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Southwest Airways is a favourite amongst many home U.S. flyers. The airline provides free checked luggage, operates a ton of obscure routes and makes journey simpler for households with complimentary precedence boarding. After all, the airline has its personal factors program, too: Fast Rewards. You need to use these factors to e book free flights (plus taxes) on any Southwest route with zero blackout dates. The airline additionally provides the Companion Cross, one of the crucial profitable perks within the frequent flyer world.
However how do you earn Fast Rewards factors? Nicely, that’s what we’re going to reply on this article. We’ll dive deep into this system and present you all of the alternative ways you may earn Southwest factors by flying, utilizing cobranded bank cards and leveraging your on a regular basis purchases.
Earn factors by flying Southwest
As you’d anticipate, you may earn Fast Rewards factors by flying on Southwest Airways. The quantity of factors you earn per flight is determined by three issues: how a lot you paid to your ticket, the fare class you booked (Wanna Get Away, Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime or Enterprise Choose) and your elite standing.
Fortunately, figuring out what number of factors you’ll earn for every flight is simple. Right here’s how a lot every Southwest Airways reserving class earns earlier than tax:
- Wanna Get Away: 6 factors per greenback.
- Wanna Get Away Plus: 8 factors per greenback.
- Anytime: 10 factors per greenback.
- Enterprise Choose: 12 factors per greenback.
Moreover, Southwest A-Listing and A-Listing Most well-liked elite members earn further factors on their flights:
- A-Listing: 25% extra Fast Rewards factors.
- A-Listing Most well-liked: 100% extra Fast Rewards factors.
So, if you happen to e book a one-way Wanna Get Away flight from Chicago’s Halfway Worldwide Airport (MDW) to New York Metropolis’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) for $100 earlier than taxes with no elite standing, you’d earn 600 Fast Rewards factors. It’s necessary to notice that distance just isn’t an element when incomes Fast Rewards factors.
In different phrases, if you happen to paid that very same quantity for a flight from MDW to St. Louis Lambert Worldwide Airport (STL) or one from Baltimore/Washington Worldwide Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) to Oakland Worldwide Airport (OAK) in California, you’d earn the identical 600 factors.
Southwest additionally makes it very clear what number of factors you’ll earn for every leg of your journey in the course of the reserving course of. From the search outcomes web page, hover over the flight you’re contemplating and it’ll show the variety of factors you’ll earn:
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Should you’re noticing that the maths doesn’t add up primarily based on the numbers above, you’re proper. The bottom fare of this ticket is definitely $127.80. Whenever you multiply that by six (because it’s a Wanna Get Away fare), you get 766.8, which Southwest generously rounds as much as 767 factors.
Right now, Southwest doesn’t have any companion airways. This implies which you could solely earn Fast Rewards factors by flying on Southwest Airways-operated flights.
Earn factors with a Southwest bank card
Southwest Airways has a number of cobranded bank cards you should utilize to earn Fast Rewards factors. The beauty of these playing cards is that the welcome bonuses, along with bank card spending, will rely in the direction of the Southwest Companion Cross.
Simply remember that these playing cards are topic to Chase’s 5/24 rule, which means you probably received’t be authorized if you happen to’ve had 5 or extra credit score purposes throughout any financial institution within the final 24 months. Listed below are the playing cards and their present bonuses:
- Southwest Fast Rewards Precedence Credit score Card: Earn 60,000 bonus factors plus a 30% off promo code after spending $3,000 on purchases inside the first three months of account opening.
- Southwest Fast Rewards Premier Credit score Card: Earn 60,000 bonus factors plus a 30% off promo code after spending $3,000 on purchases inside the first three months of account opening.
- Southwest Fast Rewards Plus Credit score Card: Earn 60,000 bonus factors plus a 30% off promo code after spending $3,000 on purchases inside the first three months of account opening.
- Southwest Fast Rewards Premier Enterprise Credit score Card: Earn 60,000 factors while you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
- Southwest Fast Rewards Efficiency Enterprise Credit score Card: Earn 80,000 bonus factors while you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
Associated: The perfect Southwest Airways bank cards
Switch Southwest factors from Chase Final Rewards
Southwest has one bank card switch companion: Chase Final Rewards. You possibly can switch your Final Rewards factors to Fast Rewards at a 1:1 ratio, which usually course of immediately.
Whether or not you must execute these transfers, nonetheless, is a unique story. TPG at the moment values Fast Rewards factors at 1.5 cents every, whereas Final Rewards factors are value 2 cents apiece. In consequence, if you happen to switch factors to Southwest, you could sacrifice some worth that might be put towards redemptions like top-tier Hyatt properties or Singapore Airways enterprise class.
If you wish to give your Final Rewards stability a lift for a Southwest switch, listed here are some playing cards that supply good sign-up bonuses in the mean time:
Fast be aware: Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers can redeem their Final Rewards factors at 1.5 cents per level by means of the Chase journey portal to e book flights. In the meantime, Sapphire Most well-liked and Ink Enterprise Most well-liked cardholders can redeem at 1.25 cents every. Sadly, Southwest Airways itineraries aren’t bookable on this method for the reason that portal is powered by Expedia and Southwest doesn’t promote its tickets by means of OTAs.
Associated: From worldwide enterprise class to home hops: 6 of the perfect Chase Final Rewards candy spots
Switch Southwest factors from Marriott
It’s also possible to switch lodge factors from quite a lot of packages to Southwest Fast Rewards. Most of those provide a comparatively poor worth proposition, however there may be one exception to this rule: Marriott Bonvoy.
Marriott factors switch to Southwest Fast Rewards at a 3:1 ratio. Plus, you’ll get a 5,000-point bonus while you switch 60,000 Marriott factors at a time. In consequence, 60,000 Marriott factors will get you 25,000 Southwest factors, bettering the efficient switch ratio to 2.4:1.
