#7 Among Airlines
Point Value
1.3 ¢
Program Score
7.4
Southwest airlines carries the most passengers in North America.
The quickest and most efficient way to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points is to fly on Southwest or open and spend on one of their co-branded credit cards. There are other ways to earn Southwest points, but they are not efficient ways of building points.
When you pay for flights on Southwest, you earn points based on the fare you book and whether you hold status with the airline.
Fare class:
Status:
Southwest offers five co-branded credit cards you can use to earn Rapid Rewards points. There are three personal cards and two business cards. Each card comes with different signup bonuses, perks, and annual fees.
Southwest has historically offered elevated welcome bonuses a few times per year and occasionally includes its popular Companion Pass as part of the offer (often in February or March). Be on the lookout for these if you want Rapid Rewards points or the Companion Pass. Note that the Companion Pass earned through a signup bonus is usually only valid for the remainder of the calendar year, while earning it the traditional way gives you the rest of the year and the full following year.
Southwest Airlines is not part of an airline alliance, but they have recently partnered with several international airlines. To earn points on partners, your booking must be issued on a single ticket through that partner's website, and you will only earn points based on the Southwest portion of the flight.
Southwest lets you transfer Rapid Rewards points to another member for $5 per 500 points, with a minimum transfer of 2,000 points.
Because Southwest points generally provide a relatively fixed redemption value, paying to transfer them rarely makes sense. Transfers are usually only worthwhile when someone needs a small number of additional points for a specific booking.
The following bonuses are helpful for award flights or working toward status, but we don’t recommend putting significant extra spend on these cards for that purpose alone.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier
Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority
Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business
Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business
Special Offers Related to Southwest Rapid Rewards. Click the arrow to see more.
Update: Additional Chase Q3 spending offers and card-specific registration links have surfaced. Offers vary widely by card and account, so it may be worth trying both the card-specific links and Chase’s general MyBonus page even if you were not notified directly.
If you have Chase cards, it's worth checking for targeted third-quarter spending offers, as there are some strong bonuses available on select cards. Here are a few of the best offers we've seen:
Offers are valid on eligible purchases from July 1 through September 30, 2026. You can check here to see if you've been targeted. Our friends over at Frequent Miler have compiled a thorough list of all offers and links to each.
Southwest is targeting some cardholders with a 30% bonus on all Rapid Rewards points earned from purchases made between July 1 and September 30, 2026. You must spend at least $3,000 during the promotion and register here to be eligible. Bonus points are capped at 20,000 and count toward Companion Pass qualification, but not A-List or A-List Preferred status. Keep in mind this is a 30% bonus on the points you earn from spending, not 30x points. For example, spending $3,000 on a 1x purchase would earn 3,000 base points plus 900 bonus points. This isn't a promotion we'd shift spending for, but it's a nice bonus if you were already planning to use your Southwest card during the promotion period.
The elevated public welcome offers on all three Southwest personal credit cards have ended, but they're still available through referral links, which we've updated on each card page. Earn 90,000 points on the Rapid Rewards Priority card after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months, 85,000 points on the Premier card after spending $2,000, or 80,000 points on the Plus card after spending just $1,000. Each offer is 30,000 points higher than the current public offer.
Southwest is offering double Rapid Rewards points on eligible flights booked by June 15, 2026. Registration is required, and travel must be completed by November 18, 2026. You can log in and register here. We wouldn't book a trip solely for this promotion, but if you already have Southwest travel planned, it's worth registering. If you have an existing reservation during the promo period, it may also be worth checking the price and rebooking if it's the same or has gone down.
The best way to redeem your Rapid Rewards points is to use them for Southwest flights. The process is simple. Enter your flight details and click “Show fare in points” to see redemption options. If you forget to click it on the search page, you can toggle between cash and points on the results page. You can also view results by week or by month.
Fare classes:
Southwest has four different fare classes:
Basic:
Choice:
Choice Preferred:
Choice Extra:
A Note on Sweet Spots
Southwest is unique, and the nature of its rewards program makes it difficult to find traditional sweet spots like you can with other airlines. Southwest does not have an award chart, and since they only recently started partnering with other airlines, there is no partner award chart either. Rapid Rewards redemptions are directly tied to the cash price of the ticket, which is dynamically priced.
There are pros and cons to this system. There are no classic sweet spot redemptions, but there is consistency. And there are still a good deal of high value redemptions you can find with consistency. With Southwest, you’re generally going to get between 1.1 and 1.5 cents per point on your award bookings.
