(EXPIRED) [Back for 2022] Southwest offering 25K points for referring your company’s travel manager

Update 12/21/21: Doctor of Credit notes that this has been extended to 12/31/21. By way of personal update, I was able to refer my wife’s business and I flew the qualifying paid round trip in October. The 25,000 bonus points posted about two weeks later.  Those bonus points are not Companion Pass qualifying nor elite-qualifying points — this is strictly a redeemable points bonus. She did have to answer some questions about how much her business typically spends on travel, which she answered with a non-pandemic level of travel in mind. I see that some people haven’t been approved, so YMMV. It really doesn’t take much effort for your travel manager to complete their part here if you were worried about inconveniencing them.

Also worth noting that while the rep told my wife that I could go ahead and book my qualifying round trip, the official email from Southwest saying you can book it arrived a couple of weeks later (and by a strict reading of the terms you had to wait until that email arrived to book, though in my case we booked after the rep gave the green light but before the automated Southwest email and I got the points as expected). The original post follows.

Southwest Airlines is offering 25,000 Rapid Rewards points when you refer your company’s travel manager to SWABIZ, the business-booking channel of Southwest Airlines. Based on my read of the terms, this looks to be a pretty easy 25K points if your company’s travel manager is willing to register with Southwest — though it’ll probably require you to fly a round trip flight within 90 days to get the 25K points. Still, that seems like a solid deal.

The Deal

• Southwest Business is offering 25,000 Rapid Rewards points when you refer your company between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 and the company travel manager agrees to receive email from Southwest Business and one of the following two things happen:
  • If your company qualifies to enroll in SWABIZ:
    • Your company will have 30 days from the date that email was sent to enroll in SWABIZ.
    • After your company is enrolled in SWABIZ, you’ll receive an email letting you know you have 90 days to book through swabiz.com and fly one qualifying revenue round trip flight. This email will contain additional instructions on how to earn the 25,000 bonus points.
    • Once the qualifying round trip flight is flown during the required 90-day period, you’ll earn 25,000 bonus points.
  • If your company qualifies for a managed relationship, you’ll earn 25,000 bonus points.
• Direct link to this offer

Key Details

Terms and conditions

You could earn 25,000 Rapid Rewards® bonus points for referring your company to Southwest® Business.

1. Register & Refer 

Register between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2022 (“Promotion Period”), and on the registration form, fill out the information of the person who is the travel decision maker for the company you work for that you are referring. If the company you are referring already has a SWABIZ® account, a managed contract or a business travel relationship with Southwest Business, you will not be eligible to earn the 25,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points.

To register for this promotion, you will need to provide your Southwest Rapid Rewards account number at the time of registration. If you do not have a Rapid Rewards account number, you may register for an account by going online to Southwest.com/rapidrewards to become a Member. Rapid Rewards accounts are free.

2. Earn Rapid Rewards Bonus Points Based on Your Company’s Path 

1. If the company you are referring does not already have a SWABIZ account, a managed contract, or a business travel relationship with Southwest Business and (i) you register for this promotion within the Promotion Period, including completion of all required fields, (ii) the company you referred is qualified by Southwest Business, (iii) the company you referred enrolls in SWABIZ within 30 days of when Southwest Business sends an email notifying the company it is qualified for the self-service (SWABIZ) business partnership with Southwest Business, and (iv) within 90 days from when Southwest Business sends you an email notifying you the company you referred has enrolled in SWABIZ (such 90 day period, the “Post Enrollment Period), you book through swabiz.com using your referred company’s corporate identification number and your linked Rapid Rewards Member’s Rapid Rewards account number, and fly one qualifying revenue round trip flight, you will earn 25,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points. If you or the company you work for that you are referring has opted out or opts out of receiving emails from Southwest, Southwest will not send an email to you or to the company you work for that you are referring.  Linked Rapid Rewards Member is defined as your individual Rapid Rewards Member Rapid Rewards account number which is linked to the Southwest Corporate Identification number for the company you referred, prior to booking a flight and during completion of the flight. If you are not a Rapid Rewards Member, please enroll in Rapid Rewards and link your Rapid Rewards account to the Southwest Corporate Identification number for the company you referred.All of steps (i) through (iii) described in the paragraph above must be completed prior to booking and commencement of travel. Valid on new qualifying revenue flights booked through SWABIZ during the Post Enrollment Period for travel during the Post Enrollment Period and flown within the Post Enrollment Period.A qualifying flight is a round trip revenue flight, booked through SWABIZ, on Southwest Airlines® from an origin city to a destination city and back to the originating airport or carrier-recognized co-terminal. Flights booked prior to the first day of the Post Enrollment Period or not completed by the last day of the Post Enrollment Period will not be eligible to count towards this promotion.  Charter flights, group travel, Southwest Vacations® packages, Companion Pass®, flights booked on Southwest.com®, bookings made via Global Distribution Systems, and reservations made using Rapid Rewards points do not qualify for this promotion. Valid on Southwest Airlines published scheduled service. Changes made to the itinerary after purchase may eliminate qualification for promotion.
2. If the company you referred is qualified by Southwest Business for a managed relationship with Southwest Business, you will earn 25,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points with no further action by you required.