Associated: The perfect Marriott bank cards
Earn Southwest factors with companions
Past flying and utilizing bank cards, you may earn Fast Rewards factors by means of lots of your on a regular basis purchases by filling out surveys and even by transferring factors from different loyalty packages. Listed below are some extra methods to earn bonus Fast Rewards factors by means of Southwest’s assorted companions.
Fast Rewards buying portal
Simply join a Fast Rewards Buying account, discover a collaborating service provider and click on by means of the hyperlink earlier than buying. You’ll robotically earn bonus factors in your buy simply by beginning on the portal as a substitute of going to the service provider’s web site immediately.
Every service provider awards a unique variety of factors per greenback spent and these charges incessantly fluctuate, so examine Fast Rewards Buying typically. You might also come throughout promotions and different offers which will offer you further factors, particularly across the holidays.
Nonetheless, keep in mind that Southwest isn’t the one airline with a buying portal. You possibly can simply evaluate incomes charges with buying portals by utilizing an aggregator like CashBackMonitor.com. We advocate doing this to make sure you’re at all times getting the perfect return in your on-line purchases.
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Fast Rewards Eating
Most airline loyalty packages have eating rewards initiatives and Southwest Fast Rewards is not any exception. By way of Southwest Fast Rewards Eating, you may earn further miles at collaborating eating places. To do that, all you need to do is join an account and hyperlink your favourite bank card(s) that you just use for restaurant purchases.
Everytime you swipe a kind of playing cards at a collaborating restaurant, you’ll earn further Fast Rewards factors. These come along with the miles you earn together with your bank card, so be sure to make use of among the best bank cards for eating for the perfect return in your purchases.
Should you do make the most of the Fast Rewards Eating program, you’ll undoubtedly need to join e mail notifications. By enrolling in e mail notifications, you’ll earn 3 factors per greenback spent at collaborating eating places. Should you decide out of receiving emails, your incomes charge is minimize to 1 level per two {dollars} spent. Moreover, Southwest members earn tiered bonuses:
- New member: Earn 500 bonus factors while you spend $25 at a collaborating restaurant and full an internet evaluation inside the first 30 days of becoming a member of.
- First step: 500 bonus factors after incomes 1,500 factors from eating and finishing critiques (one time solely).
- Thank You: 300 bonus factors after each 1,000 factors accrued from eating and finishing critiques (ongoing).
Whereas privateness is necessary, agreeing to obtain a number of emails every week is a small value to pay for substantial bonus factors, particularly if you happen to order takeout fairly a bit or cost reimbursable eating bills to your bank card.
Associated: 12 restaurant loyalty packages which can be value becoming a member of
Southwest Fast Rewards lodge reserving web site
Have a lodge keep arising? Use Southwest’s lodge reserving portal to earn further factors on every keep. The quantity of factors varies by the worth of your keep. Typically, the costlier a room is, the extra factors you’ll earn. Southwest states that rooms can earn as much as a whopping 10,000 factors per evening. Often, although, you’ll earn a lot much less.
For instance, I carried out a take a look at seek for a one-night keep on the Membership Quarters Lodge Embarcadero in San Francisco. The room prices $260 for an evening in August and awards 260 Fast Rewards factors per evening. Whereas that is definitely higher than nothing, it’s a small variety of miles.
You’ll, nonetheless, earn extra factors on “Southwest Airways Factors Plus properties” by means of the portal. The InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco is one such lodge. This property prices $313 for a one-night keep in August, which yields 7,000 Fast Rewards factors. That is value $105 primarily based on TPG’s valuations — a a lot better return.
Word: You in all probability received’t earn conventional lodge factors on these bookings, nor will you earn credit towards elite standing qualification. Even when you have already got elite standing with the lodge in query, you could not get pleasure from the usual on-property perks because you booked by means of a third-party web site. Thus, you’ll must resolve whether or not you worth your lodge factors and elite standing advantages greater than the bonus Fast Rewards factors you might earn.
Southwest additionally companions with a number of lodge packages, so vacationers can earn Fast Rewards factors as a substitute of lodge factors.
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Earn factors by means of rental automobile bookings
Southwest additionally companions with all the main rental automobile firms, permitting you to earn Fast Rewards factors. You possibly can usually earn 600 Fast Rewards factors by reserving your rental automobile by means of Southwest or requesting factors at check-in. Some companions even permit you to request factors on previous bookings.
Earn factors by taking surveys
Lastly, you may earn Fast Rewards factors by filling out fast surveys by means of Rewards for Opinions and E-Rewards. Every survey earns a unique quantity of factors and the size of the surveys fluctuate, so this generally is a good method to kill time whereas incomes further factors. After you enroll and full your first survey inside three months, you’ll earn 500 bonus factors. Simply remember that factors can take as much as six weeks to put up to your account.
Associated: Earn factors and miles for finishing surveys
Purchase Southwest factors
Should you want Southwest factors quick and transferring isn’t an possibility, shopping for Southwest factors is perhaps a worthwhile method to high up for a particular award. The usual charge — 3 cents per level — is greater than twice TPG’s valuation. We don’t advocate shopping for at this value beneath most circumstances.
That stated, the airline incessantly runs promotions that supply higher offers. For instance, the airline is at the moment working a focused promotion the place you should purchase factors with as much as a 50% low cost by means of June 20, 2023. This brings the acquisition charge all the way down to 1.5 cents per level. That’s an ideal match for our valuation, which might make it value it to high off your account to your subsequent flight.
Associated: Present purchase factors and miles promotions
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Extra reporting by Kyle Olsen and Christina Ly.
