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Southwest Airlines is offering members the chance to register for a promotion that operates as a sort of fast-track to A-list or A-list preferred status. This “fast track” involves five different promotions, each one meant to make it easier to earn elite status.
The promotions award bonus tier-qualifying points (TQP) only, there’s no additional redeemable points involved. The different options include: 2x earning on paid flights; 3x earning on flight booked through business channels; TQP bonuses for credit card spending; TQP bonuses for spending with certain Southwest partners and, finally, allowing award flights to count as tier-qualifying segments.
How exciting you think this promotion is probably roughly corresponds to how enthused you are about A-list and A-list Preferred to begin with. That could soon apply to more people, however, as the airline begins to incorporate premium seating, boarding assignments and bag fees.
Complete Guide to Southwest Rapid Rewards
The Deal
- Southwest Airlines is offering members a fast track to promotional elite status when they register and then fly with Southwest. Additional tier-qualifying points can be earned through the following four incentives between 8/28-11/30/2024:
- Earn 2X tier-qualifying points on flights
- Earn 3X on flights for business travel – Earn 3X tier qualifying points when you register, book through a business channel (GDS, SWABIZ, or direct connect/API partners) and fly between 8/28-11/30/2024.
- Earn tier-qualifying segments on award flights – Every one-way flight segment booked with Rapid Rewards points counts as one tier-qualifying flight when you register, book, and fly between 8/28 – 11/30/2024.2
- Earn tier qualifying points with Rapid Rewards® credit card purchases – Earn 2,000 bonus tier-qualifying points for every $5,000 in purchases you make with any Rapid Rewards Credit Card from September 1 – November 30, 2024.
- Earn tier-qualifying points with Partners – Every base point earned on qualifying Rapid Rewards partners between 8/28-11/30/20244 counts as one tier qualifying point, up to maximum of 5,000 total tier qualifying points.
Terms and Conditions
Earn 2X tier qualifying points on flights
- Tier qualifying points are earned on qualifying flights paid entirely with dollars, Southwest LUV Vouchers®, gift cards, or flight credits, and with no portion of the purchase price paid for with Rapid Rewards points. Only qualifying activity will be eligible for tier qualifying points.
- Member must register for this promotion, then book and fly between August 28 and November 30, 2024 (the “Promotion Period”), and registration must be completed prior to booking and commencement of travel.
- Valid on new qualifying flights booked and flown within the Promotion Period.
- Double tier qualifying points will be calculated at 100 percent of the tier qualifying points earned for each applicable flight.
- A qualifying flight for this promotion is a one-way revenue flight on Southwest® from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections on Southwest, or a round trip revenue flight on Southwest from an origin city to a destination city and back to the originating airport or carrier-recognized co-terminal. Companion Pass®, charter flights, reward and group travel, and Southwest Vacations® packages do not qualify as one-way or round trip revenue flight(s) for this promotion.
Earn 3X tier qualifying points on business flights
- Member must register for this promotion, then book through a Southwest Business channel (swabiz.com (SWABIZ®), Global Distribution System (GDS), or Southwest Partner Services (SPS) distribution channels with Southwest Airlines® inventory), and fly between August 28 and November 30, 2024 (the “Promotion Period”), and registration must be completed prior to booking and commencement of travel.
- Valid on new qualifying flights booked and flown within the Promotion Period.
- Triple tier qualifying points will be calculated at 200 percent of the tier qualifying points earned for each applicable flight and will be posted to the account of the traveling Rapid Rewards Member within 72 hours after the flight is completed.
- A qualifying flight for this promotion is a one-way revenue flight on Southwest from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections on Southwest, or a round trip revenue flight on Southwest from an origin city to a destination city and back to the originating airport or carrier-recognized co-terminal. Companion Pass®, charter flights, reward and group travel, and Southwest Vacations® packages do not qualify as one-way or round trip revenue flight(s) for this promotion. A qualifying flight for this triple tier qualifying points promotion is not also eligible for the double tier qualifying points promotion.
Earn tier-qualifying segments with award travel
- Member must register for this promotion, then book and fly reward travel between 8:00 a.m. Central Time (“CT”) on August 28, 2024 and 11:59 p.m. CT on November 30, 2024 (the “Promotion Period”) to receive tier qualifying flight segment credit for reward travel. Registration must be completed prior to booking and commencement of travel.
- Valid on new qualifying reward flight segments booked and flown within the Promotion Period.
- Only the Member who is flying will receive credit for the travel completed, regardless of who booked the reservation or whose points were redeemed for the ticket.
- A qualifying reward flight segment is defined as a one-way trip booked through Southwest® purchased with points from an origin city to a destination city, including any intermediate stops and/or connections on Southwest.
Rapid Rewards Credit Card spending bonus
- To be eligible for this bonus tier qualifying points offer, you must register between September 1 and November 30, 2024 (“Promotion Period”).
