How To Use the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal to Earn More Points
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Earning extra points and miles for something you’re already planning to spend money on is a pretty great concept. Luckily for you, it’s also pretty easily done!
This article tells you exactly what you need to know about using Southwest’s shopping portal. Don’t worry, it’s a piece of cake!
Table of contents
Table of Contents
How To Log in & Basics of Using Program
You can view the bonus points offered for spending at various retailers without logging in, but you will need to log in to actually earn them.
Logging in is simple; just use the same information you would use to log in to your regular Southwest frequent flyer account.
Once you are logged in to the Southwest airlines store, you simply need to search for your desired retailer to see the number of bonus points they’re offering for your purchases!
Let’s say you are interested in reward shopping at Gap.com. At the time of writing, we searched for Gap and found an offer of 3 extra Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent on Gap.com purchases.
To earn the bonus, just click “Shop Now” to be redirected to the retailer website to complete your transaction. Then complete your purchase from the window that opens. Beyond that, there’s nothing more you need to do in order to earn the bonus!
Special Shopping Offers
Southwest offers bonus points for spending different amounts of money through their store at various times throughout the year.
You should definitely keep an eye out for Southwest’s special shopping bonuses. Here is an example of a past offer that might come up again:
- Holiday 2018 Bonus: Spend $150 and earn 500 bonus points; spend $500 and earn 1,000 bonus points; spend $1,000 and earn 3,000 bonus points.
The holiday shopping season is a great time to earn lots of rewards for purchases you would be making already!
If you want to keep track of bonuses being offered by other shopping portals (including the Rapid Rewards portal), use CashBack Monitor to easily keep track of 45 different portals in one spot.
Example Retailers
The number of points earned for shopping at various retailers changes regularly. At the time of writing, here are some of the better deals offered through the Southwest Airlines store.
- LifeLock: 10 pts/$1
- MagazineLine: 15 pts/$1
- Personal Creations: 9 pts/$1
- 1800 Flowers: 7 pts/$1
- Bareminerals: 6 pts/$1
- …and many more!
Southwest’s Rapid Rewards Shopping Button
The shopping button from Southwest’s Rapid Rewards shopping program allows you to earn miles shopping online directly on the retailer’s website.
So you don’t have to click through from the shopping portal itself. All you have to do is download the free browser extension for Chrome and you’ll start getting alerts when browsing on retailer’s websites that participate in the program.
You will also see offers in your search results so this can help make quick decisions on which retailer to buy from. It’s win win really!
Using Credit Cards To Earn Extra Points
Even though you’ll be earning extra points through the reward shopping portal, it makes sense to multiply this bonus by also using a card that will give you a good reward for the spending you’re doing.
If your sole focus is to earn Southwest points, you should choose cards that earn them directly or cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points, which you can transfer to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio.
Also, consider whether the retailer you’re shopping with falls into a bonus category on any of your cards, and then choose your card accordingly.
Below we list the applicable credit cards to help you get the most rewards while using the online store!
Chase Ultimate Rewards Cards
Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card - This is our favorite beginners travel rewards card which has a 60,000 point bonus (highest ever) after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. This sign up bonus is worth $750 in travel purchases (flights, hotels, car rentals etc) when you redeem your points through Chase's travel portal, which works like Expedia. The bonus alone could get you multiple round-trip flights or hotel stays. |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® - Consider this premium card if you want to get into a lot of airport lounges. The current sign up bonus is 50,000 points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. You'll also get a $300 travel credit per year which wipes away a big chunk of the $450 annual fee. |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® - A simple, no annual fee card that earns you 3% cash-back on all purchases in your first year (up to $20,000 spent), then 1.5% on all purchases after that. Just know that you won't get any travel benefits or the ability to earn bonus points with this card. |
Recommended Chase Cards (Business)
| Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card - This is our #1 recommended business card and comes with a whopping 80,000 sign up bonus after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. This bonus is worth $1,000 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards for travel purchases (flights, hotels etc). Also, if you pay for your cell phone bill with this card, you can get up to $600 in cell phone insurance coverage per year. |
| Ink Business Cash℠ Credit Card - earn $500 bonus cash back after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. In addition, get up to 5% cash back on a range of business expenses. A simple, $0 annual fee card. |
Southwest Rapid Rewards Cards
| CREDIT CARD | CARD INFO |
|---|---|
| Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card |
|
| Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card |
|
| Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card |
|
| Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card |
|
| Southwest Rapid Rewards® Perofrmance Business Credit Card |
|
Hot Tip: Check out the benefits of the best Southwest credit cards! We’ve also got a piece with plenty of tips for earning loads of Southwest points without even flying!
Final Thoughts
Utilizing the Southwest shopping center is an easy way to earn an extra point or more per dollar spent on most of the shopping you’re going to do online anyway. You may also want to try using their dining program to really maximize the rewards.
Better yet, if you haven’t signed up for the shopping portal in the past, it is possible to earn bonus points simply for signing up at various times throughout the year. Gather up all your new rewards and use them for flights on Southwest!
