How To Earn a Stack of Southwest Points — Without Even Flying!
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“I would love to use points for a flight, but I just don’t fly enough to earn the points I need.”
Sound familiar? We hear this all the time from people who don’t travel enough to earn miles by flying alone.
Although flying is 1 way to earn miles, there are so many other ways to rack up serious frequent flyer miles that don’t involve ever stepping foot inside of a plane.
Today, we are talking about Southwest, one of our favorite airlines for domestic and Caribbean trips. Not only is its frequent flyer program easy to use, but its customer service is also top-notch and there are no checked bag or change fees.
Table of contents
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Earning Southwest Points With Credit Cards
- Marriott Bonvoy Airline Transfers
- Marriott Hotel + Air Package
- Rapid Rewards Dining
- Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal
- Travel Partners: Hotels
- Travel Partners: Rental Cars
- Experiences
- Shopping & Dining Partners
- Home & Lifestyle Partners
- Specialty Partners
- Southwest Vacations Packages
- Buying Southwest Points
- Final Thoughts
Table of Contents
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Earning Southwest Points With Credit Cards
- Marriott Bonvoy Airline Transfers
- Marriott Hotel + Air Package
- Rapid Rewards Dining
- Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal
- Travel Partners: Hotels
- Travel Partners: Rental Cars
- Experiences
- Shopping & Dining Partners
- Home & Lifestyle Partners
- Specialty Partners
- Southwest Vacations Packages
- Buying Southwest Points
- Final Thoughts
Southwest Rapid Rewards
Rapid Rewards is Southwest Airline’s frequent flyer program and is straightforward and easy to use.
Each flight’s price in Rapid Rewards points is dependent on the cash price of the ticket. You can expect to get right around 1.5 cents per point value. Plus, there are no blackout dates: if a cash ticket is available, you’ll be able to purchase the ticket in points.
Earning Southwest Points With Credit Cards
You can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points through Southwest credit cards and Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points. Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio, so any Ultimate Rewards points you have can be easily turned into Rapid Rewards points.
You might be surprised to know that the best-earning rate for Southwest points isn’t on the Southwest credit cards!
Many of the Chase credit cards offer better bonus categories and larger sign-up bonuses and are therefore a better long-term option. Don’t forget, when collecting Chase points you have the option of not only transferring to Southwest but also many of its other airline and hotel partners. This makes so much more sense than pooling all your points with just Southwest!
Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)
| Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card - This is our favorite beginners travel rewards card, which is currently offering Chase's best offer ever of 100,000 point bonus after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,250 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. The card earns 5x points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3x points on dining and 2x points on all other travel purchases, plus more. Enjoy a $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, and other travel benefits such as excellent travel insurance coverage, including car rental insurance and no foreign transaction fees, this card is a very rewarding card. |
| Chase Sapphire Reserve® - This premium card will get you access to 1,300+ airport lounges. as well as a number of other card benefits. The current sign up bonus is 60,000 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 $550 annual fee. As an extra bonus, until 12/31/21, gas station & grocery store purchases will also count towards earning your Travel Credit. Earn big with this card, earn 5X total points on air travel and 10X total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually. Earn 3X points on other travel and dining & 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases. |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® card - A solid, no annual fee card that earns you a $200 bonus after you spend $500 in your first 3 months. Earn 5% cash-back on grocery store purchases (not including Target or Walmart purchases) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year, and 5% on travel purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Then earn 3% cash-back on dining and drugstore purchases, and 1.5% cash-back on all other purchases, but you won't get any travel benefits with this card. |
Recommended Chase Cards (Business)
| Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card - this is our #1 recommended business card and right now comes with a 100,000 sign up bonus after you spend $15,000 on purchases in the first 3 months after account opening. This bonus is worth $1,000 cash back or $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. Pay your cell phone bill with this card to receive up to $600 in cell phone insurance coverage per year; as well as a number of other benefits. Earn 3x on the first $150,000 spent on travel and select business categories each account anniversary year, plus 1x on all other purchases — with no limit to the amount you can earn. All for an annual fee of $95. |
| Ink Business Cash® Credit Card - Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening This no annual fee business card earns up to 5% cash-back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year, plus 2% cash-back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary. |
| Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card - Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back rewards on every purchase made for your business. Earn $750 bonus cash back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. There's no annual fee. |
However, don’t count out the Southwest cards. They have nice sign-up bonuses and points earned from these cards count towards the Southwest Companion Pass.
