Originally Posted by crabbing
i've seen lots of ways to convert miles/points from other programs into RR credits or awards. is there anything you can convert SW credits into?
i typically fly often enough to accumulate one reward per year or so, but my wife flies maybe twice a year (and not always SW), and her flights are either compensated or fall within RR blackout dates (or "dates with no RR availability," to use SW's lingo).
so she accumulates 4-6 credits a year for nothing. or is there anything she can do with those credits?
Southwest is far from alone. Northwest, for example, also has pretty much nothing (maybe some magazines?) that you can turn their miles into.
It's probably only about half the airlines out there that let you convert out, even though virtually all of them have way to convert in from at least some hotel program or such.
She may be able to use her Southwest RR card (not credits) for discounts a few places (20% discount at LAX's ParkOne by Park'n'Fly is one example, the only I've personally used), but the only thing you can use RR credits for is RR awards, automatically issued at 16 credits within 2 years (and thus you need an average of 8 credits a year to get something).
Does either of you ever rent cars? Keep in mind that all other domestic airlines give you paltry 50 miles per day (unless there's some promo going on), while with Southwest you get at least 0.5 credits per rental and often there are promos to double or triple that. So unless you're steering you car rentals to foreign airlines, or can't rent with one of the companies Southwest partners with, you might want to look into whether you could steer you rentals into her account, if that would put her over (and if you don't need the credits from rentals because you have enough credits from flying).
If you don't figure out a way (using partners) to turn that 4-6 into 8, then yes, it's going to be all for nothing (unless Southwest emails her some big promo she can take advantage of).