Limited time left: get more value from your Rapid Rewards points

Haley

I am not a robot
I'm taking care of this today so thought I'd post a reminder & info for those who don't know this almost obsolete trick.

I'm talking about the SWA RR to AirTran A+ credits to SWA Standard Awards trick.

Standard Awards are the old style Southwest Air rewards.
Remember those?
16 credits = a standard award.
A standard award is good for a RT flight and you can book these as 1-ways for 8 credits (or really half a Standard Award).

Standard Awards ARE capacity controlled and have black out dates. Stated blackout dates and actual zero availability don't always match up, this works against us not for us.

Wondering why you would want one of these limited awards?
Because 1 credit 'costs' 1200 RR points.
9600 RR points for a 1-way ticket.

If a RR is worth 1.6 cents then 9600 RR points is worth $153.60.

-> pointing out the obvious: Anytime you have a flight that is more than 9600 points/$153.60 using half a Standard Award saves you points. I know, I'm a math wizard!

Southwest likes to do the cheap in one direction expensive in the other thing (at least to me, it might be personal, perhaps I offended Southwest by declaring Austin a way better place than Dallas or maybe for booking on Virgin when the status of those gates was still unsettled) and that is when the Standard Award helps.

What you need to know:
  • Transfers are almost always instant, but can take up to 24 hours
  • AirTran credits in your account on Nov 2nd will transfer to SWA as POINTS not credits towards Standard Awards
  • Standard Awards expire 1 year from creation date on either site
  • Credits used to expire at 2 years but I'm not seeing it in the newer t&c (?)
  • If you have any credits towards a Standard Award you can top up to get a full reward at the 1200 RR points=1 credit rate
  • Actually all you need is a partial credit, 300 RR points to .25 A+ credit to .25 Standard Award credit is all you need to invest
  • You can't create half a standard award, so you need 16 credits to create one. Once created you can use half an award to book a 1-way. This makes sense once you recall that credits expire, so less than 16 credits in two years equalled zilch.
  • Because your going to ask: a Freedom Award is one with no limits or blackout dates and it costs twice as many credits.
Recap:
  • Transfer from Southwest to create A+ award credits at the 1200 RR to 1 credit rate
  • Transfer A+ credits to Southwest at a 1:1 rate towards Standard awards
  • A 1-way ticket costs you 8 standard award credits
  • Last day to complete transfers is Oct 31st or sooner
  • You only need to transfer 300 RR points to seed an award, you can buy remaining credits when you are sure you can use the award
It is inevitable that Southwest will do away with the Standard Awards at some point. The latest possible date for transferred awards to expire is Nov 1st 2015.
Southwest may convert these into points at some point, but I'm hopeful that they don't want to alienate AirTran flyers too quickly.

Interesting bit, I've never played with this aspect but it has possibilities, from terms:

  • Travel on Standard and Freedom Awards must occur on scheduled service between origin and destination. If we do not offer scheduled service between two Southwest cities, an unscheduled routing may be built. Unscheduled routings must be built using the most direct routes and the first available connecting flights. Arrival at destination must occur on the same day as departure from origin. An overnight stopover may not occur at any point between origin and destination. If an overnight stopover is scheduled, additional Awards must be used.
Link: http://rewardsfarther.com/program-integration/rewards-conversion/

If I knew how to do it I'd insert the handy graphic from the rewardsfurther site with arrows that show the transfer circle I've outlined here.

No Rapid Rewards points?
Transfer from UR (instant).
Reload a Sears Gift Card through the RR portal (takes a few days to post, you will need to call to get the transaction to clear).
 

Haley

I am not a robot
well crap, the transfers are slow tonight.
UR->RR->A+->standard award credits.
I avoid creating full awards (16 credits) until I can book them, or I used to. I've used many of these over the years and am contemplating creating one award plus a .25 credit seed in all 5 of my families accounts.
 
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