Southwest rewards help

[imamicki2]

I need 2 points to get a free ticket. My son has points I could use if allowed. We are going to Florida in June and would need four roundtrip tickets. Can I use his points with my points and get a free ticket for myself and then just buy three other tickets for the rest of my family? How would I do this? Anyone do this before? Maybe I should just call. I would like to use my points before they expire. Now that I think of it, if I combine my husbands and my other sons, that may be another free ticket?? Is this allowed?

 

[DonnaL]

I don't believe you can combine Rapid Rewards points. However, if you have an American Express card and get membership rewards on that, you can use membership rewards to buy 1 RR point. I think it takes 3,000 membership rewards to buy 1 RR point. I plan on doing this later this year for DH and myself since we have almost enough RR points and will be only be maybe 2 short each. I think there is a rule, though that you can only deposit the AMEX rewards into your own or spouses RR account. Not sure exactly how it reads.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

is the way to go! Only 1500 points per Southwest credit!

Also, if you are just short a credit or two, I would rent a cheap car a couples of times for a day with a Southwest partner. I have also (this is somewhat embarrassing), purchased $29 tickets to Indy and flew there and back within a couple of hours to get my credits needed......

 

[NotUrsula]

I have also (this is somewhat embarrassing), purchased $29 tickets to Indy and flew there and back within a couple of hours to get my credits needed

LOL. That's a mileage run, and a simple r/t isn't embarassing at all. You should see some of the MR routes people recommend over on Flyertalk. We're talking people who go entire continents out of their way to pick up points, and often never set foot outside security at their destination airports.

One other thing the OP could do is to apply for a SWA Visa card, make one purchase on it, and then cancel it at the end of the first month if she doesn't want another CC. There is a bonus of *I think* 4 credits for signing up and making a first purchase, and that purchase can be any amount, so you could buy a latte from Starbucks and get it.

Obviously, getting the card and cancelling is a one-time trick. FWIW, We find that having a SWA Visa is the best way to take ourselves over the top when we are "just that close" to a ticket. We just make sure to run all our expenses (gas, groceries, dry cleaning, etc.) through the account for a couple of months; not carrying any balance, of course.

 

[jctwizzer]

To answer your question; No.

 

[gypsydoodlebug]

No –– you can't combine them, as others have said.

I just earned my fourth free ticket in two years. I DO travel a lot for work, but the Visa Southwest Rewards card does help a lot. DH just got his first free ticket and all he needed was two more points, too. He got the card, used it and it pushed him over pretty quickly. I like the card a lot.

Also, if you haven't installed DING! on your computer, I think you get two credits for installing it and leaving it on for 30 days or more. DING! is now available for MAC users, too. Just go to www.southwest.com and download it there.

 

[DonnaL]

chicagodisneyfan,

you are correct.....previously it was 1500 membership rewards for 1 RR credit, however, not sure when they changed it. I checked in January....intending to do it and for some reason neglected it. When I checked about three weeks ago the price had gone up to 3000 MR for 1 RR credit!!! So, sometime in February they changed it!!!!

 

[wdwfan1]

I just checked the AMEX website. 1500 points = 1 Southwest credit.

 

[imamicki2]

Don't want to get credit cards. Thanks anyway. I did install Ding. I don't recall seeing anything about getting free credits for doing so. Was it on their website? I guess with us flying more, we will get the free rewards, I was just hoping to make it for this trip.

 

[DonnaL]

wdwfan1,

I just rechecked the AMEX website again and I'm still getting 3,000 rewards points = 1 RR credit. The SW RR website still says 1,500 points = 1 RR credit, but, AMEX gives you a calculator and shows 3,000 as 1 credit. I'm going to call both SW and AMEX tomorrow to clarify since I plan on doing this within the next few weeks.

 

[wdwfan1]

I went into the membership rewards site. Maybe the offer is different for different types of cards?

 

[DonnaL]

wdwfan1,

I spent 45 minutes on the phone today with AMEX customer service. You are right in so far as different point amounts for different cards. However, my complaint is nowhere on the AMEX Membership Rewards site does it state different cards have different ratios in so far as redemption values. The only screen there is any reference to ratio values is on the actual screen used for redemption. I called SW customer service and was told the exchange value is still 1,500 Membership Rewards = 1 Rapid Reward point. They knew nothing about 3,000 MR = 1 RR point. When I then spoke with AMEX customer service I asked what happens to the other 1,500 points. She told me AMEX keeps them!!! I plan to go another step with this since I feel AMEX isn't being quite up front in advertising the MR program by not pointing out on the enrollment page that different cards have different ratios assigned to them. I did tell the rep today I felt it bordered on false advertising. I don't have a problem with the ratio differences, but, I do have a problem with the fact that even the partner, in this case, SW, is under the assumption that a Membership Reward holds the same value for every customer trying to redeem their MR for Rapid Rewards credit.