<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by rack him:
My question surrounds the issue of exchanging points for airline tickets, which Hilton also does with a variety of airlines, and in particular, if the exchange gives a ticket/voucher or a deposit of miles (or in the case of Southwest, credits). I figured it would be a ticket/voucher, but the Southwest discussion I saw seems to indicate it is a deposit of credits.</font>
The deposit of 16 credits on SWA is basically the exact same thing as being issued an award ticket. Once the 16 credits are posted to your account, an award ticket is AUTOMATICALLY issued IMMEDIATELY (which is then valid for travel for 1 year). You cannot hold off on claiming your award ticket from SWA until you desire as you can with your FF miles on other airlines. Hope this helps.