Southwest Airlines may not offer lie-flat seats or serve caviar — and yeah, it’s had its fair share of (mostly negative) changes lately — but we still generally like them as an airline.
Southwest often runs system-wide sales, dominates U.S. skies with low fares, and runs a pretty straightforward frequent flyer program.
Whether you're new to Southwest or just want to get more value from your points, If you're new to Southwest or want to squeeze more value from your points, you're in the right place. This guide will walk you through how Southwest Rapid Rewards works, how to earn and redeem points, elite status details, and how to score that sweet Companion Pass.
What is Southwest Rapid Rewards®?
Rapid Rewards is the name of Southwest’s loyalty program and is also the currency tied to Southwest’s co-branded credit cards.
Additionally, if you have a free Rapid Rewards account, you’ll earn points every time you fly with the airline.
And speaking of flying — Southwest is the largest low-cost carrier in the U.S. With routes that span the U.S. (including Hawaii!) to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, it’s an excellent program to get involved with if you tend to vacay to those spots.
We also love it for its famous Companion Pass (more on that later), so if you travel as a duo or a family, it should rank even higher on your list.
It’s also important to note that Southwest isn’t part of any major alliance (though it recently launched a limited partnership with Icelandair!), so your points will be earned and redeemed exclusively with Southwest. However, Southwest prides itself on having no blackout dates when it comes to booking, and your points will never expire.
The airline is introducing several negative changes, including more variable award pricing, basic economy fares, and expiration dates for flight credits. However, even with these updates, it can still offer solid value for your money.
How Does Southwest Elite Status Work?
Holding elite status with any airline comes with varying perks, including Southwest, which offers two levels of elite status:
A-List
A-List Preferred
And there are two main ways to earn Southwest elite status: Fly the airline frequently and spend significant amounts of money with the airline (which earns you Tier Qualifying Points, aka TQPs).
Flights Needed | TQPs Needed | Key Benefits | |
|---|---|---|---|
A-List | 20 one-ways | 35,000 TQPs | Priority boarding, first checked bag free, 25% bonus points, same-day standby |
A-List Preferred | 40 one-ways | 70,000 TQPs | All A-List benefits plus 100% bonus points, two free checked bags, free premium drinks, free in-flight Wi-Fi |
💡 Pro Tip: You can earn 1,500 TQPs for every $5,000 spent on most co-branded Southwest cards.
How Do You Earn Southwest Rapid Rewards?
There are three main ways to earn Southwest points. Let’s take a look at each one.
Flying on Southwest
Well, this one makes a lot of sense, right? Fly on a paid Southwest flight, earn Rapid Rewards points.
However, the number of points you earn on any given flight depends on:
The price of your ticket
Your elite status level with the Southwest (25% or 100% bonus)
The type of fare class you picked
Southwest offers four fare classes to consider:
Basic: Earn 2x points per $1 spent on base airfare
Wanna Get Away Plus: Earn 6x points per $1 on base airfare
Anytime: Earn 10x points per $1 on base airfare
Business Select: Earn 14x points per $1 on base airfare
There are a few differences with these fare classes, like ticket refundability and priority boarding, as a couple of examples. If you want to see a comprehensive list of these different benefits, you can view Southwest’s page here.
⚠️ Heads Up: Southwest is in the process of rolling out additional changes to its fare classes, introducing assigned seating, checked bag fees, more variable award pricing, expiration on flight credits, and more.
Using a Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card
Photo by Daily Drop
Chase offers several consumer and business Southwest credit cards to help you rack up Rapid Rewards points faster:
These cards offer different earning rates for both Southwest purchases and other everyday spending categories — usually ranging from 2x to 4x points per dollar.
And with annual fees ranging from just $69 to $199, these cards offer great options for Southwest loyalists without the high price tag.
💡Did you know: You can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio if you have a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Shopping and Dining with Partners
Everybody has to eat, so you might as well earn some points for it. Rapid Rewards Dining is simple:
Join for free
Search to find participating restaurants (for dine-in and takeout/delivery)
Pay with your linked credit card
Earn up to 3x points per dollar if you opt in for email notifications
And then we have Rapid Rewards Shopping. It’s essentially an online shopping portal, similar to Rakuten (which is our fav, btw).
Southwest has over 1,000 partner stores in its portal, so you have many options to earn bonus points for purchases.
You’ll simply click through the portal to go to the retailer’s website, pay with your card of choice, and see the Southwest points hit your account.
How Do You Redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards?
This is pretty straightforward — use your Southwest points to book Southwest flights.
And rather than pricing its flights using distance-based award charts, Southwest’s award rates fluctuate based on the flight’s cash price. As of March 2025, redemption rates can now also vary based on demand, so your points are worth more during off-peak and less during high-traffic travel periods.
You can make these redemptions directly on Southwest’s website.
To get started, log in and make sure you select Show fares in points for your search.
Click Search to see a list of all available flights for that day with their given point redemption rates. These rates will differ based on the fare class you want to choose.
Screenshot from southwest.com
Simply click Continue, double-check the details, and boom, your flight is booked using Southwest points.
What’s the Southwest Companion Pass?
Photo by Daily Drop
There’s another major benefit that I’ve gotta mention… and that is Southwest’s ever-so-famous Companion Pass. This is one of the best perks in the entire travel industry.
In short, the Companion Pass allows you to designate a person to fly with you on any Southwest flight — paid or award — for just the taxes and fees, which are as low as $5.60 for one-way, domestic flights. No joke.
Now that is an elite level of BOGO.
But keep in mind, you can only change your designated companion three times per year, so choose wisely.
There are two ways to earn the Companion Pass:
Fly 100 Southwest one-way flights in a calendar year
Earn 135,000 tier-qualifying points in a calendar year
💡 Pro Tip: Tier-qualifying points include Rapid Rewards points earned from flying, Southwest credit card welcome offers, spending on those credit cards, and making purchases via Rapid Rewards Dining and Shopping.
Once you earn it, your Companion Pass is valid for the rest of the year plus the entire next year. 🤯
When Should You Use Points Instead of Cash?
There’s truly no right or wrong way to use your points to get a free or significantly discounted flight. BUT, if you want to maximize the value of your points, we’ve created a free Cents Per Point Calculator that will determine if the award seat you are looking at is a good deal or not.
Want a video walkthrough of how to use this calculator? We’ve got you covered 👇
Bottom Line
Southwest is a big name in the U.S. that still has a decent frequent flyer program despite its recent changes. One of its most popular features, the Companion Pass, also makes flying with your favorite travel buddy a breeze.
If you’re looking to travel domestically in the next year (as well as a few nearby international destinations), Southwest could be an excellent program for you to get on board with.
