Southwest’s Horrible New Offer – This Clunker Is To Be Avoided
I was just emailed a new Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards offer. It was sent to me via email with the subject: three round trips get you 12,000 points. It appears that it is a targeted offer for certain Rapids Rewards account holders. I was initially a little excited by this offer until I saw the terms. Let’s take a look.
Terms of the Offer
Register between January 22 and March 31, then the next three Anytime or Business Select® round trips you book and fly by March 31, 2020, will get you up to 12,000 bonus points.
HOW IT WORKS:
• Fly one round trip and get 2,000 points
• Fly a second round trip and get 4,000 more points
• Fly a third round trip and get 6,000 more points
Why This Offer Is Terrible
If you didn’t pay close attention you may not realize that Wanna Get Away fares are not included. Those are the only fares that people should book on Southwest unless everything else is sold out. Or unless your company is paying and they don’t care about how much you spend and you want more points I guess. Other than that there is no reason to book Anytime or Business Select fares. I have always laughed seeing those Business Select fares because every seat is the same on Southwest. So you get a (as in one) drink and you get to walk on the plane a little earlier for $200+. Why would anyone buy it? Okay that mini rant is over.
You can’t even use this promo towards the Companion Pass so that option is out. I was thinking that you could pair it up with the 75,000 point personal card increased offers. But the terms say the bonus will not count towards the Companion Pass.
Let’s take a look at the numbers for fun I guess. If you maxed this offer out you would get 12,000 Rapid Rewards points. That is around $170 in value since RR points are worth between 1.4 and 1.5 cents a piece. Three roundtrip flights in Anytime or Business Select will almost certainly cost more than $170 extra versus booking a Wanna Get Away fare.
Final Thoughts
Unless I am missing something or you have a very lenient company booking policy I would avoid this offer. You will end up spending more than the bonus points are worth. Let me know in the comments if you see an angle I am missing.
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DT, thank you for letting everyone know about SW senior fares as I had never heard of them. Unfortunately according to the SW website they were discontinued in December 2019.
I had not heard of them either. Sad to find out they are discontinued too.
I agree the offer is terrible, but Business Select is relatively nice compared to that other one, which I didn’t realize until recently. For myself with a short notice work trip, it was $22 more. Paying for the early bird check would have been $25. The $22 got me A3 boarding, a free drink, and around $14 of extra points. So not really related to this offer, but it can be more valuable than just the free drink you mention above.
If it is only slightly more that wanna get away then I think it can be worth it for sure but I think those instances are rare. For the usual $100-$200 difference each ways I don’t think it is worth it most of the time.
Plenty of reasons this could be good.
Often at the last minute WGA is sold out. Or it’s almost the same as BS/AT. So if flying WN, might as well go for this offer.
Some businesses require flyers to purchase refundable fares, which these are.
BS/AT also yield more WN points/tier points/CP-qualifying points per dollar spent. 12 or 10 vs. 6.
Plus a few more things probably that do not occur to me now.
I just don’t see how most would get enough value to make up the difference in fare. Now if it is the only option then it is great to get extra points from the offer. But I don’t see people booking it on purpose and coming out ahead (unless it is on the company’s dime).
Question: If you’re trying to maintain A-list status, and already earn bonus points on the Anytime or Biz Select fares, is it worth it to go for the promo? When IS it worth it to book those fares?
I don’t put a ton of value in A-List status but if you think it would be valuable enough to you to get it then it could make sense. I would consider if you will earn it naturally via your normal flight patterns. If not then maybe you won’t use it enough to make it worth it?
I honestly think it is worth booking those fares when someone else is paying or if it is the only thing available and it is still cheaper than other options.
SW senior fares are reasonable, as a last minute fare, plus they are fully refundable. Of course you have to be a senior.
You are right but from a marketing standpoint, it seems good. The average customer will see it and think it’s good and the business travelers that can take advantage of it will think it’s good. My wife commonly books last minute WN flights. She was targeted for this and will likely hit it.
From a marketing standpoint I am sure it will sucker some people into booking higher fares when lower cost ones are available for sure. If you have a last minute flight and no other options then it is nice to get a bonus for sure.
yeah Mark, not sure what WN was thinking! even its WGA fares have been more expensive lately
They are rarely competitive these days out of DTW sadly.