Using MR points for Southwest Air tickets
 

I wasn't aware of this , but a friend called AMEX today and a rep told him on the phone that if he used an AMEX card to purchase a Southwest Air ticket , when it appears on his statement , the system will then allow him to apply MR points towards it at a 1:1 ratio.

Does not work towards other Southwest fees (I currently have a $5 Southwest Air fee on my statement, can't use pay with points towards it)

Perhaps believable if the 1:1 ratio is points-to-pennies. If it's points-to-dollars, then it's almost certainly 100:1, if it exists at all. No way that you can redeem MR points at anywhere close to $1 each.

I believe he's referring to pay with points, you can do it with any airline ticket booked thru Amex. You get 1 cent per point or 1.25 cents per point if you have a Platinum/Centurion card.

1 cent per point isn't great redemption value.

Isn't great value , but I was surprised , being most statement credit uses of points will only value them at 0.7 cents

And Southwest flights can't be booked through AMEX travel , so this is sort of a work-around - valuable when considering how much cheaper it is to fly IAD-DEN with 2 bags on Southwest vs the other airlines

Pay with Points is $0.01 for Green and Gold accounts, $0.0125 for Platinum and Centurion because American Express refunds 20% of the points.

Is this only for airfare? Because when I tried to book other travel...like hotels and a cruise, I wasn't getting $. 01... I was getting $.0075.

After I applied and started to use my MR points I was very disappointed! Switched over from SPG Am Ex and remember reading that I could use my MR points and transfer them to SPG and to other airlines.

Imagine my surprise when I realized I could only get 333 SPG points per 1000...and also to find out United/Continental were going away!

I need to burn through 66K MR points before I cancel in a few months. I plan to go back to my SPG card instead. I would love to be able to buy my Southwest tickets for this June now and apply my MR points but only if I get $ .01...

Green/Gold Pay with Points is generally $0.01 for airfare, less for other types of travel. ( don't know why, because lodging should be more profitable for the agency.) Some posters have reported targeted promotions which temporarily improved the return. Typically this is presented as a "discount" in the number of points per dollar.

I made the same mistake. Signed up for PRG and thought I could convert the bonus points to SPG points (at a reasonable rate at least) - if it weren't for the 2X points on gas/groceries I wouldn't keep the card.

I'm gonna pay for the second year when the fee comes due, but I don't know if it will last must past 2 years.

I wasn't planning on using this for gas...as I get 5% on my Pen Fed. But what upsets me is that they told me I would not get 2% on my commissary purchases as they were not including it as "grocery stores".

My husband has a Hilton Am Ex and on that card they do give the extra points and consider commissaries as grocery stores. But not the gold card. So now all I can get is 1 pt. I was surprised that they include it as a grocery store on a Hilton Am Ex...but not a Gold Am Ex.

So back to SPG Am Ex I go nect spring. I will apply closer to my 1 year on this card in hopes I might be able to get a sign up bonus again on SPG....

Did you make a test purchase or only ask?

I made a purchase and when I called in to question why I only got 1 pt they said commissaries were not included. I said it was on my husband's Hilton as a bonus catergory. The rep confirmed it in the terms and conditions.