Southwest Cards (Personal)
| CARD | BENEFITS & INFO |
|---|---|
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card Learn More (at Chase's secure site) |
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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card Learn More (at Chase's secure site) |
|
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card Learn More (at Chase's secure site) |
|
Referral Bonus From Credit Cards
Did you know you can earn points simply by referring friends and family to sign up for a credit card that you hold? Not all Chase cards have a referral bonus at all times, but they are pretty frequent. Check out our post on Chase’s refer-a-friend program for more info.
To see what referral bonus offers you have, follow these easy steps:
- Log on to your online Chase account.
- Go to the drop-down menu (≡) at the upper left-hand corner of the screen and select Just for you.
- Then click Refer friends now to see the cards you have that are offering a referral bonus. Click on the card to access your referral link.
Marriott Bonvoy Airline Transfers
Marriott Bonvoy points transfer to Southwest at a 3:1 ratio. For every transfer of 60,000+ points, you get a 5,000-Southwest point bonus.
That means for every 60,000 Marriott points you transfer, you’ll get 25,000 Southwest points. There’s a minimum of 3,000 points required to make a transfer and the transfer can take 1 day to complete.
Marriott Hotel + Air Package
Marriott Hotel + Air Packages allow you to use Marriott points to purchase a package that includes 7 nights in a hotel and either 50,000 or 100,000 airline miles. This is a great option if you have tons of Marriott Bonvoy points.
For Marriott Hotel + Air Packages, the best values will be on Category 4 and 5 hotels:
| 7 Nights + 50,000 Miles | 7 Nights + 100,000 Miles | |
| Category 1-4 | 255,000 Points required | 330,000 Points required |
| Category 5 | 315,000 | 390,000 |
| Category 6 | 435,000 | 510,000 |
| Category 7 | 495,000 | 570,000 |
| Category 8 | 675,000 | 750,000 |
If you like the idea of a Marriott Hotel + Air package but are short on points, don’t forget you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott at a 1:1 ratio.
Alternatively, you could quickly build up your Marriott Bonvoy points balance by signing up for one of its credit cards below:
| Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card - For a limited time only, earn 125,000 Bonus Points and 1 Free Night Award (value up to 50,000 points) after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Get automatic silver elite status each account anniversary year; and a free night award (valued up to 35,000 points) every year after account anniversary. Plus, earn up to 17x total Bovoy points per $1 when using your Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card at at over 7,000 participating Marriott Bonvoy hotels, and 2x Bonvoy points per $1 on all other purchases. Annual Fee is $95. |
| Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card - For a limited time only, earn 60,000 Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn up to 14x total Bonvoy points per $1 when using your Marriott Bonvoy Bold card at over 7,000 participating in Marriott Bonvoy hotels, earn 2X on other travel purchases, then 1x on all other purchases. A solid card for Marriott loyalists looking for a no-annual-fee card offering Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status. |
| Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card - Earn 75,000 bonus Marriott Bonvoy points after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Plus, earn up to $200 in Statement Credits for eligible purchases at U.S. Restaurants within the first 6 months of Card Membership. Earn 6x per $1 at hotels participants in the Marriott Bonvoy™ program plus 3x at U.S. restaurants and flights booked directly with airlines. Annual Fee is $450. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Bonvoy Brilliant card, click here. |
| Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card - For a limited time, earn 125,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points & 2 bonus Free Night Awards after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in eligible purchases within the first 3 months. Each bonus Free Night Award has a redemption level up to 50K points. Certain hotels have resort fees. Offer ends 11/3/2021. This is a solid card for business owners who will get complimentary Marriott Bonvoy silver elite status. Annual fee is $125. Terms Apply. For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, click here. |
Rapid Rewards Dining
You can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points just by going out to eat through Rapid Rewards Dining. When you join Rapid Rewards Dining and dine at a participating restaurant and pay with your registered card, you’ll earn bonus Southwest points.
