Southwest 40% bonus points offer

[What The Heck?]

I got a mail today from southwest airlines.

Now is a great time to buy Rapid Rewards® Points or give them as a gift to family or friends with this 40% bonus points offer available through July 31, 2014!

That gives you only one week to take advantage of this great opportunity. Whether you're traveling within the country or jetting off to one of our new international destinations, buying Rapid Rewards Points can help you or your recipient get there sooner. Plus, when you use your Rapid Rewards Premier or Plus Credit Card to purchase these points, you'll earn an additional 2 points for every $1 spent.

Hurry! This limited-time offer ends next Thursday, July 31, 2014

My question is i am wondering if i buy points this way, if my total points reach 110k points, will i qualify for the companion pass? If that is the case, i think this offer is fully worth it. In fact i just got a southwest credit card and this will even go towards meeting minimum spend as well as for companion pass. Need some help from experts please.

 

[McRingRing]

The purchase would count toward the minimum spend, but the points you purchase do not count toward the companion pass:

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?topic=rapid_rewards_program_terms_and_conditions

Points purchased for personal use or as a gift, transferred points, points earned from program enrollment, Tier bonuses, flight bonuses, and Partner bonuses (with the exception of the Rapid Rewards Credit Cards from Chase) do not count toward Companion Pass status.

It's not specified in the link above, but if you need to top off your account after meeting the minimum spend, transfers from Southwest's hotel partners DO count toward the CP... but typically at a pretty poor ratio.

 

[What The Heck?]

The purchase would count toward the minimum spend, but the points you purchase do not count toward the companion pass:

http://www.southwest.com/html/customer-service/faqs.html?topic=rapid_rewards_program_terms_and_conditions

Points purchased for personal use or as a gift, transferred points, points earned from program enrollment, Tier bonuses, flight bonuses, and Partner bonuses (with the exception of the Rapid Rewards Credit Cards from Chase) do not count toward Companion Pass status.

It's not specified in the link above, but if you need to top off your account after meeting the minimum spend, transfers from Southwest's hotel partners DO count toward the CP... but typically at a pretty poor ratio.

Thanks a lot.

 

[nsx]

$377 for a Standard Award is tempting.

 

[Deltahater]

They have a 30% offer out right now. Some of the WN experts, please check my math:

At 30% off, I am buying 10,000 points at $192.50. That is 0.019cpm.
Using a random SAT-ATL flight, the cost is $135 or 7,293 points. That is 0.0185 cpm.

It seems that even at 30% off it makes no sense to buy the points since they don't count towards the companion pass.

 

[nsx]

They have a 30% offer out right now. Some of the WN experts, please check my math:

At 30% off, I am buying 10,000 points at $192.50. That is 0.019cpm.
Using a random SAT-ATL flight, the cost is $135 or 7,293 points. That is 0.0185 cpm.

It seems that even at 30% off it makes no sense to buy the points since they don't count towards the companion pass.

Don't forget the points ticket also incurs $5.60 each way security fee. Don't forget that you lose the points you would have earned for the flight.

It only makes sense to buy points to top off a Standard Award or to clean out your points when you are finished with Southwest for at least the next couple years. I'm pretty sure this is true even when the bonus reaches 50%, as in a recent widely targeted offer.