SWA Rapid Rewards and AT A+ Rewards...

[kristenrice]

I am stumped and need advice.

DH and I are looking to consolidate our credit cards. We pay them off each month (with one exception) but we just have too many. With SWA coming to Grand Rapids (eventually), I would like to get the SWA Visa since they are offering the 50,000 points again. DH and I are taking a trip the first week of November to WDW (without the kids) and we need flights.

Here's my dilemmas...

We live 3 hours from Detroit and 3 hours from Chicago. I loathe the idea of driving that far and flying on the same day. I don't want to chance traffic, mechanical or weather delays that could cause us to miss a flight. So, for all intents and purposes, Detroit and Chicago are absolutely the last resort. AirTran currently flies non-stop out of GRR which is only a 15-minute drive from our house. I would most definitely prefer to fly with them.

So, if I get the 50,000 points and convert 38,400 of them into the 32 A+ credits I'd need for 2 r/t flights, what happens if there are no seats available to book with credits? Our dates are Nov 7-12 and they are not flexible. I won't be able to book for at least 3-4 more months because I haven't even opened the account yet. If I convert the SWA rewards into A+ credits and then cannot find availability, can I convert them back and then fly SWA out of Chicago/Detroit?

On a slightly related note...I've always purchased airfare within weeks of the fares being released. The idea of waiting until 2-3 months out is completely foreign (and terrifying) to me. I need reassurance that the flights will most likely be available (on either SWA or AT) when I am able to book them. Since I can use the points, the price really should not be an issue, right?

I'm so confused! But this deal would really help us because we can consolidate our cards as we planned anyways and get two (or more!) free flights. On top of that, I already have the $600 that I'd planned on spending on airfare so I can use that to pay down our one credit card that has a balance.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[JennSaint]

I am stumped and need advice.

DH and I are looking to consolidate our credit cards. We pay them off each month (with one exception) but we just have too many. With SWA coming to Grand Rapids (eventually), I would like to get the SWA Visa since they are offering the 50,000 points again. DH and I are taking a trip the first week of November to WDW (without the kids) and we need flights.

Here's my dilemmas...

We live 3 hours from Detroit and 3 hours from Chicago. I loathe the idea of driving that far and flying on the same day. I don't want to chance traffic, mechanical or weather delays that could cause us to miss a flight. So, for all intents and purposes, Detroit and Chicago are absolutely the last resort. AirTran currently flies non-stop out of GRR which is only a 15-minute drive from our house. I would most definitely prefer to fly with them.

So, if I get the 50,000 points and convert 38,400 of them into the 32 A+ credits I'd need for 2 r/t flights, what happens if there are no seats available to book with credits? Our dates are Nov 7-12 and they are not flexible. I won't be able to book for at least 3-4 more months because I haven't even opened the account yet. If I convert the SWA rewards into A+ credits and then cannot find availability, can I convert them back and then fly SWA out of Chicago/Detroit?

On a slightly related note...I've always purchased airfare within weeks of the fares being released. The idea of waiting until 2-3 months out is completely foreign (and terrifying) to me. I need reassurance that the flights will most likely be available (on either SWA or AT) when I am able to book them. Since I can use the points, the price really should not be an issue, right?

I'm so confused! But this deal would really help us because we can consolidate our cards as we planned anyways and get two (or more!) free flights. On top of that, I already have the $600 that I'd planned on spending on airfare so I can use that to pay down our one credit card that has a balance.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

If you are willing to pay 16 credits per person one way to fly business then you can almost be sure there will be flights available. Flights available at 8 credits are not always available. You can check before you even transfer your Southwest points into your Airtran account which I recommend you do. Because if you want to transfer Airtran credits back to Southwest you can only get a standard award and those have limited availabity where as the Southwest points are more versatile.
Hope this helps!

 

[kristenrice]

You can check before you even transfer your Southwest points into your Airtran account which I recommend you do.
Hope this helps!

How fast are the transferred credits available? Is it "instant"? This information is very helpful, thank you.

 

[JennSaint]

Yes they transfer usually instantly but they don't guarantee that. But in my experience they have transferred right away.
Also you both should sign up for the Visa card and you'll get double the amount of points. That way if you do have to use 16 credits each way per person you'll have them.
We did both the Southwest and Airtran credit cards.

 

[kristenrice]

Yes they transfer usually instantly but they don't guarantee that. But in my experience they have transferred right away.
Also you both should sign up for the Visa card and you'll get double the amount of points. That way if you do have to use 16 credits each way per person you'll have them.
We did both the Southwest and Airtran credit cards.

I thought about signing us both up, but we won't have $4K to put on the cards over the next 3 months. I have a balance transfer that I am going to do after 2 months so the $2K will have to be put on and paid off before I do that. Then, the card won't be used until the balance transfer is paid off.

 

[keishashadow]

Yes they transfer usually instantly but they don't guarantee that. But in my experience they have transferred right away.
Also you both should sign up for the Visa card and you'll get double the amount of points. That way if you do have to use 16 credits each way per person you'll have them.
We did both the Southwest and Airtran credit cards.

i've transferred points both ways and they showed up immediately.

note that actually trying to redeem 8 credits for a flight on AT can be challenging. Typically, week day NS and connecting or random connecting weekend flights roll out within a day or two of schedule release for dates i've checked. fyi, I was thrilled to be able to score two seats to Cancun this year.
OP yes, the last i checked you can transfer SWA points to AT rewards and back again. It's a complicated process that involves several steps. Detailed, consice info can be found on flyertalk via a search.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

i've transferred points both ways and they showed up immediately.

note that actually trying to redeem 8 credits for a flight on AT can be challenging. Typically, week day NS and connecting or random connecting weekend flights roll out within a day or two of schedule release for dates i've checked. fyi, I was thrilled to be able to score two seats to Cancun this year.
OP yes, the last i checked you can transfer SWA points to AT rewards and back again. It's a complicated process that involves several steps. Detailed, consice info can be found on flyertalk via a search.

Here's the story: I have a Standard Award on SWA, from the old system. It expires in Nov. It's currently booked as 2 one ways for a 10am return. Their website says I can transfer each one way award to 8 points on AT. (There's a later AT return flight that's available to book via SWA but I'd rather not have to deal with checking in online & choosing seats at T-24 while on vacation. If I convert the standard award to A+ rewards, I'm then able to choose seats for us & kids and not worry about it while in WDW.)

My question is, if for some reason, we can't all switch to this later flight, would I be able to switch it back to a SWA standard award? There's 4 of us and I'm currently seeing availability for at least 5 passengers when I'm logged into my A+ account.
Also can points be moved back & forth? Since we're all traveling on awards or points, we have 4 reservations so I'm afraid that mid-change, it will no longer be available for all of our family.

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks.

 

[DebbieB]

I just noticed this is an old thread. Southwest now has non-stops from GRR and has flights Nov 7 to 12.

 

[kristenrice]

I just noticed this is an old thread. Southwest now has non-stops from GRR and has flights Nov 7 to 12.

Yup!...and I already booked them on the day they were released. It used up less than 19,000 points for BOTH tickets. At that rate, I have enough points for FOUR more round-trip tickets.