We value Southwest points at around 1.4 cents per point — if a fare is worth around 1.4 cents per point, then it’s likely worth it to use points. To calculate the value of points, use this simple equation:
Southwest Rapid Rewards is the frequent flyer program for Southwest Airlines that rewards loyal members who fly with the quirky carrier. Rapid Rewards is a fully revenue-based program, where the number of points earned or needed for an award is reflective of the cash fare. The points you earn are very flexible and easy to redeem (you can even cancel an award flight and get a full refund), making Southwest Rapid Rewards a great program to get on board with.
The Southwest frequent flyer program includes a strong co-branded credit card lineup and the opportunity to earn the coveted Southwest Companion Pass. Southwest makes every seat available as a reward seat, without blackout dates or capacity controls. The points you earn are rewarded based on the fare type and ticket cost, and reward flight prices often start at a very low number of points.
Browse our top picks for the best Southwest credit cards in 2024.
| Southwest Rapid Rewards Quick Facts | |
|---|---|
| Where does Southwest fly? | Lower 48 U.S. States, Hawaii, and limited destinations in Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean |
| Hub airports (U.S.) | Southwest does not operate traditional hub airports like other airlines. However, they have a number of airports with a concentrated number of flights, including Atlanta (ATL), Baltimore (BWI), Chicago–Midway (MDW), Dallas–Love Field (DAL), Denver (DEN), Houston–Hobby (HOU), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), Oakland (OAK), Phoenix (PHX), and St. Louis (STL). |
| Airline alliance | Doesn't belong to an alliance |
| How many Southwest points for a free flight? | Varies based on the cash ticket price. A $49 cash ticket should cost less than 3,000 Rapid Rewards points, plus taxes and fees. |
| Southwest points value | 1.4 cents |
| Do Southwest points expire? | No, as long as you keep your Rapid Rewards account open |
Because Rapid Rewards points are directly tied to the cost of the associated cash fare, it is fairly easy to put a value on how much they are worth. We estimate that a Southwest Rapid Rewards point is worth about $0.014, which compares favorably to many other airlines.
| Usability overall score = 4.0 out of 5 (Excellent) | |
|---|---|
| Miles expiration | 5 out of 5 |
| Flight network | 2.25 out of 5 |
| Award availability | 4 out of 5 |
| Ease of booking | 5 out of 5 |
| Complexity | 4.75 out of 5 |
| Overall Score | 4.0 out of 5 (Excellent) |
The value of Southwest Rapid Rewards points varies depending on the route and dates booked.
As a general rule, shorter, cheaper cash tickets offer better value per point than longer or pricier fares, though this doesn’t hold true 100% of the time. For example:
| Trip | Price | Points required | Point value* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Las Vegas to Los Angeles (in early April 2024) | $46 | 2,471 | $0.016 |
| Chicago to Dallas (in early March 2024) | $86 | 5,593 | $0.014 |
| San Jose, Costa Rica to Baltimore (in October 2023) | $302 | 17,114 (+ $65.34) | $0.014 |
| Oakland to Denver (in August 2024) | $194 | 14,311 | $0.013 |
| Boston to Los Angeles (in early July 2024) | $178 | 12,271 | $0.014 |
| Seattle to Boston (in early November 2024) | $248 | 17,871 | $0.014 |
We value Southwest points at around 1.4 cents per point — if a fare is worth around 1.4 cents per point, then it’s likely worth it to use points. To calculate the value of points, use this simple equation:
Rapid Rewards, Southwest’s frequent flyer program, has long been a favorite for its simplicity. Between Southwest making every seat available as a reward seat and the airline’s lack of change and cancellation fees, it’s no surprise that many frequent flyers are incredibly loyal to Southwest. Rapid Rewards has been named “Program of the Year” for five consecutive years by travelers voting for the Freddie Awards, which honors companies and programs in the business of travel loyalty.
