SORRY! Another SW Rewards Question!

[gotdbltrbl]

Hi All ~ I don't know if it's the weather, or my anxiety of how much airplane tickets will cost, but I just can't grasp what I need to do when it's time to buy my airline tickets. I got the SW Credit Card just two months ago, along with the Rapid Rewards. I have about 25,000 points, and we go next April. I have no idea how many points I will need to fly from Maine - Orlando for a family of four. So how do I purchase them? I went on the website to do a "dry run", family of 4, each ticket was like 21,000 points! So I am way over my points level, yet the website said I only would pay at total of $20 for the TSA fee etc. So that doesn't make any sense

Lets say I have enough points for one to two tickets, do I purchase them, then go back into the website and buy two more at cost (you can see both ticket and cost price).? Then I read somewhere that I can buy points, will they let me do that at checkout when the site realizes I don't have enough points?

I know that I could be making way more out of this then I probably should, but I want to have it down so when more flights open I will be ready. I have not flown in YEARS and I honestly do not like to fly at all (another anxiety I am dealing with) so any helpful hints would really be appreciated!!

Thanks!!!!

 

[NYEmomma]

Just bought our tickets using points tonight. Our way down was about 7500 points per ticket, way back home was about 8500 points per ticket.

We were about 11000 points short to get all of our tickets so it gave me an option to purchase points. It was $300 to purchase all 11,000 points, which was about $40 more than it would be to book things separately and pay OOP. DH said to just book them all together to simplify things.

 

[rascalmom]

You can purchase points, but you have to do it in a separate transaction from your ticket purchase. It generally isn't cost effective to purchase points, but if you just need a few in order to take advantage of the amount you have available it would make sense.

Ticket costs vary - popularity of route, distance, time of year/holiday peak periods, so just because the promotion said the value was worth a round trip ticket, doesn't mean it will in every case.

I've become the queen of SW rewards though by using their shopping portal linked through the Rapid Rewards site. If I'm buying something - a tv, a vacuum....most anything that I can order online - I do it through that portal. The rewards points add up that way!

 

[NYEmomma]

Ticket costs vary - popularity of route, distance, time of year/holiday peak periods, so just because the promotion said the value was worth a round trip ticket, doesn't mean it will in every case.

I think it said it was "worth: 2.5 round trip tickets? We ended up getting 3 round trip for our points.

I've become the queen of SW rewards though by using their shopping portal linked through the Rapid Rewards site. If I'm buying something - a tv, a vacuum....most anything that I can order online - I do it through that portal. The rewards points add up that way!

Do you also use ebates? How does the value compare to that if so?

 

[barb969]

Something else to consider is who flies with points. The person with the credit card should pay OP, so the points earned from the flight will be credited to that person's account. Those flying on points do not earn more points.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You can purchase points, but you have to do it in a separate transaction from your ticket purchase. It generally isn't cost effective to purchase points, but if you just need a few in order to take advantage of the amount you have available it would make sense.

Ticket costs vary - popularity of route, distance, time of year/holiday peak periods, so just because the promotion said the value was worth a round trip ticket, doesn't mean it will in every case.

I've become the queen of SW rewards though by using their shopping portal linked through the Rapid Rewards site. If I'm buying something - a tv, a vacuum....most anything that I can order online - I do it through that portal. The rewards points add up that way!

I agree. It's really not worth it to purchase pts. Just try to get as many as you can in the next year. The rest of April will be released at the next expansion date which I have on my calendar as Oct 27 but that may have changed since I wrote it down. So expect to be buying tickets by the end of next Oct. We buy everything on our SW card except our mortgage & dh's truck payment. (and a few utilities that charge a fee to use a cc.) Seriously everything. Even a $5 purchase at the Dollar Store.
I counted 15 payments made on my last statement but whatever it takes to pay in full each month. I make a payment online every couple days.
When dh needs something from Home Depot or Best Buy, we buy through the SW shopping mall and choose in store pick up if he needs it right away.


You can get a rough estimate of what your tickets may cost (in points) now but flights vary even on the same day so don't feel locked into a number.