- Earn 3 points per $1 when you sign up for email notifications
- Earn 1 point per $2 when you opt-out of email notifications
There are participating restaurants all over the country. You can search for a specific restaurant or search by region. Or register your credit card and get surprised when bonus points pop up in your account!
How To Earn Points Dining Out
- Go to rapidrewardsdining.com and log in with your Rapid Rewards account credentials.
- Register a credit card with your Rapid Rewards Dining account.
- Visit a participating restaurant and pay with your registered card.
Even More Points From Dining Out
The Rapid Rewards Dining program offers some bonus ways to earn additional points.
- New member bonus: 1,000 Rapid Rewards points in your first 30 days
- First step bonus: Earn 500 bonus points the first time you earn 1,500 points through dining.
- Thank you bonus: Earn 300 bonus points each time you earn 1,000 points by dining.
- Review bonus: Earn 10 bonus points each time you complete a review of your dining experience.
Hot Tip: Rapid Rewards Dining occasionally offers even more bonus points for new members who dine and review their experiences in the first 30 days of membership. Visit rapidrewardsdining.com for up-to-date bonus offers!
Another way to increase your points earning through the dining program is by registering a Southwest credit card (or better yet, a Chase card that earns 2x or 3x points on dining) to your account — this way, you can double dip on Rapid Rewards points. If you happen to hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card, you can max out your points-earning since this card earns 3x points at restaurants.
Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal
If you want to earn lots of Southwest points, you should check out the Rapid Rewards shopping portal.
This site allows you to earn points through your everyday online spending. As with its dining program, you can double dip by using your Southwest credit card or a Chase Ultimate Rewards credit card.
How the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal Works
- Sign up for a Rapid Rewards account if you haven’t already.
- Log in at rapidrewardsshopping.southwest.com by clicking the Sign In button in the top right corner of your screen.
- Enter your Rapid Rewards account number or username and password.
- Start shopping! Search for the store you want to shop at and click through to that website to make a purchase. Points will be posted to your account in about 6 to 8 weeks.
Best Offers From the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal
Each store offers a different number of points per dollar spent plus many offer specials and deals throughout the year.
Before clicking through, make sure you know the terms of each offer to verify that your purchase will earn points.
Here are some examples of the lucrative offers that have been offered:
- 10,700 points: Get financial advice from The Motley Fool
- 7,100 points: Get a Houzz Pro membership
- 3,000 point: Sign up for Verizon Fios
- 1,100 points: Make dinner easier with a Blue Apron subscription
- 1,100 points: Sign up for a Bright Cellars subscription
- 1,000 points: File your taxes with Turbo Tax
- 700 points: Subscribe to Barron’s
- 700 points: Order meals through EveryPlate
- 700 points: Sign up for Grove Collaborative
- 700 points: Subscribe to The Wall Street Journal
This list is by no means complete. There are tons of stores offering bonus Rapid Rewards points! Next time you need to make an online purchase, start at the Rapid Rewards shopping portal to check if the store is offering bonus points. You’ll be on your next Southwest flight in no time!
To find the best offers, click on Extra Rewards in the top menu bar.
Bottom Line: The Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping portal offers bonus points for many different online stores and subscription services.
Get the Rapid Rewards Button
If you tend to forget to start your shopping on a shopping portal, consider getting the Southwest Rapid Rewards Button. The button will allow you to see points earning rates in your search results, plus it will remind you to go through the Rapid Rewards shopping portal.
To get the button, scroll to the bottom of the Rapid Rewards Shopping website and click Get The Button.
The catch is that this button is currently only available on Google Chrome.
