Southwest Fast Rewards: 12 straightforward methods to earn factors

Southwest Airlines is a favourite amongst many home U.S. flyers. The airline gives two free checked bags, no cancellation or change charges and a really profitable Companion Pass.

After all, the airline has its personal factors program, too: Southwest Rapid Rewards. You should use these factors to ebook free flights (plus taxes) on any Southwest route with zero blackout dates.

However how do you earn Fast Rewards factors? Let’s dive deep into this system to point out you all of the other ways you may earn Southwest factors by flying, utilizing cobranded credit cards and leveraging your everyday spending.

Earn Fast Rewards factors by flying Southwest

As you’d count on, you may earn Fast Rewards factors by flying on Southwest Airways. The quantity of factors you earn per flight is dependent upon 4 elements: how a lot you paid on your ticket, the fare class you booked (Wanna Get Away, Wanna Get Away Plus, Anytime or Enterprise Choose), your elite status and the fee methodology used.

Fortunately, figuring out what number of factors you may earn for every flight is simple. Here is 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-Checklist and A-Checklist Most well-liked elite members earn bonus factors on each qualifying flight:

• A-Checklist: 25% extra Fast Rewards factors
• A-Checklist Most well-liked: 100% extra Fast Rewards factors

Hypothetically, in case you ebook 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 out elite standing, you’d earn 600 Fast Rewards factors. It is essential to notice that distance is just not an element when incomes Fast Rewards factors.

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In different phrases, in case you 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 may earn for every leg of your journey through the reserving course of. From the search outcomes web page, hover over the flight you are contemplating, and it’ll show the variety of factors you may earn.

Should you’re noticing that the mathematics would not add up primarily based on the numbers above, you are proper. The bottom fare of this ticket is definitely $74.31. Once you multiply that by six (since it is a Wanna Get Away fare), you get 445.86, which Southwest generously rounds as much as 446 factors.

At the moment, Southwest doesn’t have any associate airways. This implies you may 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 wonderful thing about these playing cards is that the welcome bonuses, along with bank card spending, will rely towards the Southwest Companion Cross.

Simply remember that these playing cards are topic to Chase’s 5/24 rule, which means you possible will not be authorised in case you’ve had 5 or extra credit score purposes throughout any financial institution within the final 24 months. Listed here are the playing cards and their present bonuses:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card: Earn a Companion Cross legitimate by Feb. 28, 2025, plus 30,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. It is a limited-time supply that ends March 11.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card: Earn a Companion Cross legitimate by Feb. 28, 2025, plus 30,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. It is a limited-time supply that ends March 11.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card: Earn a Companion Cross legitimate by Feb. 28, 2025, plus 30,000 bonus factors after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening. It is a limited-time supply that ends March 11.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card: Earn 60,000 bonus factors if you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card: Earn 80,000 bonus factors if you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months of account opening.

Should you do not already maintain a Southwest Fast Rewards bank card and have not obtained a brand new cardmember bonus within the final 24 months, you might be eligible for the limited-time supply on the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card or the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card, which all embrace a Companion Cross legitimate by the top of subsequent February.

The supply expires March 11 and isn’t legitimate on enterprise or worker bank cards.

Associated: Comparing the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority, Premier and Plus credit cards

Southwest has one bank card switch associate: Chase Ultimate Rewards. You may switch your Final Rewards factors to Fast Rewards at a 1:1 ratio, and so they typically process instantly.

Whether or not it is best to execute these transfers, nevertheless, is a unique story. TPG currently values Fast Rewards factors at 1.4 cents every, whereas Final Rewards factors are value 2.05 cents apiece. Because of this, in case you switch factors to Southwest, you might sacrifice some worth that might be put towards redemptions like top-tier Hyatt properties or Singapore Airlines business 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:

Do not forget that Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers can redeem their Final Rewards factors at 1.5 cents per level by the Chase travel portal to ebook flights. In the meantime, Sapphire Most well-liked and Ink Enterprise Most well-liked cardholders can redeem at 1.25 cents every.

Associated: From international business class to domestic hops: 6 of the best Chase Ultimate Rewards sweet spots

Switch Southwest factors from Marriott

You may also switch resort factors from a wide range of packages to Southwest Fast Rewards. Most of those supply 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 may get a 5,000-point bonus if you switch 60,000 Marriott factors at a time. Because of this, 60,000 Marriott factors will get you 25,000 Southwest factors, bettering the efficient switch ratio to 2.4:1.

Associated: Best Marriott credit cards

Southwest’s online shopping portal is a good way to earn factors on on-line purchases. Similar to Rapid Rewards Dining, the factors earned by Rapid Rewards Shopping are separate from the factors earned together with your bank card.

Simply join a Fast Rewards Buying account, discover a collaborating service provider and click on by the hyperlink earlier than buying. You will mechanically earn bonus factors in your buy simply by beginning on the portal as a substitute of going to the product owner’s web site instantly.

Every service provider awards a unique variety of factors per greenback spent. These charges steadily fluctuate, so examine Fast Rewards Buying usually. You may additionally come throughout promotions and different offers that supply additional factors, particularly across the holidays.

Nevertheless, do not forget that Southwest is not the one airline with a shopping portal. You may simply examine incomes charges with buying portals by using an aggregator like Cashback Monitor. We advocate doing this to make sure you’re all the time getting the most effective return in your on-line purchases.

Southwest additionally companions with varied different retailers, akin to 1-800-Flowers.com, Laithwaites residence supply wine, Harry & David presents and Home Chef meal kits. Fast Rewards incomes charges fluctuate throughout these partnerships.

Associated: TPG reader credit card question: Which credit card should I use in shopping portals?

