The Dallas-based airline announced program changes coming for Rapid Rewards members, including offering a Cash + Points option for awards.
A-List and Credit Card Spending Tier Points Bonuses Decrease
Following a bigger trend in airline loyalty, Southwest is offering flyers the opportunity to earn tier qualifying points faster from their everyday spending. Starting on January 1, 2024, Flyers will earn 1,500 tier qualifying points for every $5,000 spent on their Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier, Premier Business, Priority, or Performance Business credit cards. Previously, flyers would earn the tier points for every $10,000 in spending.
In addition to having a lower tier qualifying points requirements for credit card spending, earning A-List status from flying will be easier. At the beginning of 2024, flyers will be able to earn A-List status by flying 20 one-way qualifying flights or earning 35,000 tier qualifying points. To move up to A-List Preferred, flyers will need to fly 40 one-way qualifying flights or earn 70,000 tier qualifying points. The change reflects a reduction of five and 10 flights for each tier, respectively.
If a flyer is A-List Preferred in 2024, they’ll also have a new perk waiting for them onboard. Those in the upper status tier can receive two complimentary “premium” drinks per flight. The drinks are added to their boarding pass, so flyers will need to do very little to claim their bonus.
Finally, Rapid Rewards is adding a new way to use points for rewards. The program will add an option to use cash and points for an award flight. With cash and points, flyers can use as little as 1,000 points to get a discount on a future flight.
Although the changes are a positive for many, some FlyerTalkers are coming at the additions with some trepidation. Expert flyers from the forum suggest a devaluation could be coming, or that the influx of new flyers could make it more difficult to secure an A group boarding position.
Share your thoughts on the changes to Southwest Rapid Rewards on the FlyerTalk Forums.
Source: frugal travel guy