Whatever flights you can't buy with points, you can buy with your SW visa and get double points. For our summer trip out west in August we got all 4 of us free westbound, but only 2 of us for the return. Still, I only had to buy 2 one way seats. Not bad for a family of 4.
Also on that trip we rented a car through Budget which earns 600 points and the $325 rental fee is considered partner purchase which earns double points so that $325 earns 650 pts on my cc. Same with our hotel in AZ, $800 in hotel means 1600 pts on the cc plus the bonus points paid directly to my RR acct from the hotel.
Sadly, nothing from Disney or Amazon earns points except what goes on the cc.

 

[mdinme]

We are in Maine and as you can see in my signature we are fairly serious disney freaks but not rich enough to pull off the addiction wo trying to find ways to save.

SW is one of them. Use the points smartly, you may have to book two flights with points and the others with cash, youll end up with different rez but so what, youll still be able to sit together. Or maybe book the flight down with points and return cash.

We fly mht-mco everytime. PWM is getting SW direct I think in March, so check there too, but first of all relax...Figure out your dates, try to be flexible, fly midweek and youll save points and/or dollars.

Points vary, lowest is about 8000 for one one-way, so best case is maybe you can book three one way flights. Can the other adult get a SW card? Their best promo is 50k free points, but what we did is i got one used up all pts, cancelled so we didnt pay fee twice, then wife got one, 50k more pts and we kept hers.

If not book three flights and and separate flight for hubby with cash and return all cash on one rez.

What month are you going (youre going to have an awesome time).

 

[mdinme]

Oops I see youre going in April. An expensive month to fly, so yes book early.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Points reservations all have individual conf #'s anyway. Even if I book 2 at once, we'll be on 2 different conf #s. It makes it a pain to check in at T-24 but it's worth it for a free flight.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

You can purchase points, but you have to do it in a separate transaction from your ticket purchase. It generally isn't cost effective to purchase points, but if you just need a few in order to take advantage of the amount you have available it would make sense.

Ticket costs vary - popularity of route, distance, time of year/holiday peak periods, so just because the promotion said the value was worth a round trip ticket, doesn't mean it will in every case.

I've become the queen of SW rewards though by using their shopping portal linked through the Rapid Rewards site. If I'm buying something - a tv, a vacuum....most anything that I can order online - I do it through that portal. The rewards points add up that way!

NO you do not have to do it in two transactions. If you are trying to purchase tickets and don't have enough points during the check out process you will be prompted about not having enough points. Then you will be offered the chance to purchase more points. Follow the steps to buy the points then you will be able to complete the purchase all in one transaction. Just did it last month.

 

[jimandami]

I agree. It's really not worth it to purchase pts. Just try to get as many as you can in the next year. The rest of April will be released at the next expansion date which I have on my calendar as Oct 27 but that may have changed since I wrote it down. So expect to be buying tickets by the end of next Oct. We buy everything on our SW card except our mortgage & dh's truck payment. (and a few utilities that charge a fee to use a cc.) Seriously everything. Even a $5 purchase at the Dollar Store.
I counted 15 payments made on my last statement but whatever it takes to pay in full each month. I make a payment online every couple days.
When dh needs something from Home Depot or Best Buy, we buy through the SW shopping mall and choose in store pick up if he needs it right away.


You can get a rough estimate of what your tickets may cost (in points) now but flights vary even on the same day so don't feel locked into a number.

Whatever flights you can't buy with points, you can buy with your SW visa and get double points. For our summer trip out west in August we got all 4 of us free westbound, but only 2 of us for the return. Still, I only had to buy 2 one way seats. Not bad for a family of 4.
Also on that trip we rented a car through Budget which earns 600 points and the $325 rental fee is considered partner purchase which earns double points so that $325 earns 650 pts on my cc. Same with our hotel in AZ, $800 in hotel means 1600 pts on the cc plus the bonus points paid directly to my RR acct from the hotel.
Sadly, nothing from Disney or Amazon earns points except what goes on the cc.

