasing them. Also, they are only good
toward redemption on flights. They cannot be counted as elite qualification
miles to work towards getting you Southwest's A-List or A-List Preferred status;
nor will they bring you any closer to earning the highly desirable Companion
Pass, which enables members to get a companion ticket free when they buy their
own.
Who should
consider paying cash for loyalty points or redeeming them towards a ticket? The
decision depends entirely on individual circumstances. Purchasing points at a
discount could potentially help you save money on flights if the conversion of
points toward airfare cost results in a lower overall expenditure.
And, there’s a
simple way to see those calculations in real-time—when searching for a flight
on Southwest’s app or website, just click the toggle for “dollars” or “points” at
the top of the search window.
Travel
+ Leisure put this to the test by searching for one-way flights from Phoenix
(PHX) and Nashville (BNA) during the autumn season. As it turned out, the cash
price was $205, while 11,958 points (plus $5.60 in taxes and fees) would be required
to purchase the same fare.
To accurately
compare the two types of expenditure, you can divide the points requirement by
the base cash fare to get a value of approximately 1.67 cents per point. That
would make it prudent to purchase the points at a less expensive rate of 1.5
centers per point and then redeem them for your ticket.
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