How to redeem Rapid Rewards points on Southwest?

[jlcd]

I have never used points to book tickets. I need 4 roundtrip and have about 54,000 points. Hoping this will cover 2 tickets. How do I go about doing this? If I buy all 4 at once on line will they let me charge the amt not covered by the points?

TIA

 

[mareed]

Log in to your Rapid Rewards account online and select "points" instead of "dollars" when pricing the flights. You won't be able to combine points and dollars. First, book as many flights as possible with points, and then book the remaining ones with dollars. Note that when using points, you'll end up with a separate confirmation number for each person even if you make the reservation in one transaction. Hope this helps!

 

[Zerosinthecloset]

Log in to your Rapid Rewards account online and select "points" instead of "dollars" when pricing the flights. You won't be able to combine points and dollars. First, book as many flights as possible with points, and then book the remaining ones with dollars. Note that when using points, you'll end up with a separate confirmation number for each person even if you make the reservation in one transaction. Hope this helps!

Or book four one ways, and pay for the return trip. That way you will only have two confirmation numbers.

 

[mareed]

Or book four one ways, and pay for the return trip. That way you will only have two confirmation numbers.

If you book four one-ways using points, you'll have 4 confirmation numbers for those flights. Four one-ways using dollars booked together will have one confirmation number.

 

[jlcd]

So I have to do 2 separate transactions? I was hoping to avoid that beacuse it is Spring Break and the price can literally go up in minutes. May rise between the time I book the first set and the second. Just have to be quick I guess. Hopefully I can get 2 round trips out of my points.

 

[mareed]

So I have to do 2 separate transactions? I was hoping to avoid that beacuse it is Spring Break and the price can literally go up in minutes. May rise between the time I book the first set and the second. Just have to be quick I guess. Hopefully I can get 2 round trips out of my points.

Yes, it will be to be separate transactions because you can't combine points and dollars. If you have 2 pc's available you can do your points on one and the dollars on the other. But don't try to do 2 different browser windows on the same pc because the cookies or whatever SW users will combine them and that will really mess you up! (speaking from experience). Note that the point conversion for the cheapest SW fare is $60, so your 54,000 points is equivalent to $900, which should cover at least 4 one-way tickets as you're expecting. Hopefully you'll get lucky and it will cover more than that for you! Good luck!

 

[Rpsemont]

Also, SWA does give you the option to purchase some additional points. It's not really a cost effective way to do it, but if you were 1000-2000 oints short - it might make sense.