Southwest primarily flies within the United States, including the Lower 48 and Hawaii, but it also serves a limited number of other countries near North America. While route maps can frequently change, as of early 2024 Southwest flies to the following countries and territories:
There are plenty of ways to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points, from flying on Southwest Airlines to earning through Southwest’s shopping and hotel partners. Here are some of the top ways to earn Rapid Rewards points:
The most straightforward way to earn Rapid Rewards points is to fly with Southwest Airlines. The number of points you earn depends on the type of ticket booked and your Southwest status level. The cheapest Southwest fares are branded as Wanna Get Away, though these flights are completely non-refundable. The other fares, Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime and Business Select, are more expensive but also offer more flexible fare rules.
Points earned from Southwest flights generally post within 72 hours. Note that you only earn points on revenue fares; Rapid Rewards points are not awarded on reward tickets.
| Flight option | Basic | A-List (25% bonus) | A-List Preferred (100% bonus) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wanna Get Away® | 6 points | 7.5 points | 12 points |
| Wanna Get Away Plus® | 8 points | 10 points | 16 points |
| Anytime | 10 points | 12.5 points | 20 points |
| Business Select | 12 points | 15 points | 24 points |
Southwest partners with Chase to offer five different co-branded credit cards — three personal credit cards and two small business products. Using a co-branded credit card is one of the fastest ways to earn Rapid Rewards points quickly, since the cards often have generous welcome offers.
| Card | Sign-up bonus | Benefits | Annual fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card | Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. |
| $69 |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card | Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. |
| $99 |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card | Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. |
| $149 |
| Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card | Earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. |
| $99 |
| Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card | Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. |
| $199 |
You can also transfer points from a premium Chase Ultimate Rewards® card — including the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred — to the Southwest Rapid Rewards program. Chase offers a line-up of great rewards cards, including several no-annual-fee cards. You can combine these cards to earn points at a much faster rate than an individual Southwest card, then pool and transfer your points to the Southwest program.
| Card | Sign-up bonus | Earning rate | Annual fee |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® | Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. | Earn 5x total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3x points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. | $550 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card | Get up to $1,050 in Chase Travel℠ value. Earn 60,000 bonus points after $4,000 in purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. That's worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel purchases within your first year. | Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more. | $95 |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® | Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) — worth up to $300 cash back. That's 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases. | Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more; 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and 1.5% on all other purchases | $0 |
| Chase Freedom Flex℠ | Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. | 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter. Plus, earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3% on dining and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases. | $0 |
| Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card | Earn 90,000 bonus points after you spend $8,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. | Earn 3 points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year. Earn 1 point per $1 on all other purchases-with no limit to the amount you can earn. | $95 |
Southwest Airlines has an expansive partner network that includes car rental agencies, hotels and even energy companies. When spending with these partner services, you could both earn Rapid Rewards points and enjoy a discount on the service itself. Partners include:
Hotels
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Shopping and dining
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Home and lifestyle
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Details on earning Rapid Rewards through these various travel and other partners can be found on the Rapid Rewards Partners page.
Southwest Airlines features a Rapid Rewards dining program where individuals can earn Rapid Rewards points by dining at restaurants within the network:
The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards shopping portal lets you earn points by shopping with 850-plus online retailers. This is a great way to earn extra rewards for shopping you’re already doing. Popular retailers include Apple, Home Depot, Kohl’s, Macy’s and Staples, among many others. The number of Rapid Rewards earned can vary from 0.5 points per $1 spent to 20 points per $1 spent, depending on the retailer. Points can take up to 15 days to post to your Rapid Rewards account.
Southwest Vacations is a great way to bundle your flights and either hotel or rental car together into a cheaper package. You can both save money and earn bonus Rapid Rewards points, depending on the package you book — though you’ll always earn base Rapid Rewards points on the flight portion of the package you book. However, you may also earn additional points if Southwest is running a vacation package promotion.
Southwest partners with Research Now Group to offer Rewards for Opinions, a site where you can earn Rapid Rewards points by completing online surveys. The surveys are consumer market research, asking questions about various services, products and advertising. Each survey opportunity will show the approximate time to finish it and the number of Rapid Rewards points awarded upon completion.