The Companion Pass is the most talked about perk of flying Southwest. If you earn the Companion Pass, one person can fly with you for free (they only pay taxes and fees) on all your Southwest flights.
You can earn the Companion Pass in one of two ways in a calendar year:
Once you complete either requirement, you earn the Companion Pass for the rest of that year and the entire following calendar year.
The easiest way to earn the Companion Pass is by hitting the signup bonuses on one personal and one business Southwest credit card. If you time it well and earn it in January or February, the pass can be good for nearly two full calendar years.
Like most airlines, Southwest has its own hotel booking engine, and like most, this is not the best use of your points. You’ll get much better value by using Rapid Rewards to book flights. The same advice applies to car rentals. You can book them through Southwest with points, but the value is not great.
Discover your points' highest-value redemption options. Use the filters to find the optimal sweet spot for your next trip.
Southwest’s Low Fare Calendar lets you compare cash and points prices across a full month. Use it first when your dates are flexible.
With assigned seating and paid checked bags, your fare, Southwest card, and status benefits now matter much more. Compare what is included before booking, especially if you need seat selection, checked bags, or same-day flexibility.
Southwest releases flights in batches and usually does not open its schedule as far out as most major airlines. If your dates are not available yet, check the next schedule extension before assuming the route is not operating.
We have historically ranked Southwest as one of the top airline loyalty programs because it’s very user friendly. Points are easy to earn and redeem, with award flights tied to cash prices. While you won’t get the same sweet-spot, outsized value redemptions as with other airlines, there’s something to be said for consistency, which Southwest offers. There are no blackout dates, no complicated award charts, and no partner searches. Cancellations and changes are easy to make and don’t come with extra fees, but they are more limited than they once were. The simplicity makes it a favorite for many travelers.
The flying experience is where Southwest has changed the most. Open seating and free checked bags for everyone are gone, and the new fare bundles make seat selection, boarding position, bag benefits, same-day flexibility, and credit card or elite status more important than they used to be. Southwest is still a strong fit for Companion Pass holders, frequent Southwest flyers, cardholders, A-List members, and travelers who can recheck prices after booking. It is no longer the automatic default airline of choice it once was for Southwest loyalists who valued the uniqueness compared to every other airline.
Southwest’s international footprint is also starting to broaden through interline partnerships, but Rapid Rewards is still primarily a program for Southwest-operated flights. These partnerships may make Southwest more useful for connecting to longer-haul international travel, but they do not yet turn Rapid Rewards into a true partner-award program. We still recommend Southwest for the right traveler, but our recommendation is now more conditional than it used to be.
Southwest offers two tiers of elite status: A-List and A-List Preferred. The Companion Pass can feel like another level of status, but the Pass is the only benefit you receive (a big one, though).
Southwest has an easy-to-understand path to elite status. Points can be earned from Qualifying Flights, which are flights operated by Southwest Airlines and paid for entirely with cash, Southwest vouchers, gift cards, flight credits, or cash+points (only the cash portion counts when you use cash+points). The following are excluded from earning:
Tier qualifying points are earned from revenue flights booked through Southwest and from spending on a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card:
Here are the two elite status levels, what it takes to reach each, and the benefits you'll receive.
As long as your Rapid Rewards loyalty account remains open, your points are safe. Any points you earn from a credit card go directly into your Rapid Rewards account, so canceling a card won’t affect your points balance. Since there’s no fee to be a Rapid Rewards member, there’s no reason to ever close your account.
You can. It’s actually better to book a flight for someone else with your points than to transfer them. Southwest charges a fee to transfer points, and it can add up quickly. Booking an award ticket for another passenger costs nothing extra and avoids those fees.
You can sometimes find Southwest award flights for as little as 3,000–4,000 points, especially during one of their frequent sales. These are usually short-haul routes in off-peak seasons, like St. Louis to Chicago, but when you find them, they can be an incredible deal.
Yes. You can easily add your Rapid Rewards number after booking. Just go to “Manage Reservations” in the Southwest app or website and add your number to the traveler details. You can also call customer service and have them add it for you.
Choice Extra fares and A-List Preferred members get two free checked bags. A-List members and Southwest credit card holders get their first checked bag free. All other travelers must pay for checked bags.
Not in the traditional sense. With the elimination of open seating, Southwest reconfigured their planes to offer Extra Legroom Seats, which have more space in the front of the plane. But they are more like premium economy than business or first class.
Tracking Points & Transfer Options