Travel Partners: Hotels
Did you know that you can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points at hotels?
SouthwestHotels.com
SouthwestHotels.com is Southwest Airlines’ partnership site with Booking.com that allows you to book a hotel and earn Southwest points at the same time.
In addition to hotels, you can book apartments, B&Bs, motels, homestays, campgrounds, and even hostels on this site.
Hot Tip: Be aware that bookings made on SouthwestHotels.com are prepaid and non-refundable.
One quirk we found with this site is sometimes the bonus points you earn can increase exponentially with the number of nights you book.
Check out this listing for the Ritz-Carlton in Chicago. When you book 1 night through SouthwestHotels.com, you can earn 419 bonus points. However, if you book 3 nights, you can earn 20,000 bonus points!
Rocketmiles
Rocketmiles is another website that rewards you with Southwest Rapid Rewards points when you book a hotel. You can expect to earn 1,000 to 10,000 bonus points per night. However, you won’t earn any additional hotel loyalty points.
Searching for a hotel on Rocketmiles is similar to any other OTA. Once you have your list of search results, you will be able to see the number of Rapid Rewards points you can earn with each booking to the right of the screen underneath the price.
The price shown is per night, but the point value shown is for the whole stay.
Hot Tip: You will NOT earn hotel loyalty points from any stay booked on Rocketmiles and any elite status you have with a hotel may not be recognized.
Best Western Rewards
You can earn Rapid Rewards points each time you stay at a Best Western. Just set your Best Western Rewards earning preference to Partner Rewards>Southwest Airlines. Then show your Rapid Rewards account number at check-in.
You can also transfer Best Western Rewards points to Rapid Rewards points.
- 5,000 Best Western Rewards points = 1,200 Rapid Rewards points
Choice Privileges
You can transfer your Choice Privileges points to Southwest.
- 6,000 Choice Privileges points = 1,800 Rapid Rewards points
Marriott Bonvoy
You can earn 600 Southwest points per stay at over 7,300 Marriott hotels across the world.
To earn points, you will need to change your earning preference to Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards instead of Marriott Bonvoy. Then, provide both numbers upon check-in.
Marriott Bonvoy points can also transfer to Southwest at the following rates:
- 9,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 3,000 Rapid Rewards points
- 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 10,000 Rapid Rewards points
- 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 20,000 Rapid Rewards points (+ 5,000 bonus points)
- 90,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 30,000 Rapid Rewards points
- 120,000 Marriott Bonvoy points = 40,000 Rapid Rewards points (+ 10,000 bonus points)
For every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points transferred, you’ll get an additional bonus of 5,000 Rapid Rewards points.
M life
M life (MGM’s loyalty program) members staying at ARIA, Bellagio, Delano Las Vegas, Excalibur, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Mirage, New York-New York, NoMad Las Vegas, Park MGM, The Signature at MGM Grand, or Vdara can earn 600 Rapid Rewards points per stay.
Both your M life and Rapid Rewards membership numbers need to be attached to your reservation to qualify.
Radisson Rewards Americas
When you stay at a participating Radisson brand including Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Park Inn by Radisson, Park Plaza, Radisson, and Radisson Blu you can earn Southwest points. All you need to do is provide your Rapid Rewards number at check-in.
Radisson Rewards Americas points can be transferred to Southwest manually or automatically. To set up an automatic transfer, set the earning preference in your Radisson account to Rapid Rewards. Your points will automatically convert to Rapid Rewards points at a rate of 10,000 Radisson points to 1,000 Rapid Rewards points. Or you can redeem your points manually in the following increments:
- 2,000 Radisson Rewards points = 200 Rapid Rewards points
- 50,000 Radisson Rewards points = 5,000 Rapid Rewards points
- 100,000 Radisson Rewards points = 10,000 Rapid Rewards points
World of Hyatt
If you are a World of Hyatt member, you can earn an additional 600 Rapid Rewards points for each qualifying stay at select Hyatt hotels. Participating brands include Andaz, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Zilara, Hyatt Ziva, Park Hyatt, and The Unbound Collection by Hyatt.