If you already have a Southwest Airlines credit card, you can earn bonus Rapid Rewards points for referring friends for the card. You can currently earn 20,000 Rapid Rewards points per successful referral, up to 100,000 points per year. A successful referral is one where the recipient applies for a Southwest Airlines credit card through your referral link and is approved for the card.
The Chase Refer-A-Friend program for Southwest credit cards allows the referral recipient to choose their favorite among eligible Southwest credit cards, so they are not locked into the exact card you hold.
Rocketmiles is a booking service that lets you earn a variety of rewards points for hotel stays. The number of points or miles earned varies by property and by loyalty program. To earn Southwest Rapid Rewards through Rocketmiles, you’ll need to make sure that you perform your search with Rapid Rewards selected.
After you’ve entered your search information, Rocketmiles will provide a list and map of hotel options with the nightly rate and the total number of Rapid Rewards points earned. You can earn up to 10,000 points for a single-night stay, making it a potentially very worthwhile option, depending on the price of the hotel.
However, the site can be confusing for multi-night stays. While a user might assume the number of points displayed is per night, it’s actually a flat number of points for the full stay.
Southwest lets you buy Rapid Rewards points for either yourself or for any other program member. You can also use this option to gift points to another member. Points are offered in increments of 1,000 during promotional periods and 500 at other times. You can purchase a minimum of 2,000 points at a time and a daily maximum of 60,000 points for personal and gift purchases.
Given the typical value of Southwest points is only 1.4 cents, this is not a good way to add to your Rapid Rewards balance. Southwest sometimes offers sales of Rapid Rewards points, but even then, it rarely makes sense to purchase points.
If you want to know how to use Southwest points, redeeming your Southwest Rapid Rewards points for Southwest flights is generally the best way to go. Southwest makes it simple and straightforward to redeem Southwest points for flights.
Here’s a rundown on how to spend Rapid Rewards points:
To book a flight using your Rapid Rewards points, you’ll need to either head to Southwest.com or use the Southwest mobile app — you won’t have to log in to your Rapid Rewards account to search for flights.
1. From the main page, you just need to enter your origin, destination, travel date(s), number of passengers and whether you want to search in dollars or points. (Note, you can easily toggle between dollars and points in the search results.)
2. Once you submit your search, you’ll be presented with flight options. You can use the button in the upper right corner to toggle between dollars and points, to determine the value you’re getting for your Rapid Rewards points.
3. You can also check out the Low Fare Calendar to find the cheapest day to fly.
4. You can choose among four fare types: Wanna Get Away, Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime and Business Select.
Wanna Get Away fares are the cheapest and generally the best option, since the other fares usually don’t offer enough benefit to justify the additional points.
Business Select and Anytime fares are fully refundable as revenue fares, which is the main benefit of booking these fares with cash. However, all award tickets are fully refundable, so booking with points negates this benefit.
| Business Select | Anytime | Wanna Get Away Plus | Wanna Get Away |
|---|---|---|---|
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5. Once you’ve selected a fare, you’ll be taken to the booking screen where you’ll confirm your choice, pay the taxes and fees and then confirm your booking. You must have sufficient Rapid Rewards points in your account to complete the booking.
Does Southwest have first class? Southwest does not offer first class on their planes — all the seats on a Southwest plane are pretty much the same. However, some of the fare classes that Southwest offers (such as Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime and Business Select) do offer some benefits that are common with first-class tickets. This includes early boarding, complimentary drinks or fully refundable fares — just don’t expect a fancy seat.
The number of Southwest Rapid Rewards points that you need to fly Southwest varies depending on the cash price of the same ticket. If the cash price is low, then you may need a relatively small number of points to fly Southwest. On the other hand, if you are flying to a vacation destination over Christmas break and fares are high, you will likely need a lot of Rapid Rewards points.
