Airtran transfer trick and a CP question

[ninjasurfer99]

I've known for a bit about the ability to transfer 19,200 Rapid Rewards to airtran and then transfer them back for a standard award (two one way flights with standard availability) to save a bunch of points. I haven't yet taken advantage of this but was wondering - once I get the two one way flights with standard availability can I add a companion like normal with the companion pass.

Based on the T&C I assume it is possible but I wanted to confirm before going through the process of transferring. Here is the piece I base my assumption on: "The Companion is valid for travel only when the Companion is accompanied on his/her fights(s) by the Rapid Rewards Member. The Companion Pass can only be used on flights booked through Southwest Airlines. Companion Pass travel has no blackout dates or seat restrictions. "

 

[Nguyen]

Once my SW award ticket was about to expire. I did the "process" to transfer them to AirTran, and transferred from AirTran back to SW to extend the award ticket for one more year. I do not have the SW companion pass, but from the T&C, it seemed to be allowed as long as the primary RR member travels with his/her companion. Thanks.

 

[ninjasurfer99]

Great idea to extend the award ticket! Just wondering if anyone else could confirm that the CP would still work. If I try it I'll report back here to confirm

 

[Chris]

I think the CP should work with either AT or WN flights if they are booked via WN's website.

 

[Haley]

I think the CP should work with either AT or WN flights if they are booked via WN's website.

That is also my understanding.

I thought this was going to be about how if you open an AirTran account in about two months you will get the email offering you 750 points to link it to your Southwest account.

 

[FindAWay]

CP will work on a RR 1.0 Standard Award (booked through southwest booking channels) so long as the pax is the CP holder no matter whether it has been laundered through FL to create the Standard Award.

The CP works no matter from which account the points or standard award booking is made so long as the pax is the CP holder.

 

[Nguyen]

FYI - From MMS Friday interview, it was mentioned that "for the 1st couple of years of traveling on Southwest, I didn’t realize that the Companion Pass was good on award flights. So, we only used the Companion Pass when I bought a ticket, and used 2 award tickets whenever we didn’t pay cash." So, another +1 from FindAWay. Thanks.

 

[fulthrust7]

It definitely works. Just FYI that starting in Nov, this transfer to airtran and back to SW is going to dissolve. So if you want some in the back pocket transfer before novemeber with the expectation that you should have some planned use within a year before it expires.

 

[James from BNA]

ninjasurfer, I've done this dozens of times and it works. I'm planning to drain my UR account before the end of Oct when Airtran goes the way of the dodo.

 

[fulthrust7]

FYI - From MMS Friday interview, it was mentioned that "for the 1st couple of years of traveling on Southwest, I didn’t realize that the Companion Pass was good on award flights. So, we only used the Companion Pass when I bought a ticket, and used 2 award tickets whenever we didn’t pay cash." So, another +1 from FindAWay. Thanks.

who reads MMS these days?! j/k...to each its own.

 

[Haley]

Just priced out some flights, when I switched between points and cash it didn't look right. I was between two flights that were $14 difference for cash fare and 1000+ difference with points...

So I pulled out my calculator. Lower priced flight points were over 1.9 cents value each! Not sure why.

 

[MarkD]

I've known for a bit about the ability to transfer 19,200 Rapid Rewards to airtran and then transfer them back for a standard award (two one way flights with standard availability) to save a bunch of points. I haven't yet taken advantage of this but was wondering - once I get the two one way flights with standard availability can I add a companion like normal with the companion pass."

Just so I understand correctly OP - the 'reason' for doing this transfer to AirTran and back is for tickets that cost more than 19,200 total points, correct? For instance if I wanted to fly from ATL-AUA and it was 34,090 SWA points total for a round-trip - I could apply a standard award for the flight and save 14,890 SWA points. Correct?

Are there any other restrictions for the standard award? Isn't there limited seating available?

In addition I think that most agree that you could add a companion for even more value if you hold the companion pass.

 

[Haley]

Just so I understand correctly OP - the 'reason' for doing this transfer to AirTran and back is for tickets that cost more than 19,200 total points, correct? For instance if I wanted to fly from ATL-AUA and it was 34,090 SWA points total for a round-trip - I could apply a standard award for the flight and save 14,890 SWA points. Correct?

Are there any other restrictions for the standard award? Isn't there limited seating available?

In addition I think that most agree that you could add a companion for even more value if you hold the companion pass.

Seats are limited and there are blackout dates.
If I'm doing this correctly, follow this link and then log in, it should bring you to the standard award search tool:
https://www.southwest.com/flight/login?returnUrl=/account/rapidrewards/certificates

And yes, you can ad a CP.