Southwest Airlines Improves Loyalty Program

Christmas is still more than two months away, but Southwest Airlines just told its loyalty club members about one of its gifts. The carrier today said it would make some enhancements to its Rapid Rewards program.

The enhancements include making it easier for customers to earn tier status, awarding A-List Preferred Members with up to two complimentary premium drinks, and allowing customers to pay for Southwest flights using a combination of cash and Rapid Rewards points.

"We're making our award-winning Rapid Rewards program even stronger, by adding new enhancements to our loyalty program, making it even easier for Members to earn and enjoy their benefits," said Jonathan Clarkson, Vice President of Marketing at Southwest Airlines, in a statement. "By lowering the tier requirements and making credit card spend count double toward tier requirements, we're able to deepen engagement with our brand and cobranded credit cards, while maintaining the core program values that our Customers know and love—including unlimited reward seats, no blackout dates, and points that don't expire.”

The five major enhancements include:

• Earn A-List Status Faster: Starting Jan. 1, 2024, Southwest Rapid Rewards members only need to fly 20 one-way qualifying flights (previously 25) or earn 35,000 tier qualifying points to reach A-List status.
• Earn A-List Preferred Status Faster: Starting Jan. 1, 2024, Rapid Rewards members only need to fly 40 one-way qualifying flights (previously 50) or earn 70,000 tier qualifying points to earn A-List Preferred status.
• Earn Tier Qualifying Points Faster with Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards from Chase: Starting Jan. 1, 2024, Rapid Rewards Credit Cardmembers will receive 1,500 tier qualifying points for every $5,000 spent (previously $10,000) on purchases using their Rapid Rewards Premier, Premier Business, Priority, or Performance Business Credit Cards from Chase.
• New Perk Alert-Complimentary Premium Drinks for A-List Preferred Status: Starting Nov. 6, 2023, A-List Preferred Members can receive up to two complimentary premium drinks per flight added directly to their mobile boarding passes.
• Redeem with Cash + Points: Starting in spring of 2024, Rapid Rewards members will have the option to pay for their flight with a combination of cash and points, starting with as few as 1,000 points.

Terms and conditions do apply. 

Earlier this summer, Southwest announced adding more seasonal flights for spring break 2024. Aiming to meet seasonal demand and travel patterns, the airline will add more nonstop options for the busy period, including travel on peak days when new time-saving nonstop service corresponds with a complementary schedule of daily connecting or same-plane flights.

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