I do believe they have changed it to Nov 10

 

[msmama]

SW was having a points sale that I thought went through this week, so check that out. Like someone else said, it probably is not cost effective if you need a lot of them but it may be worth checking out anyway (I am very close on points, by my estimation so spent the $50 to get 250 more pts).

Also, if your dates are flexable, you may have more luck finding less expensive flights. Sometimes moving by just a day can save you considerably.

I'm in the same boat as you, waiting for May flights to open. Originally I'd heard early next week, but then I just read somewhere else that they'd been pushed back another week or two until the beginning of November.

A couple other things to note with SW - once your flight is booked, keep checking back. If the flights go down in price you can get $/pts back (or rebook and get it back). However, if you are flying spring break, you might get what you get.

Good luck!!

 

[JessM]

I would go check out the prices for President's week, it may give you an idea of what ticket prices are going to look like for April break. President's week is another pretty popular week to fly from New England. SW is great in that you can look at the price of the ticket and the points required while shopping around for flights.

Flying at such a busy time you will probably only get one round trip flight for 25,000 points, you may be able to book a one way ticket as well if you get lucky and book early.

I live in the Portland area and I sometimes end up driving to Manchester because they have a ton more SW options that are often cheaper. They also have direct flights to MCO. I would check out both airports when you are ready to book!

I agree with everyone else, I wouldn't buy extra points. You'll have a separate reservation for the person using the points but it's not that big of a deal.

Also, I would shop around with Jet Blue, Delta and United out of Portland. You may have better luck buying 4 tickets with them, SW has been pretty pricey out of Portland!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

The 35% bonus point sale ended on Oct 19.

 

[KKB]

The only "inconvenience" is that you will have to check in both transactions separately 24 hours ahead. Guess I'd rather save the $40 as an earlier poster said...

I wouldn't buy points unless I was super close & buying them was considerably cheaper than the 1 way I couldn't get.

BTW, while they will reimburse the points (& the $ you paid for the Fed fee) they will only give you a credit if you have to change or cancel a paid for flight. You must travel within one year of the original purchase (or it can be extended one year but you lose $100 for this transaction)

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

If you have more than one smart phone simply log in separately on each device about 15 minutes before the 24 hr mark. then on the 24 hr mark you will be ready to check everyone in at once. That is what we do and it works fine.

I prefer to book with points that way if the price goes down I am not left with funds that have to be used within a year. Or if I have to cancel the points go back into my acct and no worry about spending the travel funds within a year.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I do believe they have changed it to Nov 10

Thanks
When I wrote it on my calendar, we were planning to fly down Apr 7 but they had released up to Apr 6 and fares were decent so we decided to fly down a day earlier. (3 of us on points! yay!)
Then since we're flying home from Ft. Lauderdale and SW doesn't offer many non-stops to Philly, we opted to fly USAirways home.

 

[KKB]

OK, I THOUGHT I had this right (and maybe I still do) but cannot find a firm answer on SWA site...

I have to FLY within 1 year of the original purchase date of the ticket to use the funds, right?

Curious as DD has $200 in funds as I rebooked her using the companion pass when I got it, and DS also does as he couldn't go with us last month--but I bought them May 5th & I don't see them needing to travel between now & then. We can always take the $100 year extension and at least save $100 each.

Thanks!

 

[kamik86]

The only "inconvenience" is that you will have to check in both transactions separately 24 hours ahead. Guess I'd rather save the $40 as an earlier poster said...

Actually there is even less of an inconvenience as buying two tickets on points even from the SAME rapid rewards account will give you two different confirmation numbers. So if you have to buy one ticket on points and pay for another one there is no reason not to do them as two separate transactions.

 

[jimandami]

OK, I THOUGHT I had this right (and maybe I still do) but cannot find a firm answer on SWA site... I have to FLY within 1 year of the original purchase date of the ticket to use the funds, right? Curious as DD has $200 in funds as I rebooked her using the companion pass when I got it, and DS also does as he couldn't go with us last month--but I bought them May 5th & I don't see them needing to travel between now & then. We can always take the $100 year extension and at least save $100 each. Thanks!

Yes, it is one year from original purchase date.