You’ll Soon Earn Points on the Cash Portion of Southwest Cash + Points Bookings

Updated: November 22, 2024, 11:23am CST

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Earning Points on Southwest Cash + Points Redemptions
Final Thoughts

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Good news, Southwest fans: You’ll soon earn Rapid Rewards points on the cash portions of Cash + Points redemptions.

These changes start with Southwest Cash + Points tickets flown on January 1, 2025. The cash portion of these flights will earn redeemable Rapid Rewards points, tier qualifying points toward A-List and A-List Preferred elite status, and qualifying credit towards Southwest’s infamous Companion Pass.

Here’s what you need to know about this small yet positive change to Southwest Rapid Rewards.

Earning Points on Southwest Cash + Points Redemptions

As a refresher, Southwest’s Cash + Points redemptions let you pay for a Southwest flight with a mix of cash and Rapid Rewards points. This feature was announced last year and launched this past January.

You can select Cash + Points when booking a Southwest flight on the airline’s website. It will offer you 5 preset amounts of points to redeem toward your paid ticket alongside a cash price. 1,000 points is the minimum redemption amount for Cash + Points bookings.

Booking a Southwest Cash and Points Fare — Booking a Cash + Points fare. Image Credit: Southwest

Currently, Cash + Points tickets don’t count toward Southwest elite status or the Companion Pass, nor does the paid portion earn Rapid Rewards points. This is the case even if you use just 1,000 points toward your flight and pay the rest out of pocket. These fares do, however, count toward segment requirements for elite status and Companion Pass.

But starting at 3:00 a.m. CT on January 1, 2025, the cash portion will earn points, tier qualifying points, and Companion Pass-qualifying points like a paid Southwest ticket. Segments will continue to count, as well. Note that the points portion of a Cash + Points ticket still won’t earn points or count toward Companion Pass or elite status.

Bottom Line:

This makes Cash + Points redemptions a better option for travelers who want to save money but still earn toward Companion Pass and elite status. This way, they can still save some money on their fare but aren’t penalized on the cash portion of the flight.

Final Thoughts

This change to Cash + Points booking is welcome news for Southwest flyers — especially those shooting for elite status or the Companion Pass.

While this is a relatively small change, we expect Southwest to announce more loyalty changes next year as it adds assigned seating to its aircraft and makes other sweeping changes. This could mean access to premium seats for elite members and the ability to redeem points for preferred seat assignments.