Southwest Rapid Rewards has just introduced a new option for redeeming points, but don’t get too excited. This was first rolled out on a limited basis a couple of weeks ago, but has now been expanded to all Rapid Rewards members, so we have more information on the value (or lack thereof) that this affords.
In this post:
Southwest’s new Cash + Points redemption option
Southwest Rapid Rewards is a straightforward, revenue based frequent flyer program. You typically need a certain number of points toward each dollar of airfare, and it doesn’t matter which flight or fare you’re redeeming toward. For example, typically each Rapid Rewards point gets you around 1.2-1.4 cents of value toward the cost of a Southwest ticket.
The catch is that under Southwest’s program up until this point, you’ve needed to have enough points for the entire redemption, so you couldn’t redeem a small number of points plus cash toward a ticket. That has finally changed, as Southwest has introduced Cash + Points, whereby you can redeem a combination of cash and points toward a flight (as the name suggests!).
This is now available to all Rapid Rewards members, so you should see this when searching for a flight while logged into your Rapid Rewards account. Here’s how this works:
- Just go through the process of making a cash booking for a Southwest ticket while logged into your Rapid Rewards account
- When you get to the booking page, you should see the option to use the Cash + Points feature
- You’ll be given five different combinations of cash and points that you can redeem toward a ticket; in some cases redemption options will start at just 1,000 points
Below is a picture of what the booking process looks like when using Cash + Points.
Below is a video about the new concept.
Why Southwest Cash + Points probably isn’t worth it
The concept of Cash + Points is great, since it allows you to redeem your points toward the cost of a flight, even if you don’t have enough to redeem for the entire thing. This is useful for those who only fly Southwest occasionally, since it means the Rapid Rewards points that you accrue can score you a discount.
There are two major catches with Southwest’s new Cash + Points concept:
- You don’t get a whole lot of value per point; when you outright redeem for a Rapid Rewards award flight, each point gets you over 1.2 cents toward the cost of a Southwest ticket, while with Cash + Points you’re typically getting around 0.6 cents of value per point, which is roughly a 50% reduction in value
- Cash + Points bookings don’t earn Rapid Rewards points, and don’t earn qualifying points toward A-List, A-List Preferred, or Companion Pass, even for the portion of ticket paid for with cash; so you’re being rewarded a lot less for these tickets
Keep in mind that Southwest Rapid Rewards points don’t expire, so I’d recommend continuing to accrue points and then redeeming when you have enough for an award ticket, so that you can get the most value for your points.
Bottom line
Southwest has introduced Cash + Points, whereby you can redeem points to partially pay for the cost of a ticket. The catch is that you don’t get nearly as much value per point as you would when redeeming outright. On top of that, you don’t even earn Rapid Rewards points for the portion of the ticket paid with cash. While I suppose more options are a good thing, this is something I’d recommend shying away from.
What do you make of Southwest’s new Cash + Points concept?
Points + Cash is probably the worst of all options. For example, Lufthansa Group in this case has rendered points almost worthless. They advertise it aggressively every time I make a booking, but it`s like throwing points away.
Usually not just in this instance is it a bad deal for points + money