How To Redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards Points For Maximum Value

I don’t write all that much about the Southwest Rapid Rewards program. It’s a program that many people find to be valuable, though there aren’t that many tricks to getting hugely outsized value, given that it’s a revenue based frequent flyer program.

That being said, not all Rapid Rewards redemptions are created equal, so in this post, I’d like to cover the basics of redeeming Southwest Rapid Rewards points, and talk about how to decide on the best uses of these points.

Southwest Rapid Rewards points are easy to earn

Southwest Rapid Rewards points are super easy to earn, even beyond crediting Southwest flights to the program. For one, Southwest has several lucrative co-branded credit cards, which can help you rack up points quickly. This includes cards like the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card (review) and Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card (review).

On top of that, Southwest Rapid Rewards is transfer partners with Chase Ultimate Rewards, meaning you can transfer over points at a 1:1 ratio from cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (review) and Chase Sapphire Preferred® (review).

Now, a bit later I’ll talk about the value of actually transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest Rapid Rewards, and whether that’s consistently a good deal.

Southwest Rapid Rewards points don’t expire

Southwest Rapid Rewards points don’t expire, regardless of any activity activity. That’s fantastic, since you never have to worry about keeping your account active in order to prevent points from expiring.

Southwest Rapid Rewards awards have no change or cancelation fees

If you’re redeeming Southwest Rapid Rewards points, there are no change or cancelation fees if you need to make changes to your ticket. If you cancel, you can have your points redeposited in your Rapid Rewards account, and can have your taxes and fees refunded. This even includes the carrier’s version of basic economy tickets.

How to redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points

Redeeming Southwest Rapid Rewards points is easy, as you can use them to cover the full cost of a flight. Southwest award flights can be booked directly on Southwest’s website, for any seat on a plane.

Rapid Rewards is a revenue based frequent flyer program, but with a catch. It’s not a program where every point is worth exactly the same amount toward the cost of a ticket. Instead, there’s some variability with redemption values — the differences aren’t massive, but they’re noticeable, and there’s value to being strategic.

Why would Rapid Rewards have varying redemption values? The goal is for the airline to minimize its costs associated with redemptions. To simplify it as much as possible, Southwest wants to incentivize members to redeem for a seat that might otherwise go out empty, rather than the last seat on a flight.

The airline even offers different redemption value depending on which of the four fare bundles you go with. So, how big is the range in redemption values? I just randomly pulled up three different kinds of tickets, in order to give an example of the current value of points, and I’ll look at the cheapest (Basic) and most expensive (Choice Extra) fare type for each flight.

For example, take a one-way flight from Los Angeles (LAX) to Honolulu (HNL):

• A Basic ticket costs $243, or you can pay 21,000 points plus $5.60, giving you a value of 1.12 cents per point
• A Choice Extra ticket costs $433, or you can pay 38,500 points plus $5.60, giving you a value of around 1.11 cents per point

Next, take a one-way flight from Baltimore (BWI) to Las Vegas (LAS):

• A Basic ticket costs $187, or you can pay 15,500 points plus $5.60, giving you a value of 1.17 cents per point
• A Choice Extra ticket costs $441, or you can pay 37,500 points plus $5.60, giving you a value of 1.16 cents per point

Lastly, let’s look at an international itinerary, and take a one-way flight from Tampa (TPA) to Liberia (LIR):

• A Basic ticket costs $200, or you can pay 12,000 points plus $24.21, giving you a value of 1.46 cents per point
• A Choice Extra ticket costs $380, or you can pay 26,000 points plus $24.21, giving you a value of 1.37 cents per point

As you can see, there’s quite a bit of variance in terms of the redemption values you get, as you’re getting somewhere in the range of 1.11 to 1.47 cents per point, so that’s a difference of over 30% in terms of redemption values.

So there’s value in playing around with redemptions and pricing them out, to be sure you can get the best value. Anecdotally, I find that international redemptions often have among the better values, while Hawaii has among the poorer values.