To qualify for Rapid Rewards points, each stay must be booked directly through Hyatt, and Rapid Rewards points need to be selected as your currency of choice.
In addition, you can transfer World of Hyatt points to Rapid Rewards points. While the transfer rate isn’t spectacular, it’s good to know your options if you need to top off your account for a redemption.
- 5,000 World of Hyatt points = 2,400 Southwest Rapid Rewards points
- 50,000 World of Hyatt points = 30,000 Rapid Rewards points (24,000 plus a 6,000-point bonus)
Hot Tip: Points transferred to Southwest Rapid Rewards from hotel partners do NOT count towards the Southwest Companion Pass.
Travel Partners: Rental Cars
Renting a car is something many of us do while on vacation. Why not earn some extra Rapid Rewards points at the same time?! You can do just that when you rent your car through Southwest and its partners.
Hot Tip: When booking a rental car through any of the below Southwest links, be sure to add your Rapid Rewards number to earn your bonus points.
Alamo
Earn 600 points on each Alamo car rental at participating locations worldwide by requesting Rapid Rewards points at the time of rental.
Avis
Earn up to 2,400 points on each car rental at participating U.S. airport locations through January 31, 2022. Book here and use MUAA042 in the Coupon Code field and K024700 in the Avis Worldwide (AWD) field.
- 1 to 2 day rentals = 600 bonus points
- 3 to 6 day rentals = 1,200 bonus points
- 7+ days = 2,400 bonus points
Budget
Earn up to 2,400 points on each car rental at participating U.S. airport locations through January 31, 2022. Reservations must be made through Southwest to receive bonus points.
- 1 to 2 day rentals = 600 bonus points
- 3 to 7 day rentals = 1,200 bonus points
- 8+ days = 2,400 bonus points
Dollar
Earn up to 1,200 points on each Dollar car rental at participating locations worldwide through January 31, 2022, by booking through Southwest and providing your Rapid Rewards number.
- 1 to 2 day rentals = 600 points
- 3+ days = 1,200 points
Hertz
Earn up to 2,400 points on each car rental. Book through Southwest or use Promotion Code 159062 and CDP 205418.
- 1 to 2 day rentals = 600 bonus points
- 3 to 6 day rentals = 1,200 bonus points
- 7+ days = 2,400 bonus points
National
Earn 600 points on each National car rental at participating locations worldwide by requesting Rapid Rewards points at the time of rental.
Payless Car Rental
Earn 1,200 Rapid Rewards points on your next rental booked and completed by January 31, 2022. Click here to book and use promotion code A060913.
Thrifty
Earn up to 1,200 points on each Thrifty car rental at participating locations worldwide through January 31, 2022, by booking through Southwest and providing your Rapid Rewards number.
- 1 to 2 day rentals = 600 points
- 3+ days = 1,200 points
In addition, you’ll earn 600 bonus points after 3 rentals at a U.S. airport location within a 12-month period.
Bottom Line: View the most up-to-date rental car points offers or book a rental car through Southwest.
Experiences
You can earn Rapid Rewards points when you book tours and activities through Southwest. Don’t forget to add your loyalty number during checkout. For most activities, you’ll earn 1 Rapid Rewards point per $1, but occasionally there will be promotions that allow you to earn more points.
Shopping & Dining Partners
Laithwaite’s Wine
Earn Rapid Rewards points with any Laithwaite’s Wine purchase.
- Earn 2,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points on your introductory wine club case purchase
- Earn 1,000 bonus points on each future wine club case purchase
- Earn 3x points on non-club purchases
1-800-Flowers
As a Rapid Rewards member, you can earn 1,000 bonus points each time you make a purchase of at least $29.99 at 1-800-Flowers through December 31, 2021. There are 2 ways to order to ensure you earn your points:
- Visit 1800flowers.com/rapidrewards.
- Call 1-800-Flowers (800-356-9377) and mention promotion code RR22 along with your Rapid Rewards number.
