Southwest Rapid Rewards Program Guide

For years, Southwest Airlines has had a loyal customer base that appreciated the airline’s dedication to a customer-first business model. Southwest was known for its uncomplicated boarding process, allowing all passengers two free checked bags, its low fares and easy-to-use frequent flyer program.

However, in 2025, seemingly overnight, Southwest Airlines overhauled many of its policies and its Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program, leaving consumers far worse off. Points-earning rates on most Southwest fares have been reduced, passengers now have to pay for checked bags, a new “Basic” fare has been introduced with less flexibility than any other fare class, and things are just generally worse for Southwest passengers and Rapid Rewards members.

So, despite being an airline that has done things differently for years, these recent changes from Southwest bear resemblance to the devaluations enacted by many other airlines in the past several years.

Nevertheless, the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program still offers value to travelers who consistently fly with Southwest. So, in this article, we’re going to explain everything you need to know about this program and its new policies.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Overview

Southwest Rapid Rewards is a free-to-join program that allows members to earn points by taking Southwest flights, shopping with partners, spending on co-branded credit cards and more. These points can then be redeemed in a variety of ways, including for flights, hotel stays, gift cards, merchandise and more.

Southwest also offers A-List elite status to Rapid Rewards program members who complete a certain number of qualifying one-way flight segments or accumulate a certain number of tier-qualifying points within a qualification period. Those who achieve A-List elite status will be entitled to certain perks, such as free checked bags, seating benefits, priority boarding, bonus Rapid Rewards points and more.

And, of course, most people familiar with the Rapid Rewards program know about the Southwest Companion Pass perk, which allows you to take a companion on nearly any Southwest flight free of charge. This perk is earned by accumulating either a certain number of qualifying flight segments or qualifying points in a calendar year.

Southwest Elite Status

The Southwest Rapid Rewards elite status program consists of two A-List elite status tiers as well as the Companion Pass perk. Let’s take a look at how you can earn each of these statuses and the benefits that they offer.

A-List Elite Statuses

The Southwest Rapid Rewards program has two elite status tiers: A-List and A-List Preferred. Each of these elite status tiers can be achieved by accumulating either a required number of one-way qualifying flight segments or tier-qualifying points within a calendar year.

Earning A-List Elite Status

The following table includes the number of one-way qualifying flight segments or tier-qualifying points you need to earn in a calendar year to earn each elite status tier:

Qualifying flight segments include Southwest Airlines flights purchased entirely with dollars, Southwest LUV Vouchers, gift cards, vacation travel credits, flight credits or Cash + Points. Reward flights, charter flights, nonrevenue travel and Companion Pass travel do not count toward earning either elite status or the Companion Pass. Qualifying flight segments will be credited to your account within 72 hours after completion of the entire trip.

Tier-qualifying points can be earned by taking revenue flights on Southwest Airlines or by spending on an eligible Southwest Airlines co-branded credit card. The following table includes how many tier-qualifying points you can earn for spending on each Rapid Rewards co-branded credit card:

It’s also worth noting that Southwest also offers the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card. However, spending on this card does not earn tier-qualifying points.

Points that are not considered tier-qualifying points include purchased points, transferred/gifted points, points earned from enrolling in the Rapid Rewards program, tier bonus points and flight bonus points.

Once you earn the required number of qualifying flight segments or tier-qualifying points, your status will be valid for the remainder of the year in which you earned it, as well as the entire following calendar year. For instance, if you earn A-List elite status in March 2026, your status will be valid until the end of December 2027.

A-List Elite Status Benefits

The following table includes the benefits that you’ll enjoy with A-List and A-List Preferred status:

Compared to the elite status benefits offered by some other frequent flyer programs, these Southwest A-List status benefits aren’t very impressive. There are no airport lounge passes or complimentary upgrades offered at either tier. And, while receiving two free checked bags with A-List Preferred status is a good perk, this used to be a guaranteed benefit for all passengers until 2025.

