Rapid Rewards

Southwest ties earning to the fare a member buys. Basic fares earn 2 points per dollar of base fare. Choice earns 6, Choice Preferred earns 10 and Choice Extra earns 14, so the top fare pays seven times the points of the bottom one. A-List members add a 25% bonus on every qualifying flight, and A-List Preferred members add 100%. On a Cash + Points booking, only the share of the base fare paid in dollars earns. Members also earn on the Chase cards and with hotel, car, shopping and dining partners. Getaways by Southwest vacation bookings earn as well.

Redemption follows the same logic. The points needed for a reward flight move with the cash fare, so when fares go on sale the points price drops too. Cash + Points, which started on April 22, 2024, lets a member pay part of a fare in cash and part in points. The More Rewards catalog takes points for gift cards, merchandise, hotel stays and experiences. Points do not expire. Members can buy points in blocks of 500, from a first purchase of 2,000 up to 60,000 a day. Bought, gifted and transferred points never count toward status.

A-List takes 20 one-way qualifying flights or 35,000 tier qualifying points in a calendar year. A-List Preferred takes 40 flights or 70,000 points. Status lasts for the rest of the year it is earned and all of the next year. A-List members board in Group 1, check one bag free and can pick a Preferred seat at booking on flights with assigned seats. A-List Preferred members board before Group 1, check two bags free and can choose Extra Legroom seats at booking. Both tiers get free same-day standby.

The Companion Pass sits above both tiers. A member qualifies by flying 100 one-way qualifying flights or earning 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. The pass then runs for the rest of that year and the whole next year. The named companion flies free of airline charges and pays only taxes and fees, from $5.60 one-way. Card spending counts toward the pass, and each cardmember gets a 10,000-point boost toward it every year.

Chase issues the co-brand cards. The three consumer cards cost $99, $149 and $229 a year, and each lets the cardmember and up to 8 others on the same booking check a first bag free. The cards also feed status: every $5,000 spent earns 1,500 to 2,500 tier qualifying points, set by the card. Southwest plans its first airport lounges for late 2027 in Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Honolulu and Nashville. Access will come through a new premium Chase card due in 2027.

Southwest has made the fare ladder and the earn ladder the same thing. Bags, seat choice and boarding order now sit inside fares, tiers and cards, and each layer gives a traveler a reason to buy up or carry the card. Two features sit outside that ladder: points that never expire, and a Companion Pass that card spending counts toward. A Basic buyer and a Choice Extra buyer on the same flight leave with a 7 to 1 gap in points, which tells the member plainly which fare Southwest wants to sell.