Harry & David
You can earn 1,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points with each Harry & David order over $29.99. Visit harryanddavid.com/rapidrewards and enter code SW44 plus your Rapid Rewards number (in the Membership ID field) to earn your bonus points.
Home Chef
You can earn 1,200 Rapid Reward bonus points on each of your first 5 Home Chef boxes.
Home & Lifestyle Partners
NRG
If you live in IL, MA, MD, NJ, or PA you can earn Rapid Rewards points by choosing NRG Home as your electricity supplier. After being a customer for 2 months, you can earn a 10,000-point enrollment bonus. If you continue to be a customer, you can earn 2 points per dollar on the supply portion of your energy bill.
You can sign up in 2 ways:
- Sign up online
- Call NRG Home at 855-674-7697 and mention offer code SWA-7202-047 (have your Rapid Rewards number and a recent energy bill available)
Reliant
If you live in Texas, you can enroll in the Reliant Secure 24 Plan with Rapid Rewards. You will earn a 15,000-point enrollment bonus plus 500 points each month for 24 months for a total of 27,000 Rapid Rewards points over a 24-month term. Sign up online or call Reliant at 866-222-7100 and mention offer code XW1193. Have your Rapid Rewards account number available.
MakeItCount/Marathon Gas
Sign up for the MakeItCount program to earn Southwest points at Marathon gas stations. Sign up online at makeitcount.com/rapidrewards to earn 1 Rapid Rewards point for every gallon of fuel purchased.
Specialty Partners
These bonus point opportunities take a little more time than just clicking through a shopping portal, but when points are involved, sometimes you have to get creative to earn all that you can!
Rewards for Opinions
Earn Rapid Rewards points just for participating in various market research surveys. This program is free to join, and you can participate as much or as little as you want. The catch is that enrollment happens during random times of the year. Click here for more info and to keep track of the next enrollment opportunity.
After signing up, you can earn 500 bonus points after taking your first survey.
e-Rewards
You can earn points by participating in the e-Rewards Opinion Panel. You will earn e-Rewards Currency for participating in market research surveys which can then be transferred into Rapid Rewards points.
- $15 e-Rewards Currency = 300 Rapid Rewards Points
- $25 e-Rewards Currency = 600 Rapid Rewards Points
- $50 e-Rewards Currency = 1,200 Rapid Rewards Points
- $100 e-Rewards Currency = 2,400 Rapid Rewards Points
This one also has limited enrollment periods. Click here to keep track of the next enrollment opportunity.
EA+ Emergency Assistance Plus
Each active EA+ member can earn 1,200 bonus Rapid Rewards points for the first full year of membership, and an additional 1,200 points for each year of membership.
Southwest Vacations Packages
Southwest Vacations offers package deals including flight, hotel, car rental, and activities. With Southwest Vacations, you’ll earn points on the hotel, car, and activity portion of your package, in addition to the flights.
You’ll be able to see how many points your vacation package earns on the review page before you enter payment information. Since packages are priced per person, each person will earn bonus points.
Buying Southwest Points
While certainly not a primary tactic to accrue points, there’s always the opportunity to flat-out buy Southwest points.
To help you decide when to buy points and how to do it we’ve created a guide on buying Southwest points to help you out.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there are tons of ways to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points without flying a single mile! Don’t forget you can also earn points the old-fashioned (but still fun) way: taking a Southwest flight.
Some of these earning methods take a little bit of effort and planning, but if Southwest points are what you’re after — it can be worth it!
The information regarding the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card, click here.
For rates and fees of the Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card, click here.
Is there a benefit to making your earning preference as southwest rapid rewards vs accumulating marriott points and transferring them over in bulk?