Nevertheless, A-List elite status is fairly easy to earn and can provide savings in the form of bonus points as well as a more comfortable flying experience on Southwest.

Companion Pass

One of the best benefits offered by the Southwest Rapid Rewards program is the Companion Pass, which essentially allows you to bring a companion on nearly any Southwest flight free of charge (excluding taxes and fees). This benefit can be earned by accumulating qualifying one-way flights on Southwest or earning qualifying points.

Earning the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass

The Southwest Companion Pass can be earned by achieving either one of the following milestones in a calendar year:

• Take 100 qualifying Southwest one-way flights
• Earn 135,000 qualifying Southwest Rapid Rewards points

A qualifying flight that counts toward earning the Companion Pass is the same as a qualifying flight toward A-List elite status. However, Companion Pass-qualifying points are different from tier-qualifying points.

Companion Pass-qualifying points include all points earned on Southwest flights purchased entirely with dollars, Southwest LUV Vouchers, gift cards, vacation travel credits, flight credits or Cash + Points. Additionally, all points earned on Rapid Rewards credit card spending (including co-branded credit card welcome bonuses) as well as base points earned through partners count toward earning the Companion Pass.

One of the best strategies for earning the Companion Pass is to sign up for two Southwest co-branded credit cards around the same time and earn the welcome bonus from both cards. This strategy is described in our article How to Earn and Use the Southwest Companion Pass [2026].

Companion Pass Benefits

As mentioned above, the Southwest Companion Pass allows you to bring a companion with you on nearly any Southwest flight for no additional cost except for the taxes and fees (which start at $5.60). This perk applies whether you booked your flight with cash, with points or with Cash + Points.

Just like with A-List elite status, your Companion Pass will be valid for the remainder of the year in which you earned it as well as the entirety of the following year. There’s no limit to the number of times you can use your Companion Pass during its validity period.

To add a companion to your flight, you simply need to go to the “My Trips” tab in the “My Account” section of the Southwest Airlines website or mobile app. Then you can click the “Add Companion” link and add their personal information.

How to Earn Rapid Rewards Points

Southwest Rapid Rewards program members can earn points in a variety of different ways, including taking paid flights on Southwest, spending money on Southwest co-branded credit cards, booking hotel stays, renting cars and more.

In the following section, we’ll look at all of the different ways that you can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points.

Flying with Southwest

The most obvious way to earn Southwest points is to take paid flights with Southwest Airlines. The number of points you’ll earn per flight depends on the cost of your airfare as well as the fare class that you’re flying in.

Unfortunately, as of March 2025, the points earnings rates for two of Southwest’s fare classes decreased significantly. The names of these fare classes also changed in July 2025. In the following table, we’ll include the new names of each fare class as well as the new and old earning rates for each one:

So, for instance, if you were to book a Southwest Choice Preferred fare for $100, you would earn 1,000 points for that flight. If you were to book a Basic fare for $100, you would only earn 200 points.

These earning rates apply only to a flight’s base fare, and you won’t earn any points on taxes and fees. If you choose to purchase a flight with Cash + Points, only the cash portion of the payment would earn points.

And, as previously mentioned, you can earn even more bonus points per dollar spent on your base fare if you have elite status with the Rapid Rewards program. For instance, A-List Preferred members receive 100% bonus points on Southwest flights. So, if a flight had earned you 2,000 points without elite status, an A-List Preferred member would receive 4,000 points.

Spending with Southwest Credit Cards

Another great way to earn Southwest points is to sign up for one of the Rapid Rewards co-branded credit cards, all of which are issued by Chase. There are currently five available Rapid Rewards credit cards, three personal cards and, for business owners, there are two business cards. Each of these cards offers welcome bonuses as well as regular spending bonuses that allow you to earn Southwest points on every purchase.

The following table includes the currently available Southwest credit cards, their annual fees, spending bonuses and other notable benefits:

Each of these cards also offers a welcome bonus of tens of thousands of points that you can earn by spending a certain amount on your card within a fixed period of time after account opening. These welcome bonuses are an excellent way to quickly boost your Southwest points balance.

