Southwest CC 50,000 points deal

[erin1715]

Has anyone signed up for this deal? I'm REALLY tempted to do this, as it would give my husband and I 2 free flights. My only concern is, do I have to use the points by a certain date? I would like to go in 2012, but may not go anywhere until 2013. It would be a shame to open this card only to lose the points.

 

[mom2brooke76]

I know that the regular Rapid Reward points don't expire now, so I would think that the same would go for these. Maybe you could call Southwest and check.

 

[carolsherman]

Who are the credits good for only the person who signs up for the card or are they transferrable to another person.

I signed up a few years ago and cancelled therefore I assume I cannot do it again but if I sign hubby up can he and I use the rewards????

 

[katallo]

Just curious, what is the annual fee?

 

[mom2brooke76]

Just curious, what is the annual fee?

$99 for the 50,000 point card. I think the 35,000 point one is about $75.

 

[candy0730]

Per the Sw site RR FAQs:

Do the points I earn expire?

Points do not have an expiration date and will continue to remain active and valid as long as you have at least one qualifying earning activity every 24 months.

Can I book travel with points for other Passengers (not me)?

Yes. The Rapid Rewards Member who owns the account from which the points will be used will need to make the reservation for the person traveling. Simply get the destination, travel dates, and flight times from the person who will be using your points and log in to your account at southwest.com (password required) to book the reward travel. Reward travel is subject to the government-imposed September 11th Security Fee of up to $10 per roundtrip, which must be paid with a credit card.

The offer on the SW site is for 50,000 points $99 annual fee and 6,000 Anniversary bonus points every year.
My husband received an offer in the mail for 50,000 points, $69 annual fee but only 3000 Anniversary bonus points every year.

 

[erin1715]

Thank you for the info. Would you all say this is a pretty good deal? I think I'm going to do it, but I'm not too excited about opening a credit card and paying the annual fee. I suppose after I buy my flights I can close the credit card, but that might not be for at least a year or more.

 

[apress]

Dumb question, but is it 50,000 pts or 2 free flights. When I go to the website it looks like I could get 4 round trip flights for 50,000. So could I get the four flights or only two.

 

[candy0730]

Dumb question, but is it 50,000 pts or 2 free flights. When I go to the website it looks like I could get 4 round trip flights for 50,000. So could I get the four flights or only two.

SW will give you 50,000 points to use anyway you want. In their offer they give an example of what the 50,000 points can equate to get 50,000 points. That's over $800 in Wanna Get Away Fares or two $400 Roundtrip Flights.

SW has 3 types of fares - WGA, Anytime and Business Select. The WGA fares are generally the least expensive which means you will have to use less points to purchase the fare.
For example a WGA fare is $139 or 8340 points, Anytime is $266 or 26,600 points and BS is $281 or 33,720 points. So if you purchase WGA fares you will be able to get 2 rountrip tickets (or more) with 50,000 points but if the flight you want to book only has Anytime or BS fares available it will cost you alot more in points and you may not even be able to get 1 RT ticket.

Another example is if the WGA fare is $76 that will only cost 4,560 points so you can fly 10 segments (5 RT) and still not use all 50,000 points.

 

[maciec]

I signed up for this deal because I needed something to replace my Airtran Visa. My 50k points are sitting in my account. It took about a month for them to post. From everything I have read on Flyertalk.com they said that this is probably the best deal they have ever seen Southwest come out with.

The other thing to be aware of is that you get charged your $99 annual fee on the first bill. I know that some rewards companies wait until the end of the year, but Chase didn't.

 

[candy0730]

I just pulled the trigger and applied for the SW Visa for my husband (I already took advantage of the 2 free flights deal earlier this year). We went with the public offer with the $99 annual fee that includeds 6000 anniversary points. He was instantly approved and should receive his card within 2 weeks.