I recommend doing everything within your power to redeem for closer to 1.5 cents per point than 1.0 cents per point. Just in the interest of being thorough, let me address a few other scenarios.

Southwest Cash + Points isn’t a good deal

Southwest Rapid Rewards offers Cash + Points, whereby you can redeem points to partially pay for the cost of a ticket. While that flexibility sounds exciting, I’d highly recommend avoiding this redemption opportunity.

That’s because you get only somewhere around 0.6 cents of value per point when redeeming this way, which is an average of around half the value you get if redeeming outright for a ticket. So if you don’t have enough Rapid Rewards points for an award ticket, just keep accruing them, rather than redeeming them with Cash + Points.

Think twice before making a Chase points transfer

Chase Ultimate Rewards is an incredibly popular points currency, so many people may be tempted to transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to Southwest Rapid Rewards, to pay for tickets that way. I don’t want to suggest that’s a terrible value, though personally I’d think twice about redeeming that way.

Personally, I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.7 cents each, which is intended to be a conservative valuation. When you’re moving points to Rapid Rewards, you’ll consistently get under 1.5 cents of value per point. And in reality, the real value is less than that, since you have to factor in the value of the points you’re forgoing by not booking a revenue ticket.

So I don’t want to say that this is a redemption that should be avoided at all costs. Ultimately if you want to book a certain flight and have points but aren’t willing to pay cash, then I’m not going to tell you it’s a bad redemption. However, if you care about getting as much value per point as possible, there are definitely ways to get a lot more value with your points, whether it’s for first & business class flights on other airlines, or for hotel stays through World of Hyatt.

Don’t redeem Southwest points for gift cards

Southwest Rapid Rewards lets you redeem your points for gift cards with a variety of retailers, but it absolutely isn’t an efficient use of points. You can generally expect that you’ll get somewhere around 0.5 cents of value per Rapid Rewards point, which is well under half of the value that you’d get if redeeming toward flights.

Only consider this if you have a stash of Southwest points, and have decided (for whatever reason) that you’re never flying Southwest again, and don’t even have others you want to redeem your points for.

Don’t redeem Southwest points for hotels & rental cars

Southwest Rapid Rewards also lets you redeem your points for hotel stays and rental cars, and this has dynamic pricing. What’s consistent is that it doesn’t represent a very good value.

For example, take a night at the Aloft Tampa Downtown, where you can redeem 27,100 Rapid Rewards points for your stay, including all taxes and fees.

If you booked this directly through Marriott, the night would cost $211, including all taxes and fees. This doesn’t even account for the fact that there are much lower rates available through Marriott, but I’m just doing an apples-to-apples comparison of the flexible, publicly available rates.

You’re getting well under a cent of value per point here, which compares quite unfavorably to flight redemptions.

Get more value with Southwest Companion Pass

This is more a general tip for maximizing value on Southwest, rather than something specific to points. To get the most value for travel on Southwest, try to earn Companion Pass, which is one of the best deals in travel. With this, you can have a companion fly with you while paying only the taxes and fees, regardless of whether you’re paying cash or redeeming points.

You can largely unlock Companion Pass through credit cards, so there’s lots of potential value to be had here. You’re potentially doubling the value of your Rapid Rewards points, which is pretty awesome.

Bottom line

Southwest Rapid Rewards is a revenue based frequent flyer program, which makes redeeming points relatively simple. The catch is that not all redemptions are created equal, as it’s not like each point gets you a certain amount toward a redemption.

Instead, you’ll find that Rapid Rewards points currently typically get you anywhere from 1.1 to 1.5 cents per point toward a redemption. If at all possible, you’ll want to redeem on the higher end of that spectrum, which might require some trial and error, as well as patience.

There are other ways to redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points, ranging from Cash + Points, to gift cards, to hotels, to rental cars, but they consistently represent poor value.

What’s your take on the best way to redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards points?