As one example, an August 2024 flight from Oakland to Denver costs $194 to book with cash. That same flight requires 14,311 plus $5.60 in government fees to book. This gives you a value of around $0.013 for your Southwest Rapid Rewards if you were to book that flight.
While booking Southwest flights is the primary use of Rapid Rewards points, Southwest offers other options for using your points through More Rewards. You can redeem your Southwest Rapid Rewards for:
If you want to know how to use Rapid Rewards points for car rental, you can do that through the Southwest More Rewards program. To be eligible to use your points for More Rewards, you must be a Rapid Rewards member.
The famed Southwest Companion Pass is one of the most sought-after benefits of any airline loyalty program. Southwest’s pass allows you to choose one person to fly with you for free (you will only be responsible for taxes and fees starting from $5.60 each way) each time you purchase or redeem points for a flight. The pass is valid for the remainder of the year in which you earned it, as well as the following full calendar year.
Some restrictions to keep in mind when earning the Southwest Companion Pass:
Southwest offers two status tiers (A-List and A-List Preferred) within the Rapid Rewards loyalty program that you can achieve by earning tier qualifying points or by the number of flights taken. Tier qualifying points (TQPs) are those earned directly by flying. You’ll earn TQPs when flying based on the number of regular points you earn while flying. You can also earn 1,500 TQPs for every $5,000 spent on eligible purchases on eligible co-branded Chase Southwest credit cards.
Compared to upgrades and other perks with more traditional airlines, Southwest Airlines A-List status doesn’t offer all that much — for example, all Southwest passengers enjoy free bags and no change fees. The biggest benefits are increased point earnings and being able to board the aircraft early and get a better seat. A-List Preferred is where Southwest really adds value with a serious bonus on Rapid Rewards points and free Wi-Fi.
| Requirements | Benefits | |
| A-List | 20 qualifying one-way flights or 35,000 tier qualifying points |
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| A-List Preferred | 40 qualifying one-way flights or earn 70,000 tier qualifying points | A-list benefits, plus:
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Southwest does occasionally offer a status match, where they will match airline status that you have to Southwest status. In some cases, you may be granted immediate Southwest status, while in other cases, you may receive a Southwest status challenge where you have to fly a certain number of flights to get Southwest status.
You can find information on any current Southwest status match on the Southwest status match page.
Yes, it is free to join and participate in Southwest Rapid Rewards.
You have a few different options to sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards program. The easiest is to visit Southwest.com/enroll or by downloading the Southwest mobile app.
You can find your Southwest Rapid Rewards number in the initial email communication from Southwest, as well as on your monthly Rapid Rewards statements. You can also retrieve your Rapid Rewards number on the Southwest website.
You can not refer a friend to sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards program — It’s up to the individual to sign up. However, if you have a Chase Southwest credit card, you can refer your friend to sign up for a new card and earn a referral bonus.
You can add your Rapid Rewards number to an existing reservation at Southwest.com by clicking on “Flight/Hotel/Car” at the top of the screen. Use Manage Reservations to add it to a flight. Alternatively, you can have a Southwest Airlines customer service agent add it when you arrive at the airport.
Yes, you can request points for past flights for up to 12 months after your flight. You can make a request at Southwest.com through My Account > Manage > Request Past Flight Points.
Southwest points from flights post within 72 hours. Southwest Points from credit cards typically post within one to two business days after your billing cycle closes. Points from other Southwest partners may take longer — review the terms and conditions for each partner to understand the expected timeframe for those points to post.
Yes, you can redeem Rapid Rewards points for hotels through the Southwest More Rewards program.
While you can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points for buying a vacation package, you can not use your points to book vacations through the Southwest Vacations portal.
Yes, Southwest does fly to several different countries throughout North America. You can use your Rapid Rewards points to book international flights. It is important to note, however, that international flights may come with higher taxes and fees than domestic flights within the United States.
While you cannot combine points with another member or transfer your points to someone else, you can redeem your Rapid Rewards points for a ticket for anyone. You may need to delete your own Rapid Rewards number from the reservation to be able to do so.
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