For instance, here are the current welcome bonuses offered by all three Southwest personal credit cards:

Additionally, Southwest credit cards also don’t charge foreign transaction fees, meaning you can use them outside of the U.S. without incurring any additional fees.

Transfer Partners

The Southwest Rapid Rewards program has several transfer partners, including both credit card rewards programs and hotel rewards programs. The following table includes Southwest’s transfer partners and their respective transfer ratios:

*You’ll also receive a bonus of 5,000 points for every 60,000 Bonvoy points transferred at once. For instance, if you transferred 60,000 Bonvoy points to Southwest, you’d receive 25,000 Rapid Rewards points.

As you can see above, none of Southwest’s hotel rewards transfer partners offer favorable transfer ratios. Thus, you’re better off spending these points in their native programs.

However, Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards both offer a 1:1 transfer ratio. So, for instance, if you were to transfer 50,000 Chase points to Southwest, you’d receive 50,000 Rapid Rewards points. Thus, it can sometimes be a good idea to transfer credit card points to the Rapid Rewards program.

It’s worth noting, though, that both Bilt and Chase have other transfer partners that offer far more value per point on average than Southwest Rapid Rewards.

Hotel and Rental Car Partners

In addition to transferring points from hotel loyalty programs, you can also earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points directly for booking stays with certain hotel partners and adding your Southwest Rapid Rewards account number to your reservation. You’ll earn 600 points per qualifying stay with all of the following hotel chains:

• Best Western
• Marriott Bonvoy
• MGM Resorts
• World of Hyatt

You can also earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points by booking hotel stays through Southwest Hotels. And you’ll typically eastern far more points through this portal than you would by crediting stays booked through hotel partners.

For example, we found a stay at The Westin New York Grand Central (which is part of the Marriott Bonvoy program) that would earn 14,000 Rapid Rewards points if booked through Southwest Hotels.

If you were to book this through Marriott and then credit your stay to the Southwest Rapid Rewards program, you would only earn 600 points. So, if you want to earn Southwest points for a hotel stay, you’re much better off booking through Southwest Hotels.

You can also earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points for completing qualifying car rentals with certain partners. You’ll earn 600 Southwest points per qualifying rental when you add your Rapid Rewards account number to your rental with any of the following companies:

• Alamo
• Avis
• Budget
• Dollar
• Hertz
• National
• Payless
• Thrifty

Each of the hotel partners listed above has its own loyalty program. And, by choosing to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points for your stay, you’ll be forfeiting the opportunity to earn that hotel’s rewards currency.

Some rental car companies, on the other hand, don’t have their own rewards programs. So, there’s really no downside to electing to earn airline miles, just note that some rental companies impose frequent flyer surcharges, so be sure to check.

Getaways by Southwest™

Southwest Rapid Rewards members can also earn points by booking vacation packages with Getaways by Southwest™. Through this portal, you can book packages for flights and hotels, flights and rental cars, or flights, hotels and rental cars. Each package earns a different number of Southwest points, and it’s hard to determine how Southwest awards points for these packages.

Nevertheless, some of these getaway packages offer very high Southwest points earnings. So, if you were planning a vacation anyway, it’s worth looking into whether you can book it through Getaways by Southwest™ and earn some extra points.

Rapid Rewards Shopping

Southwest Airlines also has its own online shopping portal that allows you to earn Southwest points with over 1,100 online stores. You can simply browse the available merchants on the Rapid Rewards Shopping website and then click on the merchant that you want to shop with.

Then, you can shop as you normally would, and you’ll earn Southwest points for any purchases you make with that merchant. Each merchant has a different Southwest points earning rate. However, earnings rates are typically between 1X and 3X points per dollar spent.