- During the Promotion Period you will earn 2,000 bonus tier qualifying points for every $5,000 in purchases made with your Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card.
- Bonus tier qualifying points earned from this offer will be deposited within six weeks after the end of each month and by 12/30/2024 for November purchases.
- “Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, traveler’s checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, racetrack wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.
- Tier qualifying points are not eligible to use for redemption toward flights or with More Rewards.
Earn tier-qualifying points with Rapid Rewards partners
- From 12:01 a.m. Central Daylight Time (“CDT”) on August 28, 2024 to 11:59 p.m. CDT on November 30, 2024 (the “Promotion Period”), base points earned from qualifying purchases made with select Rapid Rewards partners will qualify as tier qualifying points (TQPs), up to a maximum of 5,000 tier qualifying points earned per Member during the Promotion Period.
- Eligible Rapid Rewards partners include Southwest Hotels, car rentals through Southwest.com, Rapid Rewards Shopping, Rapid Rewards Dining, Laithwaites, 1-800-FLOWERS, Reliant Energy, NRG Energy, Xoom, Energy Plus, Harry and David, and Rewards for Opinions.
- Only base points posted to your Rapid Rewards account from qualifying purchases made with select partners during the Promotion Period will qualify as TQPs.
- “Qualifying purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, racetrack wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access their account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, or fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable. TQPs are earned on flights paid entirely with dollars, Southwest LUV Vouchers®, gift cards, or flight credits, and with no portion of the purchase price paid for with Rapid Rewards points.
Southwest Credit Cards
Chase issues quite a few Southwest Airlines consumer and business credit cards. Current offer information for these cards can be found below:
| Card Offer |
|---|
40K points + $400 ⓘ Affiliate 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$69 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. After clicking through, be sure to manually select the exact Southwest card in which you are interested. This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
80K points ⓘ Affiliate 80K points after $5K spend within first 3 months your account is open$199 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
40K points + $400 ⓘ Friend-Referral 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$99 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. |
40K points + $400 ⓘ Affiliate 40K points + a $400 statement credit after $3K spend in the first 4 months. (Offer Expires 12/9/2024)$149 Annual Fee Alternate Offer: Current public offer is 50K points after $1K spend in 3 months. This card is known to be subject to Chase's 5/24 rule. |
60K points ⓘ Affiliate 60K points after $3K spend within first 3 months your account is open$99 Annual Fee This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). |
It is important to note that Chase added new rules on the Southwest credit cards in recent years. Each of the Southwest credit cards now carries 24-month language. In a nutshell
- You are ineligible for the welcome bonus on a Southwest personal credit card if you currently have any Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit card or have earned a new cardmember bonus on any Southwest personal credit card in the past 24 months
- You are ineligible for the welcome bonus on a Southwest business credit card if you currently have that specific Southwest Rapid Rewards business credit card or have earned a new cardmember bonus on that specific Southwest business credit card in the past 24 months. This is a key distinction: the verbiage on the application page does not preclude you from earning the welcome bonus on a second business credit card, it just needs to be the other product.
Quick Thoughts
Southwest offers two levels of elite status: A-list and A-list Preferred. Companion Pass is arguably a third level of elite status, though it comes with no elite benefits other than the companion ticket so we’ll cover that separately in this guide. Requirements for A-list and A-list Preferred status are straightforward and benefits are similar
A-list
Requirements: 20 one-way qualifying flights or 35,000 tier-qualifying points
Benefits:
- Priority boarding (the system automatically assigns a position 36 hours before your flight (same as Early Bird check-in).
- 25% bonus points earned on paid fares (15x Business Select, 12.5x Anytime, 7.5x Wanna Get Away)
- Free same-day standby (note that this does not extend to any companions on the same reservation)
- Free same-day change
- Priority check-in and security (where available)
A-list Preferred
Requirements: 40 one-way qualifying flights or 70,000 tier-qualifying points
Benefits:
- Priority boarding (the system automatically assigns a position 36 hours before your flight (same as Early Bird check-in). A-list Preferred receives priority over A-list but both are behind Business Select passengers
- 100% bonus points on paid fares (24x Business Select, 20x Anytime, 12x Wanna Get Away)
- Free same-day standby (note that this does not extend to any companions on the same reservation)
- Free same-day change
- Priority check-in and security (where available)
- Free in-flight Wi-Fi
- Two free premium drinks per flight on flights of 176 miles or longer
I’ve never personally seen A-list or A-list Preferred as being especially attractive, especially in light of the qualification thresholds. That said, I know many frequent Southwest Flyers who get plenty of value from it. Now that the airline is starting to move towards a traditional US legacy model by incorporating premium seating, boarding assignments and bag fees, I would think that Southwest elite status will only grow more valuable. That might make this promo even more appealing for folks that are going to be close already.
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I have a trip coming up in 2 weeks. SAC-ORL, round-trip, 2 passengers plus companion. Might it make sense to cancel and rebook? What’s the risk of not getting on the same flight?