Southwest Airlines is considered as the largest low-cost carrier in the world. It also has a frequent-flyer program which is well known by many. The program is known as ‘Rapid Rewards’ and gives users points for flights they travel with the airline company. Many members of this program with Southwest transfer points Policy to others as well.
Points are not only earned by flights but also through spending money in other places that are affiliated with the company. This includes dining, shopping, hotel bookings, etc. The airline company has engaged in multiple partnerships with various entities to help grow its business.
Transfer Points
The airline also has options of donating points or transferring them too. However, this is ideally not recommended. The airline also charges a hefty fee of $5 per 500 points transferred which also discourages passengers from doing so. There is also a daily transfer limit of 60,000 points. These things should be kept in mind for those wanting to transfer Southwest points to others.
Southwest points transfer
Pooling For Families
The airline does not allow Rapid Rewards points pooling. Members may transfer points Southwest has given them to other members but at the cost of a fee. Although they cannot pool Rapid Rewards one member can book flights for another from their account with no extra charges.
How To Transfer Southwest Points?
- One must first log into their account and click on ‘Rapid Rewards’ at the top of the screen. Under ‘Manage’ they must select Buy or Transfer points.
- Then they must pick an appropriate transaction option on the Rapid Rewards Buy, Gift & Transfer page.
- Upon being prompted one ust type in the account number, email address of the person to receive gifted points.
- Once the transaction is complete the points will be deposited into the member’s account. This may take 72 hours to appear in the other person’s account.
Note: Points can’t be transferred without knowing the account number of the recipient.
Points Donation
One can also donate points that they’ve earned to charities. Donations are also included in the daily transfer limit. One may only donate their points to one charity per transaction.
There is also no fee for donating points but an important thing to note is that these transactions are non-reversible. These are important things to remember when a person decides to transfer southwest points to a charity.
Credit Cards
Chase Bank and Southwest Airlines have partnered up to offer several co-branded credit cards. Spending through them can help users increase their ‘Rapid Reward’ points. Its many options include:
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
- Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
Transferring Chase Points To Southwest
People can book flights by transferring Chase Ultimate Reward points to Rapid Rewards. Chase also has the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal. This is a bit underrated as many users are unaware of it as Southwest flights do not appear directly on the website of Chase.
Being able to transfer chase points to Southwest can be useful to those that are members of both. It is also good as one can analyse where they can better redeem their points and then convert them accordingly.
How To Convert Chase Points To Southwest Points
Rapid Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards are partners which makes the process much easier. The rewards are also transferred in a 1:1 ratio. One can transfer in 1,000 point increments.
- Login to the Ultimate Rewards Portal: First log into a Chase account which would have been set up on receiving a Chase card. Then click on Ultimate Reward points and this will take users to the portal.
- Click on “Transfer to Travel Partners”: It can be located by clicking on the drop down menu or clicking on “Earn/Use Points” next to the drop down menu. The link will be under one of these menus.
- Locate Southwest Rapid Rewards: There users will find names of all their travel partners which are divided into two categories that include hotels and airlines. One must scroll through all the airlines until they find Southwest Rapid Rewards and click the transfer points button.
- Enter the Transferable amount: Once they are on the Southwest Rapid Rewards transfer page they will need to enter the name of the traveller they are giving the points to. And also their Rapid Rewards account number too.
- Click Continue: That should finish the process.
Note: One may transfer Southwest points to another person through their chase account but they must be an authorised user on the Chase credit card.
Reasons For Transferring From Chase To Southwest
Points May Be Earned At A Faster Rate
On average the rewards earned with Rapid Rewards are much lower than those earned with Chase Ultimate Rewards. Hence, by converting Chase points to Southwest points one can build up their score a lot quicker. It helps if users check beforehand which has better offers.
More Earning Opportunities
When points are earned through chase they are usually categories like travel or dining. When rewards are earned on rapid rewards it’s usually on brands like Hertz or Adidas.
Offers on brands are a lot more restrictive than acquiring points on everything under a category. Buyers can earn a point for every dollar spent on purchases with Chase cards.
More Convenient To Acquire From Chase
WIth Rapid Rewards one has to scroll through all the deals and hope they are just what is needed. With Chase one can acquire points irrespective of what they buy.