To make matters even easier, Rapid Rewards Shopping has its own Google Chrome extension that notifies you whenever you’re shopping with a merchant that offers Rapid Rewards points earnings. With this feature, you won’t have to worry about visiting the Rapid Rewards Shopping website, and you can still earn Southwest points for your purchases.

Rapid Rewards Dining

Southwest also offers its own dining program, which allows you to earn Rapid Rewards points for dining with certain restaurant partners. To use this program, you can sign up for a Rapid Rewards Dining account and link a credit or debit card. Then, anytime you dine at a participating restaurant, you’ll earn up to 3X points per dollar.

To find restaurants in your area that participate in the program, you can visit the Rapid Rewards Dining site and enter your city, state or zip code. Then, you’ll be able to see all of the restaurants in your area at which you can earn Rapid Rewards points.

Other Partners

The Southwest Rapid Rewards program has several other partners that allow you to earn points for qualifying activities.

Rapid Rewards members residing in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey or Pennsylvania can earn 2X points per dollar spent on their energy bill with NRG Home. Members in Texas can earn an enrollment bonus of 15,000 points when they switch to a Reliant Secure 24 energy plan and then earn an additional 500 points every month for the next 24 months.

You can earn 500 Rapid Rewards points by enrolling with Rewards for Opinions and completing your first survey within three months. You can also earn Rapid Rewards points for every survey you take with Rewards for Opinions.

Rapid Rewards members can also earn points by taking surveys with e-Rewards, collecting e-Rewards currency and then transferring that currency to the Rapid Rewards program.

Finally, you can earn 1,500 points when you enroll in Emergency Assistance Plus (EA+) and an additional 1,500 points every year that you renew your account. Plus, you’ll earn an additional 500 points if you select an add-on during enrollment or if you upgrade your membership (plus an additional 500 points every year that you choose this option).

Buying Points and Points Transfers

Rapid Rewards members also have the option to boost their points balance by purchasing points with cash. However, this is rarely a good idea. The regular price of Southwest points is currently $30 per 1,000 points (a cost of 3 cents per point). This cost is far more than the value that you can typically extract from Southwest points.

Occasionally, Southwest will offer limited-time discounts when buying points. For instance, in late 2025, they offered a 50% discount if you purchased more than 3,000 points at a time. In this case, the cost of these points was 1.5 cents per point. However, even with this large discount, the value you can extract from these points is usually less than the cost.

Rapid Rewards members also have the option to transfer points to other members. However, this is also typically a bad idea. Southwest charges a fee of $5 per 500 points transferred (1 cent per point).

How to Redeem Rapid Rewards Points

Now that we’ve covered all of the different ways that you can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points, let’s discuss the different ways that you can redeem those points. Not all redemption methods offer the same value per point, so it’s important to consider this before spending your hard-earned Southwest points.

Flying with Southwest Airlines

The most obvious way to redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points is to book flights on Southwest Airlines. To book a Southwest flight with points, you can simply go to the Southwest Airlines homepage, log in to your account and then search for a flight as you normally would for a cash flight. However, you need to make sure that you click the “Show fares in points” check box.

Then, you’ll be able to see the price of each available Southwest flight in points.

Before March 2025, all Southwest flights offered a similar value per point. However, now, the value you can get from Southwest flight redemptions is much more variable. According to a press release from Southwest Airlines, “Flights with lower demand will have lower redemption rates than they did, and flights with high peak demand may have higher redemption rates than they did. Some flights will have the same or a similar redemption rate that they did previously.”

Thus, it’s now more difficult to predict the value you’ll get when redeeming Rapid Rewards points for flights. Generally, flight redemptions will offer a value between 1.1 and 1.7 cents per point. For instance, here are the cash prices of the flights from the example above:

In this case, the redemption value of all of the award flights in Basic, Choice and Choice Extra was about 1.3 cents per point and the redemption value of the flights in Choice Preferred was about 1.4 cents per point.

