# Verdict on new Southwest Rapids Reward Program?



## jerseygirl (Jan 6, 2011)

First impression:  I think I'm going to like it!

Wondering what others think ... and please don't make me go to flyertalk .... they're really mean over there!

http://www.southwest.com/newRR/homeFlash.do


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## djs (Jan 6, 2011)

jerseygirl said:


> First impression:  I think I'm going to like it!
> 
> Wondering what others think ... and please don't make me go to flyertalk .... they're really mean over there!
> 
> http://www.southwest.com/newRR/homeFlash.do



Perhaps you could go to "Bidding for Good" and after asking there make sure you mention that you have no intention of using their links for any booking (not that they're even the proper site for a question like this)   

Seriously though, it looks like it's going to be a good change with no points expiring.  Haven't delved too deeply into it, but it also looks like it is going to be similar to JetBlue in where points are based on your fare and not on distance traveled.


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## pointsjunkie (Jan 6, 2011)

so far i love it. i just got a companion pass 1/6/11 date which would normally expire 1/6/12 but they extended it until 12/31/2012. to me that's almost an entire year extension.

i think for short trips it is going to be great.

we will see.


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## littlestar (Jan 6, 2011)

I think I'll like it.  I wonder what will happen with Airtran awards (I guess they're still being taken over by Southwest)?  I've got some Airtran credits, too.


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## jerseygirl (Jan 6, 2011)

pointsjunkie said:


> so far i love it. i just got a companion pass 1/6/11 date which would normally expire 1/6/12 but they extended it until 12/31/2012. to me that's almost an entire year extension.
> 
> i think for short trips it is going to be great.
> 
> we will see.



Great deal!!    I saw those extension dates in the presentation.  I can't think of a single other airline (or hotel group) that would have done this.  I love LUV (stock symbol, for those of you too young to know that Southwest once called itself the "Love Airline" and was the Hooters of airlines!).


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## jerseygirl (Jan 6, 2011)

djs said:


> Perhaps you could go to "Bidding for Good" and after asking there make sure you mention that you have no intention of using their links for any booking (not that they're even the proper site for a question like this)



You mean there's a BB meaner than flyertalk out there?  Oh my -- I didn't think that was possible!!


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## jerseygirl (Jan 6, 2011)

littlestar said:


> I think I'll like it.  I wonder what will happen with Airtran awards (I guess they're still being taken over by Southwest)?  I've got some Airtran credits, too.



I've got a few Airtran credits also.  Very hard for me to ever accumulate enough for a free flight so I generally just use them for upgrades.  But, it will be great if they convert them to the new SW points.


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## djs (Jan 6, 2011)

jerseygirl said:


> You mean there's a BB meaner than flyertalk out there?  Oh my -- I didn't think that was possible!!



As long as you remember that Orlando is actually spelled "MCO" and Chicago "ORD" with half credit for spelling it "MDW" you're fine; oh and just don't ask something that another poster asked in 1989, because you should have used the search feature to find it.


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Jan 6, 2011)

Hmm .. hadn't seen this. No, I think I don't like it. Before, 16 one way trips earned a round trip reward. Plus credit card points added in too. We always use the cheapest fares (duh?) and it looks like we get 6 points per 100 dollars on Wanna Get Away fares (the cheapest web fares), but then it takes 60 to equal that. I think I'm not being clear, but you buy and get a small amount of credit and need 10X that to purchase that amount of credit towards free flights. If you fly longer distances then it would seem better to you. We fly shorter distances, cheaper flights and "Wanna Get Away" fares, so many of SW rapid rewards values are diminished for us. Unfortunate, because we are into a bash of having to fly to a wedding in Seattle at Easter and to Oakland for DS graduation in May. At least we were able to use our remaining rewards for an upcoming trip to Florida.
Liz


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## Dori (Jan 7, 2011)

I just redeemed some Choice Privileges points to top me up so I now have a RR free flight. From what I read on flyertalk today (spent about an hour reading posts), it seems that for flyers like me, it isn't very good.  Sort of like RCI's new rollout, if you are a high roller (huge PTU's in RCI, biz class flyer in SW), you will benefit. Infrequent (two or three times a year) flyers who always purchase Wanna Get Away fares will suffer, as will short haul travelers.

Guess I'll have to pray for bumps!   

Dori


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## mdurette (Jan 8, 2011)

So far I'm happy because my Companion Pass that would have expired in May is now good until December.  That does put a smile on my face!  Still abit confused about CP requalification.  But from what I am reading on flyertalk today it seems like all will work out and I won't lose what I have accumulated for my next CP.

I understand the "get what you pay for" concept.  Buy a cheap flight - get less of an award.  But, when it comes time to go looking for a free flight - the cheaper ones will also cost less points.  So, all seems to be equal.

For points purposes my husband and I use my SW Visa for all purchases.  I have been contemplating switching over to his untill the conversion to top off his RR account and get 16 credits.  

Even more...my 5YO daughter will be 2 credits shy of an award.  I haven't yet determined how to get a kid 2 credits without flying.  Any thoughts?


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Jan 9, 2011)

Dori, what are "Choice Privilige" points? I mostly use AEx Starwood to get travel points and SW no longer is one of their airlines.  I mostly use SW for shorter flights, but we have been able to use our RR for travel to and from Florida. 
Liz


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## John Cummings (Jan 9, 2011)

We don't fly on SWA anymore but we used to be frequent fliers and earned many free rewards tickets. The big difference that I see is that you will no longer be able to get the same award for short flights as long ones. That really worked to our advantage as we flew back and forth between San Jose and San Diego very frequently so we earned our rewards flights on cheap flights. We then used the rewards free tickets for longer flights so we actually received free tickets that were worth more than the cost of our flights to earn them.

