Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards members woke up to an unpleasant surprise this morning, as the company slashed the amount of points that are earned when flying its two cheapest fares: Wanna Get Away and Wanna Get Away Plus.
Wanna Get Away fares previously earned 6 points per dollar, but that’s been cut by 2/3, all the way down to 2 points per dollar. The next fare class up, Wanna Get Away Plus, went from earning 8 points per dollar down to 6. The airline’s more expensive fares buckets were spared, with top-end Business Select tickets actually going up to 14 points per dollar from 12.
Southwest elite members’ bonuses are unchanged; A-List members will continue to get a 25% bonus and A-List Preferred members a 100% bonus.
Southwest provided no notice whatsoever about any of these changes. They simply posted the new rates on their website overnight…a surprising move for a company that normally communicates well. Worse yet, the changes affect all flights from today forward, regardless of when the ticket was purchased.
What Happened
- Southwest Airlines decreased points earning on its two least expensive fares overnight, with no notice given to customers
- Wanna Get Away fares now earn 2 Rapid Rewards points per dollar (down from 6)
- Wanna Get Away Plus fares earn 6 Rapid Rewards points per dollar (down from 8)
- Anytime fares were unchanged and still earn 10 points per dollar
- Business Select fares now earn 14 points per dollar (up from 12)
Quick Thoughts
Southwest has had a rough go of it over the last couple of years. Revenues have been stagnant, its stock price has been cut in half and shareholders are restless. As a result, the company has been trying to rejigger much of its business model with seating assignments, premium economy-ish extra legroom seats and massive employee layoffs.
Evidently, it thinks that the savings produced by slashing earning on the two most popular fare classes will be worth the bad taste that it leaves in its customers mouths. Wanna Get Away fares will now have among the poorest returns of any domestic airline ticket. Nick previously found that, on average, Rapid Rewards points were worth around 1.4 cents each when redeeming them for flights. That means that customers booked on Wanna Get Away fares now earn a paltry 2.8% back in points. There’s not a lot of LUV there.
While A-list elite bonuses were unaffected, the drop in earnings feels especially brutal for them. An A-list Preferred Member that earned 12 points per dollar on a flight yesterday is now getting only 4 points per dollar on a flight today.
I honestly can’t remember ever seeing a worse unannounced airline rewards change, and it’s extremely disappointing to see Southwest’s complete lack of communication around it. In the past, the airline has provided plenty of notice on almost all program developments, even those that were negative (like a reduction in the value of Rapid Rewards points). Doing this one under the cover of night with no notice is a really bad look.
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I am still seeing old rates for two flights I have. When I click “change”, the rates displayed are also the old. I hope that isn’t a glitch and they are just grandfathered in.
Tim, my flights booked before the announcement are still showing the old earning rates. Are you sure that the rates are affecting those flights booked before the change?
Rough with no notice from Southwest on this change. In a way this puts Wanna Get Away fares a little more inline with Basic Economy fares on some of the other domestic airlines (AA basic economy earns 2X, Delta earns nothing). Still better than United equivalent where you have to pay for any baggage. But the overnight change that takes immediate effect is a bad look.
I am not a WN flyer (they don’t serve my airport), but this is setting a terrible precedent.
I rarely check a bag. I know that Southwest has a reputation for low fares, but on the routes that I most frequently fly, their fares are ridiculously high … to the point that I sometimes forget to even look at Southwest. This makes them even less price competitive.
That is mostly an outdated reputation. I’ve flown them for the last year due to having a companion pass but w/o the pass their fares would generally not be competitive.
Thanks for the heads up. My wife is flying tomorrow on a ticket she bought a month ago. Looking forward to the class action lawsuit for this slimy bait and switch. They deserve it.