Southwest Airlines also gives you the option to book flights with Cash + Points if you don’t have enough points to cover the entire cost of your flight. However, you usually need to have a minimum of 1,000 points in your account to use this feature. The value per point you’ll get when making Cash + Points purchases is typically less than the value you’d get if you paid 100% with points, so we wouldn’t recommend this payment method.

Hotel Stays Through Southwest Hotels

In addition to earning Southwest points through the Southwest Hotels portal, you can also redeem your points for stays at hotels around the world. To do so, you simply need to visit the Southwest Hotels homepage and click the “Redeem Points” button. Then, you can enter your destination, travel dates and number of guests and click the “Search” button.

You’ll then be shown a list of results that match your search and their respective prices in Southwest points. Unfortunately, redeeming points through Southwest Hotels yields a very poor value per point.

For example, we found a two-night stay at The Westin New York Grand Central for 120,300 points.

If you were to book this same stay with cash instead of points on the same nights, it would cost you $858.

Thus, this redemption would give you a very low value of about 0.7 cents per point. This is the value you can expect from nearly every redemption available through Southwest Hotels. And, considering that you’ll typically get nearly double that value when booking flights with Southwest points, we highly recommend using your points for flights instead of hotels.

Southwest More Rewards

All other ways of redeeming Southwest Rapid Rewards points can be found in the Southwest More Rewards portal. This portal includes gift cards, merchandise, hotel stays, rental cars and exclusive cardmember experiences. Gift cards and travel are two of the main categories.

Gift Cards

One way to redeem your points through the Southwest More Rewards portal is to purchase gift cards. There are gift cards available from a ton of different merchants across many different categories. Unfortunately, all of these gift card redemptions offer very poor value per point.

For example, as you can see above, you can get a $100 Dave & Buster’s gift card for 18,800 points. That’s a value of about 0.5 cents per point. All of the other redemptions shown above offer the same or even worse value per point.

In general, redeeming Southwest points for gift cards is an awful way to use your points, and we don’t recommend it.

Travel

Through the Southwest More Rewards portal, you can also redeem your points for other types of travel, including rental cars, experiences, transportation (such as private transfer and chauffeurs), cruises and travel insurance. Unfortunately, these types of redemptions don’t offer very good value per point either.

For instance, we found a rental car offer from Thrifty at Denver International Airport (DEN) for 7 days for 53,297 points.

A similar rental on the same dates with the same pick-up and drop-off location through Thrifty’s website would cost you about $323.

Thus, this car rental redemption would give you a value of about 0.6 cents per point, which is very poor. This is similar to the value that you’ll get from most of these other travel redemptions available through the Southwest More Rewards portal.

Once again, since you can get double this value or more by redeeming Southwest points for flights, we recommend saving your points for flight redemptions.

Do Rapid Rewards Points Expire?

Rapid Rewards points don’t expire as long as your account is kept open. If you choose to close your Rapid Rewards account, then your points will be forfeited. Other than that, there is no time period in which your points will expire.

The Bottom Line

In 2025, Southwest Airlines made a lot of disappointing changes to its policies and its frequent flyer program that left customers altogether worse off. The airline now charges for checked baggage, significantly reduced the points-earning rates on most Southwest flight fares and shifted to assigned seating. So, while Southwest was once beloved among many travelers for putting the consumer first and doing things differently, it seems they’ve now fallen in line with the rest of the airline industry (at the expense of their customers).

Nevertheless, there’s still some value to be found in the Southwest Rapid Rewards program. If you’re flying on Southwest, you can’t credit your flight to any other frequent flyer program, so you may as well earn Rapid Rewards points. These points can later be redeemed for flights at a rate of about 1.2 to 1.6 cents per point.

Southwest A-List elite status is fairly easy to earn and provides some decent benefits, such as bonus points on flights and free checked bags (even though free checked bags used to be guaranteed for all passengers). And, of course, the Southwest Companion Pass is still intact. This perk allows you to take a companion on any Southwest flight nearly free of charge, and it’s one of the only things left to love about Southwest and its Rapid Rewards program.