I am slowly losing my mind...

[kristin08]

My sister and I leave for Disney World in 18 days...and I have not booked our flights! I got a Southwest credit card with the promise of 2 free flights after first use. I didn't read the fine print and the points will not be available for use until 6-8 weeks from the date of the first purchase. I am now at 7 weeks! Still no points!!! I have been waiting and waiting. I don't want to pay money for a flight and then have the points deposit the next day or something! Flights are slowly creeping up...but are not awful yet. Anyone have any experience with the Southwest card and point usage? My first statement closed on 9/1 and still no points. HELP!

 

[vallamen]

Mine was in my Rapids Rewards account a few days after my 1st statement was issued/closed. I called Chase before my statement closed to find out when the points usually are deposited into a RR account. Cust. service agent said a few days after 1st closing date. She was right. I don't know if it is coincidence or a computer/system update thing, but mine were deposited first thing in the morning. I was stalking my account several times a day as I was trying to book at the low prices before they went up. It was a bit of a hassle to deal with buy, we got lucky and were able to get $89 flights each way, so we actually had enough points to buy all four of our roundtrip tickets and still have some points left. Needless to say, it was worth the hassle! good luck and hopefully your points will be there for you tomorrow morning!

Val.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

I would call Southwest's reservation line (1-800-I-FLY-SWA) and ask if you can be given more insight. That's the number that you would need to call anyway to purchase your sister's flight with your points, so it might be worth it to call now. (My biggest frusteration with using my two free flights was not being able to get the return flight that I wanted. Tickets were available for purchase, but not for points/vouchers for free flights. You may want to have a few different flight times in mind, just in case you face the same issue.) I'm sure everything will be fine, but I can definitely understand your fright! Have a great trip!!!

 

[LoveToDisney]

I see that my 9/1 statement posted my RR points in my account today, sometime on the 3rd so hopefully you have been pleasantly surprised and have your points by now. I don't have any special points coming....it was just my regular points from purchases. Best wishes!

 

[Anal Annie]

This thread just triggered lights, bells & whistles in my head!! Don't mean to hijack the thread but can I ask a dumb question about this offer? We've received them in the mail before but I've always pitched them. First, is this for 2 round-trip flights or 2 one-way flights? Second, is there an expiration time to use them? Like 6 months or 1 year or something? We want to go to Hawaii next summer to the new DVC resort at Aulani + throw in a stop at DL but I have been fretting over the airfare cost from the East coast. If we could get 2 free flights to CA on SW (esp. if they're round trip) then we could probably afford the flight for our DS plus round trips on someone else (like Hawaiian Air) between CA & HI. It would certainly be helpful anyway. Just wondered if I ought to reconsider this offer the next time we get one.
Thanks!

 

[kristin08]

Sadly still no points. Ugh. I think I will call today and see if they can tell me any more info. I am paranoid that maybe the accounts aren't linked properly or something. I am checking my normal rapid rewards account and was just looking over the online stuff from chase and the paperwork I got in the mail and all it says it account number.... but nothing about a rapid rewards number!

A little more about the card Annie: They were doing a special offer when I got mine for "up to two round trip flights" for free. This means that you get 50,000 rapid rewards points added to your account (apparently not very quickly). The number of points you need will vary for each location, time of flight, etc. A good way to check how many points a flight will be is to put in your dates and all that into the southwest website and then when the prices come up for each way there is a thing you can click to make it show in rewards points instead of dollars (I want to say it is on the top right above the prices). I think the normal card they are offering now is for 25,000 points. If you know you want the points for a specific trip make sure you allow plenty of time! Lesson Learned!!!

 

[emilymad]

My statement closed on 9/1 and the points are in my account. DH's statement also closed 9/1 but his accounts are not posted yet. The only thing that is different is that on Chases's website but statement is available to view but DH can't view his statement yet. We are giving it a few more days.

This week in the mail I did get another offer for this credit card so for those who missed the general sign up be sure to check your junk mail.

The points never expire as long as your Rapid Rewards account doesn't go 24 months with no activity.

The points need to redeem a flight fluctuates with the price so be sure to plan for some wiggle room. The flights we want to book with our points has gone up while we waited for the points to post.

FYI - we fly to Hawaii next week. Roundtrip flights from San Francisco were $445 per person. Flying out of LAX was more expensive for our dates. The flights had been over $600 a person for months but we finally caught a sale. Hope that helps for budgeting purposes!

 

[Anal Annie]

My statement closed on 9/1 and the points are in my account. DH's statement also closed 9/1 but his accounts are not posted yet. The only thing that is different is that on Chases's website but statement is available to view but DH can't view his statement yet. We are giving it a few more days.

This week in the mail I did get another offer for this credit card so for those who missed the general sign up be sure to check your junk mail.

The points never expire as long as your Rapid Rewards account doesn't go 24 months with no activity.

The points need to redeem a flight fluctuates with the price so be sure to plan for some wiggle room. The flights we want to book with our points has gone up while we waited for the points to post.

FYI - we fly to Hawaii next week. Roundtrip flights from San Francisco were $445 per person. Flying out of LAX was more expensive for our dates. The flights had been over $600 a person for months but we finally caught a sale. Hope that helps for budgeting purposes!

WOW - that's CHEAP for roundtrip!! I had looked on kayak & at Hawaiian Airlines (but for summer dates) and was looking at that much ONE WAY! What airline are you using??

 

[kristin08]

You guys are never going to believe this...

I called the Southwest number and they transfered me to the Chase number. I asked the guy to make sure it was the same rapid rewards account (because I couldn't find any number on any paperwork). He said, nope that's not the number I have this number has 50000+ points in it that were deposited at the end of July. My thoughts... JULY!!! I asked if he could link the points and he said that Southwest would have to do that. So I called them and she said that it could not be done over the phone...super. She then offered to just book my flights over the phone since I couldn't access the points online. All in all I finally have my flights. Ended up costing more points and $140 out of pocket because she couldn't use the web only fare. At this point I was just so happy to not have to shell out $600+ for two flights to Orlando!!! Bring on vacation!

 

[emilymad]

WOW - that's CHEAP for roundtrip!! I had looked on kayak & at Hawaiian Airlines (but for summer dates) and was looking at that much ONE WAY! What airline are you using??

It is on Hawaiian Air. I had looked for months on the Bing fare tracker and they kept telling me to wait. The airfare finally dropped at the end of July for our September trip so I guess it was sort of last minute. The airfarewatchdog blog is a good source for airfare sales.

 

[NOLA_Tink]

You guys are never going to believe this...

I called the Southwest number and they transfered me to the Chase number. I asked the guy to make sure it was the same rapid rewards account (because I couldn't find any number on any paperwork). He said, nope that's not the number I have this number has 50000+ points in it that were deposited at the end of July. My thoughts... JULY!!! I asked if he could link the points and he said that Southwest would have to do that. So I called them and she said that it could not be done over the phone...super. She then offered to just book my flights over the phone since I couldn't access the points online. All in all I finally have my flights. Ended up costing more points and $140 out of pocket because she couldn't use the web only fare. At this point I was just so happy to not have to shell out $600+ for two flights to Orlando!!! Bring on vacation!

I'm happy to hear that it mostly worked out for you! Booking my flight always makes me mega-excited b/c then I feel like the trip is finalized! I hope you have an amazing vacation!

 

[alaska8]

Check out Alaska Airlines for frequent fare sales from west coast to Hawaii