Southwest Rapid Rewards - To get that extra credit on a one-way

I am going to get a one-way ticket SNA-PHX in the first week of August. Only refundable fares are available for purchase, and will cost me $91 after taxes.

Now, when booking on southwest.com, if I enter my departing city as SNA, arriving city as LAS and return city as PHX, does that still count as a one-way, thus yielding me still only 2 credits (1 credit for one-way travel, 1 credit for online booking) or does it get me 4 credits? Obviously travel will be the same day, layover in LAS would be like 2 hours.

Or, what if I book two separate one-ways? One ticket from SNA to LAS. And then a second ticket from LAS to PHX. Either method, comes out to the same price.

I figure if I have to pay $91 for the one-way full refundable fare, why not pay $127 for the one-way via SNA-LAS-PHX if I can get 4 credits vs. just 2 credits. The $127 fare is at the three-day advance purchase rate vs. the refundable fares.

What do you think? Experiences? If anyone knows a cheaper routing, that would be nice too.

Sure, you can book two legs for 4 credits. I did this once from OAK to PHX to STL after the web site refused to sell me the last connection of the day as a through flight. Fare was within a few $ of the same this way, due to a 3-day advance fare on one of the legs. But of course if you misconnect, you are on your own.

Thanks for the reply. I am going to have at least 1 hr if not a 2 hr layover in LAS.

Do you think it's safer to book two seperate tickets or just enter both legs at one time? Either way, comes out to the same price.

BTW, $36 for an extra 2 credits sounds a bit expensive, unless you have credits about to expire or you really enjoy spending extra time on planes and in airports.

I don't think it makes any difference how you book it: open jaw or separately.

Interesting point, $36 seems like a lot? I was thinking it might be worth it, but don't know. I flew a bunch of times on WN in May, got 16 credits and a RR, so now I am back to 0.


[This message has been edited by cab747 (edited 07-28-2003).]

I've actually seen it price differently depennding on how it was booked:

In my case (pardon the algebra - I can't recall the exact numbers):
1] MDW-OKC-MDW (stopover or connection in MCI) priced at one price: X

2] MDW-MCI-MDW priced at Y1
MCI-OKC-MCI priced at Y2
Y1+Y2 = Y

3] OKC-MCI-MDW priced at Z1

4] OKC-MCI + MCI-MDW priced at Z2

Y/2 = Z2
Z1 > Y/2
X>Y

In English, booking two round non-stops instead of a connection was cheaper in this case. I did that. However, I had to change my plans, and cancelled both of of the return portions. I initially tried to rebook by selecting OKC as origin, flying to MCI and then returning to MDW. This priced out more expensive than the funds I had available. I then went back and booked two one ways. OKC-MCI, and then separately MCI-MDW. This ended up the exact same as I had payed earlier.

Thus it seems that booking it that way changes the cost. I am not sure if it would also change the way it counts for credit.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by cab747:
I am going to get a one-way ticket SNA-PHX in the first week of August. Only refundable fares are available for purchase, and will cost me $91 after taxes.

Now, when booking on southwest.com, if I enter my departing city as SNA, arriving city as LAS and return city as PHX, does that still count as a one-way, thus yielding me still only 2 credits (1 credit for one-way travel, 1 credit for online booking) or does it get me 4 credits? Obviously travel will be the same day, layover in LAS would be like 2 hours.

Or, what if I book two separate one-ways? One ticket from SNA to LAS. And then a second ticket from LAS to PHX. Either method, comes out to the same price.

I figure if I have to pay $91 for the one-way full refundable fare, why not pay $127 for the one-way via SNA-LAS-PHX if I can get 4 credits vs. just 2 credits. The $127 fare is at the three-day advance purchase rate vs. the refundable fares.

What do you think? Experiences? If anyone knows a cheaper routing, that would be nice too.</font>

If you are going to fly WN within a year, book a round trip to PHX as low as $49 one way. Refund the return flight later.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JS:
If you are going to fly WN within a year, book a round trip to PHX as low as $49 one way. Refund the return flight later.</font>

Would have done that, but needed to leave August 5, and only refundable fares were available. Doing a roundtrip still wouldn't have posed a better deal because the fare went up even more.

But I have seen WN advertise (finally) SNA as low as $29 one-way from PHX.