That is my understanding of the major difference from the e-mail that SWA sent me.


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## Liz Wolf-Spada (Jan 9, 2011)

John, that is what I see too. And like you, we used, but still use SW for flights that are mostly low cost and short.
Liz


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## Dori (Jan 9, 2011)

Liz, Choice Privilege Points are affiliated with the Choice Hotels chain. We often stay at Comfort, Sleep Inn, Quality or Clarion when we travel. When we drive to Buffalo from Toronto to catch a SW flight, we have a Clarion near the airport that gives us a great park-and-fly rate because we have dealt with them for years.
You have the option of trading points from stays for various airlines or you can use them for free nights at one of their hotels. 

Dori


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## brianfox (Feb 24, 2011)

All,  

This is mentioned on Flyertalk, but I think it's important to mention it here as well:

If anyone has unused Rapid Rewards flights, the rules are going to change on March 1 regarding reissuing the awards when they expire.

These are pretty complicated rules, which I'll try to explain, but many people have been sitting on the fence waiting till Feb 28 to reissue expired awards or nearly-expired awards.  DON'T WAIT!!

*I just got an E-mail from SWA warning that accounts would be locked out sometime on 7/27 for changeover to the new system.  So you don't have as long to decide as you thought you had!!*

Now, as to the new changes, you first need to understand how things presently work.

If you have a flight award that is 6 months from expiring (in the future), you can have a replacement award issued for $50 that has an expiration date of 12 months form the date of reissuance.

But even if your award has already expired, as long as it didn't expire more than 24 months ago, you can still reissue the award with a 12 month expiration for $50.

in the soon-to-be-changed system, you could continually reissue awards.

In the new system, here are the changes that will take place on 3/1:

1) Awards that expired as mush as *12* months ago can be reissued for $50.  So, the expiration window decreases from 24 months to 12 months. 

2) After 3/1, any award can be reissued exactly once, regardless of the number of times it was reissued prior to 3/1.

3) The absolute last day rewards flights will be honored is 2/28/14.


Let's look at rule #1:  Say you have an award flight that expired on 1/1/10.  It's now 2/24/11, and the new program starts in a week.  You can reissue the award today (since it's less than 24 months since it expired) and the reissued award would expire on 2/24/12.  But let's say you decide to not reissue, and the new program starts.  Well, you now have an award that expired more than 12 months ago.  The NEW rules say that award is gone - you can't reissue it.  LESSON: If you have an award that expired between 12 and 24 months ago, _reissue it today!_

Now what if you have an award that expired, say, 6 months ago (on 9/1/10).  You MIGHT want to reissue it before 3/1.  Let's say you decide to NOT reissue it now, and wait until you're near the 12 month rule, choosing to reissue it around 8/30/11.  You will be issued an award that expires on 8/30/12.  Since you waited, that was your absolute last opportunity to reissue, so that award will absolutely expire on 8/30/12.  

But let's say you decide to reissue it now.  Your reissued award will expire on 2/24/12.  But according to rule #2, you are allowed to reissue the award exactly one time after the 3/1 program kicks off.  And, according to Rule #1, you are allowed to reissue an award up to 12 months after it expires.  So you could reissue this award as late as 2/24/13 (12 months after it expires).  And THAT new reissued award will have final expiration of 2/24/14.  You'll probably need to re-read this paragraph about a dozen times before it makes sense.

Understand that this stuff is for people who earned their flight but don't know when they will be able to take the trip - but who also don't want to lose the freebie at any cost.  This is where the 2/28/14 final cutoff date comes from.  In actuality, we know that 2/28/14 isn't even accurate, as the system will be shut down on 2/27 for changeover.

This "reissuing awards" stuff is as about as complicated as the Marriott Destination Club.  I've been searching for a few months for a clear definition of what to do with my old awards.  I'm quite certain what I have posted is correct.

In my case, I have three awards that haven't even expired yet - they expire anywhere from 2 months from now to 6 months from now.  As of today, they were all eligible for reissuance.  I chose to reissue ALL of them, even though it only extended expiration dates by a couple of months for one of them.  Why?  We want to take a family Orlando trip for free.  We know it won't be in 2011, but this lets us do it in 2012 or 2013.

1) It lines up all of my expiration dates, so we'd have the best opportunity to travel as a family.
2) It gives us the maximum expiration time, at worst case.  They will now all expire on 2/24/12.  I can reissue them one last time as late as 2/24/13.  

Had I waited till after 3/1, I would have had staggered expiration dates and the latest possible expiration for all three of April of 2012. 

I hope this makes sense.

Remember, you only have a couple of days to reissue those awards before the system turns over!!  Don't wait till the last minute, only to encounter some glitch.  Do it tonight!


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## bogey21 (Feb 24, 2011)

I have flown SW ever since it was a 3 city Texas airline.  Over the years I earned many free flights and continue to like most of their policies.  But this new FF Program.  Ugh.  To me changing their FF Program is similar to  Marriott changing their rental and sales programs.  When Marriott did this I sold my five Marrriott Weeks.  In hindsight it was a blessing.  Now I will cease flying Southwest.  Time will tell how this works out.

George


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