Southwest Rapid Rewards

The Highlights

Southwest airlines carries the most passengers in North America.

• Their points are among the easiest to earn, plus they have solid value.
• They’re partnered with Chase Ultimate Rewards, our favorite point partner ecosystem.
• Southwest is moving to reserved seating in early 2026 and now charges for bags, two features that once made them unique.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards aren’t the most glamorous, but they’re the utility points that just work.

What to Know About This Point System

Southwest is perhaps the most loved and hated points program.

It’s loved because of their Companion Pass and the sheer number of free flights you can earn with Southwest cards and Chase Ultimate Rewards transfers. We’ve booked 8 round trip flights with the bonus of just two cards.

It's hated by some because they don’t like the cattle boarding process and the lack of business or first class. Those shortcoming aside -- if your goal is to get as many free domestic flights from point A to point B as possible, Southwest is tough to beat.

If you have earned the Southwest Companion Pass, this is also one of the highest values of Chase Ultimate Rewards partner transfers.

Check out our full article on How to Earth the Southwest Companion Pass here.

How to Redeem

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:

• Standard seat assigned at check-in (after January 27, 2026)
• Last boarding group (Groups 6–8)
• No free checked bag
• No free same-day change or standby
• If you cancel your ticket, it converts to a flight credit that expires in 6 months

Choice:

• Choose a standard seat at the time of booking (after January 27, 2026)
• General boarding group (Groups 6–8)
• No free checked bag
• If you cancel your ticket, it converts to a flight credit that expires in 12 months

Choice Preferred:

• Choose a Preferred seat (or any standard seat) at the time of booking (after January 27, 2026)
• Early general boarding group (Groups 3–5)
• No free checked bag
• Priority lane and express lane included
• If you cancel your ticket, it converts to a flight credit that expires in 12 months

Choice Extra:

• Choose an extra legroom seat at the time of booking (after January 27, 2026)
• Early boarding group (Groups 1–2)
• Two free checked bags
• Priority lane and express lane included
• Premium drink included (on flights 251 miles or more)
• If you cancel your ticket, it converts to a flight credit that expires in 12 months

Note: Starting January 27, 2026, Southwest will move to assigned seating for all customers. The boarding process will change significantly, and Southwest has not yet announced what will happen to Early Bird Check-In. We will update this page as soon as new information is released.

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.

Southwest Companion Pass

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:

• Fly 100 qualifying one-way flights, or
• Earn 135,000 Rapid Rewards points (signup bonus points count, but point transfers do not).

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.

Hotel stays, car rentals, and other options

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.

Visit Southwest Rapid Rewards