Southwest Airlines is a great company that offers some amazing deals for their customers. The Rapid Rewards program, which is the airline’s loyalty program, has been around since 1984 and has offered many benefits to its members.
southwest airlines is a popular airline that has been around for years. It provides low-cost flights to many different destinations. The southwest airlines have created 10 ways to make their Rapid Rewards program better.
There Are 10 Ways To Improve Southwest Rapid Rewards
on October 8, 2021 by Gary Leff
Rapid Rewards on Southwest Airlines will never be the stuff of fantasies. Upgrades to first class are not available (Southwest has no premium cabin). You cannot use your miles to go to the Maldives or the Seychelles (no partner airline redemptions). You won’t receive a lot of value for your points, either, since it’s a mostly-fixed-value revenue-based scheme.
Nonetheless, it is a really beneficial program to be a part of.
- The cost of a flight reward is completely refundable. When I’m faced with American Airlines delays, I’ll reserve a Southwest Airlines alternative with points as a backup, then cancel the award and redeposit the points when I make it out on American.
- The Companion Pass is a fantastic deal. The ability to earn a companion pass and invite someone along on your trips – whether on paid or award tickets – is a really unique feature of the program.
- The A-List position is beneficial. Priority check-in, which may be useful when checking baggage, and earlier boarding, so you can select your favorite seat, are the only two benefits. However, it is just the first tier of rank, and A-List Preferred doesn’t provide much more value.
Southwest Airlines is the most popular airline at my local airport. It’s simpler for me to fly them since I have A-List status (I don’t have to worry about seat allocations or boarding before those who pay extra for ‘Early Bird’ check-in). For the last year and a half, I’ve had a Companion Pass. In the year 2020, I was one of the first to get one. Now that it’ll be over in a few months, I’m planning how I’ll get my new one.
I believe that a few changes would make Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards a more appealing program. I’m not talking about pipe dreams here, but rather items that I believe make sense for both the program and its participants.
Many of these ideas revolve on achieving ‘A-List Preferred,’ or top tier status, which needs 50 trips or 70,000 qualifying points in a year and entails little more than higher-priority boarding, a larger flight bonus, free wifi, and improved standby rights.
With just 25 trips or 35,000 qualifying points, their basic elite level offers little actual value – but it may be a compelling incentive to keep straining the airline’s top customers, and to deter airlines who do provide upgrades from snatching these passengers.
- A-List Preferred members may earn extra or discount buying points as an elite member. Provide them with better price for more points while remaining above the airline’s cost.
- On the airline’s Chase co-branded credit cards, a preferred fee credit is available. With 1K members, United used to do this. Keeping your top customers in the ecosystem and doing more than simply flying the airline is important.
- Exempt A-List Preferred members from Chase’s 5/24 restrictions, which make getting the co-brand difficult for even eligible and credit-worthy consumers. Nothing is more frustrating for a top client than getting turned down for the cobrand of a program to which you are committed. When United Global Services and Marriott Ambassador members are turned down for Chase cards while having good income and credit ratings, it’s a case of short-sightedness.
- Allow A-List Preferred members who acquire a companion pass to reserve an empty middle seat next to them for themselves. This would imply that the companion pass is used more often, but it makes sense when it is only available to top customers.
- Allow elites to have priority luggage handling. This is a difficult procedure, but one that airlines deal with on a daily basis.
- Allow A-List Preferred members to give relatives or friends two yearly ‘Business Select Upgrade’ passes. As a result, their friends will be able to enjoy the same priority airport service and early boarding as they do.
- Improve the contribution of Southwest’s Chase co-brand to elite status. For every $10,000 spent on the cards, you receive 1500 qualifying points, up to a maximum of 15,000 qualifying points (21 percent of points required for top tier after $150,000 spent on the card). Southwest eliminated the limit on qualifying points earned via card spending in the second half of 2020 and increased the pace at which those points were earned. This modification should be permanent.
- Offer a Hilton or IHG hotel partnership (Marriott partners with United, Hyatt with American). IHG could pay to advertise to Southwest elites with their platinum status, which is a perk of being an A-List member, or Southwest could just exchange status matches (reciprocal points earning gets expensive to offer).
- American Express and Chase may be a model, or brand tie-ins like as Chase with Door Dash and Peleton or Amex with CLEAR and Equinox, where members get a benefit in the form of a credit — with the partner business essentially promoting and paying the cost.
- Partner airlines make money and lose money. To establish a frequent flyer relationship, Southwest does not need to codeshare (though they have done so in the past and have said that they may do so again). It has the ability to unleash the global potential of miles while also attracting international air carriers to Southwest for their members’ U.S. trips. As a consequence of alliance membership, certain carriers are limited in the kind of partnerships they may form, but there is a world of airlines with whom agreements can be made.
None of these suggestions are completely unrealistic. They’re all things that may make sense (at least to some extent) in terms of the program’s economics – providing value to consumers and the program as a whole.
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The how to get southwest points for free is a blog post that will show you 10 ways to make Southwest Rapid Rewards better.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get the most out of Southwest Rapid Rewards?
To get the most out of your Southwest Rapid Rewards, it is recommended that you redeem them for flights or hotel stays. You can also use them to purchase gift cards at a discounted rate.
What can I do with 100000 Southwest points?
You can redeem them for a $100 Southwest gift card.
How much is 10000 Rapid Rewards points worth?
It is worth about $10.
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