Fast Rewards Eating

Most airline loyalty packages have dining rewards initiatives, and Southwest Fast Rewards isn’t any exception. By Fast Rewards Eating, you may earn additional factors 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 simply use for restaurant purchases. You may hyperlink as much as 12 bank cards to Fast Rewards Eating.

Everytime you swipe a kind of playing cards at a collaborating restaurant, you may earn additional Fast Rewards factors. These come along with the factors you earn together with your bank card, so make certain to make use of one of many best credit cards for dining for the most effective return in your purchases.

Should you do make the most of the Fast Rewards Eating program, you may positively need to enroll in e mail notifications. By enrolling in e mail notifications, you’ll earn 3 factors per greenback spent at collaborating eating places. Should you choose out of receiving emails, your incomes fee is reduce to 1 level per $2 spent.

Whereas privateness is essential, agreeing to obtain a number of emails every week is a small value to pay for substantial bonus factors, particularly in case you order takeout fairly a bit or cost reimbursable eating bills to your bank card.

Moreover, Southwest members earn tiered bonuses.

• New Member Bonus: Earn 500 bonus factors if you spend $25 or extra at a collaborating restaurant and full a web based evaluation throughout the first 30 days of becoming a member of.
• First Step Bonus: Earn 1,500 bonus factors from eating and finishing opinions and get rewarded with a further 500 bonus factors (one time solely).
• Thank You Bonus: Earn 300 bonus factors after each 1,000 factors accrued from eating and finishing opinions (ongoing, different bonus factors excluded).

You will additionally earn 10 bonus factors for each restaurant evaluation you submit.

Associated: 12 restaurant loyalty programs that are worth joining

Southwest Fast Rewards resort reserving web site

Have a resort keep developing? You should use Southwest’s resort reserving portal to earn additional factors on every keep. The quantity of factors varies by the value of your keep. Typically, the costlier a room is, the extra factors you may earn. Southwest states that rooms can earn as much as a whopping 10,000 factors per night time. Often, although, you may earn a lot much less.

For instance, I carried out a check seek for a one-night keep on the Membership Quarters Resort Embarcadero in San Francisco. The room prices $270 for an evening in June and awards 270 Fast Rewards factors per night time. Whereas that is definitely higher than nothing, it is a small variety of factors.

You’ll, nevertheless, earn extra factors on stays at choose “Fast Rewards Factors Plus properties” by the portal. Southwest states on its web site that bookings made with Factors Plus properties can lock in “hundreds of factors” with an incomes fee of no less than 1 level per greenback spent, which is what you earn on most resort bookings within the portal.

Take into account that you most likely will not earn conventional resort factors on these bookings, nor will you earn credit towards elite standing qualification. Even when you have already got elite standing with the resort in query, you might not get pleasure from the usual on-property perks because you booked through a third-party website. Thus, you may must determine whether or not you worth your resort factors and elite standing advantages greater than the bonus Fast Rewards factors you possibly can earn.

Southwest additionally companions with a number of resort packages, akin to Marriott and Hyatt, so vacationers can earn Fast Rewards factors as a substitute of resort factors.

Associated: 6 reasons to avoid booking through an online travel agency

Earn factors by rental automobile bookings

Southwest additionally companions with all the foremost rental automobile firms, permitting you to earn Fast Rewards factors on automobile leases. You may usually earn 600 Fast Rewards factors by reserving your rental automobile by Southwest. Some companions even will let you request factors on previous bookings.

Earn factors on utility invoice funds

Southwest companions with two utility firms: NRG Home and Reliant Energy. Fast Rewards members with NRG Dwelling electrical service in Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey or Pennsylvania in addition to members with Reliant Vitality service in Texas can earn factors by paying payments.

Incomes potential varies relying on service, plan and the way a lot you pay in your invoice.

Earn factors by taking surveys

You may earn Fast Rewards factors by filling out fast surveys by Rewards for Opinions and e-Rewards. Every survey earns a unique quantity of factors, and the surveys fluctuate in size, so this is usually a good option to kill time whereas incomes additional factors. After you enroll and full your first survey inside three months, you may earn 500 bonus factors. Simply remember that factors can take as much as six weeks to submit to your account.

Associated: Here’s how you can easily earn points and miles by completing surveys

Earn factors for emergency medical subscriptions

Southwest companions with Emergency Assistance Plus, which gives 24-hour emergency medical help to its subscribers after they journey. The service gives a number of packages and varied charges for members and their households.

Southwest gives energetic Emergency Help Plus members 1,400 Fast Rewards bonus factors the primary 12 months they be part of and yearly they renew with the service.

Purchase Southwest factors

Should you want Southwest factors quick and transferring is not an choice, shopping for Southwest factors is likely to be a worthwhile option to high up for a particular award. The usual fee — 3 cents per level — is greater than twice TPG’s valuation.

We do not advocate shopping for at this value underneath most circumstances. That mentioned, the airline steadily runs promotions that supply higher offers. For instance, the airline is presently running a promotion the place you should buy factors with as much as a forty five% bonus by Feb. 23. This brings the acquisition fee all the way down to as little as 1.65 cents per level. Since TPG values Fast Rewards factors at 1.4 cents, the acquisition fee continues to be barely increased than the worth, however the supply might be value going after in case you have a particular flight redemption in thoughts.

Associated: Southwest Rapid Rewards: Complete guide to earning, redeeming and maximizing points

Although Rapid Rewards points are worth less in 2024, they’re nonetheless straightforward to earn. Along with incomes factors from flying, you too can earn them by allocating your on a regular basis spending to the right bank cards or by buying and eating with choose retailers. Utilizing a mix of all these strategies could enable you stockpile Fast Rewards factors rapidly.