3. Reward yourself 

After either completing your required flight activity, or your company successfully signing a contract with Southwest Business, please allow up to 4 weeks for your Rapid Rewards bonus points to post to your account. Your bonus will appear on your statement as “Points Adjustment.”

This one-time refer your company bonus promotion is non-transferable. Rapid Rewards bonus points will not count toward A-List, A-List Preferred, or Companion Pass qualification.

This offer is subject to change and may be canceled at any time without notice.

Only one referrer per company ID number will be eligible to collect the Rapid Rewards bonus points, and this will be the person who enters the first referral Southwest receives for that particular company. You are not eligible for a referral bonus if you use a false name, information, or if Southwest cannot contact you. If Southwest cannot reach the person you are referring, or if the company the referrer works for does not qualify for a relationship with Southwest Business or decides not to engage further with Southwest, you will not be eligible to earn the 25,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points. If the company you are referring already has a SWABIZ account, a managed contract, or a business travel relationship with Southwest Business, you will not be eligible to earn the 25,000 Rapid Rewards bonus points.

Southwest shall have the sole and exclusive right to resolve all disputes between two or more referrers who are referring the same company, and all determinations by Southwest shall be final and binding. Southwest reserves all of its rights and all other applicable Rapid Rewards rules and regulations.

All Rapid Rewards rules and regulations apply and can be found at www.southwest.com/rrterms.  Southwest® reserves the right to amend, suspend, or change the Rapid Rewards program and/or Rapid Rewards program rules at any time without notice. Rapid Rewards Members do not acquire property rights in accrued points. The number of Rapid Rewards points needed for a particular Southwest flight is set by Southwest and will vary depending on destination, time, day of travel, demand, fare type, point redemption rate, and other factors, and is subject to change at any time until the booking is confirmed.

Quick Thoughts

This process is very simple. You fill out a form referring your company’s travel manager to SWABIZ by giving their name, email, and phone number (and providing your Rapid Rewards number). Then they receive an email with a link to agree to receive information about travel management solutions from Southwest Business (note that they do need to opt in to receive info). They need to submit that form with their name, email, job title, and annual travel spend of their company and then you will either receive 25K points if the company qualifies for a managed relationship or if the company qualifies to enroll in SWABIZ instead they will have 30 days to enroll and then you will have 90 days to book one qualifying round trip revenue flight through swabiz.com in order to receive 25,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points. That seems like a great deal.

I imagine that there may be a threshold of annual travel required to qualify for Southwest Business booking, so some companies may not qualify. Also note that if your company only qualifies for the SWABIZ account and you need to fly a round trip to get the points, you’ll need to only book the round trip after your company enrolls and it has to be a round trip returning to your city of origin according to the terms (so two separate one-ways won’t work).

Keep in mind that you’ll have 90 days from the day your company enrolls, and your company will have 30 days to enroll after you refer them, so you may not want to enroll immediately in this offer. Still, for those traveling anyway and whose companies may qualify, this could be an easy 25K points. Do note that these points do not qualify toward elite status or the Companion Pass both based on the terms and my personal experience.

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