If you have any Southwest Rapid Rewards points and plan to travel in the coming weeks, this is a great time to redeem them.
In this post:
Southwest offering 20% off award tickets
Southwest Airlines is offering a 20% discount when you redeem Rapid Rewards points for flights:
- This is valid for bookings made through Thursday, October 20, 2022
- This is valid for travel through Thursday, December 15, 2022
- There are blackout dates of November 18-23, 2022, and November 26-29, 2022
- Use promotion code SAVE20NOW at the time of booking (it should be pre-populated at this link)
Even if you’re not sure you’ll be able to travel, keep in mind that Southwest has no change or cancelation fees, so you can always book a Rapid Rewards ticket now, and then cancel it later. Similarly, if you’ve already booked any travel, you can see if the price hasn’t changed (or has only gone up a bit), in which case it could make sense to rebook.
This is lucrative for a revenue based program
Southwest Rapid Rewards is a revenue based frequent flyer program. This means that the number of points required for a ticket is based on how much a ticket would cost in cash. Because of that, there’s ordinarily not a way to get outsized value with Rapid Rewards points, since the points cost is correlated to the cash cost of a ticket. To be able to redeem Rapid Rewards points for more value is awesome.
For example, take a $173 Wanna Get Away fare from Tampa to Baltimore.
That usually costs 12,229 Rapid Rewards points plus $5.60 in taxes & fees. That gives you a value of 1.37 cents per point, after subtracting the taxes & fees.
Meanwhile during this promotion, it would cost 9,783 Rapid Rewards points plus $5.60. That gives you a value of 1.71 cents per point, after subtracting the taxes & fees.
Suffice it to say that’s a much better value.
Bottom line
If you’re going to be traveling in the coming weeks, then it’s definitely worth considering Southwest’s Rapid Rewards award sale. Usually it’s hard to get outsized value with a revenue based frequent flyer program, so promotions like this can really make a difference.
Will you be taking advantage of this Southwest Rapid Rewards promotion?
Wow, that is a really short window, both for booking and travel.
Nice- i just rebooked a flight i booked 2 days ago which was pricing the same today usimg the promo and save 8000 rapid rewards points! Thanks
I cancelled an award trip and rebooked for 20% discount. Yea.
Are existing reservations eligible?
You'll have to first determine if the pricing has gone down in points (using the discount), cancel existing reservation, then rebook with the 20% discount. If you just try to change existing reservation, it won't apply the 20%.
And remember that early bird boarding is not refundable so if you paid for that, include it in your pricing decision.