Thanks,
Kori
When you set your Marriott earning preferences to Southwest, the transfer rate isn’t great. I would only do that if you have a boat load of Marriott points and just need to top off your Southwest account. Without setting your earning preference to Southwest, the only way to transfer Marriott points into Southwest is by purchasing a Hotel + Air package. The miles portion of this package transfers at a 1:1 ratio. For example, if you need 50,000 Southwest points, you would have to transfer 140,000 Marriott points to make that happen. Or you could purchase a Marriott Hotel + Air package for 200,000 points which also gets you a 7 night stay at a Category 1-5 hotel. The Hotel + Air package is a better deal (IF you have the extra Marriott points!). Hope that helps!
@katie If you have both southwest and a Chase Sapphire card, can you double dip on points if you purchase Southwest Vacations to get a hotel (those 10,000 points ones) and would Chase give you 2x points as well?
Hi Noah,
Since Southwest Vacations is in partnership with booking.com, it should show up as an online travel agency on your credit card statement which would categorize as travel. According to Chase’s website:
“Merchants in the travel category include airlines, hotels, motels, timeshares, campgrounds, car rental agencies, cruise lines, travel agencies, discount travel sites, and operators of passenger trains, buses, taxis, limousines, ferries, toll bridges and highways, and parking lots and garages.”
I’ve never done it, but I think it should work. That would be a great way to earn lots of points – hope it works for you!!
@Katie
How long do partners like booking.com take to post the SW RR points? I would love to take advantage of the companion pass this year, but not sure how to get those points posted before the end of the year. Any advice on how to handle this? We will be booking a stay this weekend that offers 20,000 RR points. 🙂
Hi Rodney,
I did a little digging since the terms and conditions about this is a little unclear. According to some crowdsourced info, points earned from Southwesthotels.com (the booking.com partner site) DO count towards Companion Pass. The terms say they could take 6-8 weeks to post, however I was reading a lot of accounts of people saying their points posted within a few days of completing their stay. If this 20K points will get you to 110K for the CP, it’s worth a shot!
Please come back and let us know if and when they post.
With the NRG offer, do the points earned count towards earning a companion pass?
Hi Melody,
Yes, the points earned from that offer should count towards the companion pass.
What’s NRG? I carried the CSR card for almost a year, but I think I will cancel shortly. I live in Denver and they closed the lounge that helped me justify the expense. I’m also in a new work situation so I must use my corporate card for all travel expenses so the CSR loses even more value. I have a Southwest Card that we use to help achieve companion pass. Ultimately, I’m looking for any creative ways to help us continue to achieve companion pass and maximize the benefits of the travel cards. I’m open to suggestions.
Hi Chuck,
NRG is an electricity provider for those that live in IL, MA, MD, NJ, OH, or PA. Which Southwest card do you currently have open? You could always add another to give you an added boost towards the companion pass. Keep in mind that Chase will only allow you to receive the bonus on one personal Southwest card though.
Southwest Hotels Double Your Points:
There’s currently a double your points offer for hotel stays booked through March 2nd. Any sense if that is in addition to the Bonus Point hotels, i.e. you note above the ability to earn up to 10k points per night based on which hotel you select? I’ve read all of the fine print and haven’t found anything that excludes those hotels.
Secondarily, I haven’t noticed it before but once you select a hotel in one of those bonus point categories. On the room select page you can chose a room that earns more points (if the hotel list shows 4,000, usually there will be an option to select a room at 4,000 and one at 8,000, the cost difference is about $.019 per mile).
Once you select the higher points room, an option to Boost Your Points will appear on the checkout page, also at $.019 per mile. I recently booked a room that started at 8,000 points for boosted it all the way to 20,000 points, what I need to hit the 125,000.
I recently did this to earn 20,000 miles to get me to the Companion Pass and can confirm they did count towards it. I just did it a second time and waiting for the miles to post to get the CP. But, I’m really curious about whether the double points is going to double up that offer. I can’t find any fine print that excludes it. (First transaction was 3 weeks ago, second transaction was this weekend). As for the first transaction, I checked out on Monday and the points appeared on Friday.
Do you accumulate points by making charitable contributions or paying the IRS for taxes owed?
Hi Bill,
Yes, you should earn points for both of those things.