nsx

They aren't going to give you a stated and fixed number of points per dollar. The travel agency will shop for a ticket for your itinerary and then tell you the price in points.

If you are hoping for a chance to buy an international ticket at less than 100 to 120 points per dollar of actual airfare, you can forget about that. Traditional frequent flier programs can occasionally deliver exceptionally high value per mile (e.g., travel to small, remote airports), but RR 2.0 will NEVER do so. Your point priced will closely follow the actual cash price for any international ticket.

ScroogeMcFlyer

I think the keyword here is "occasionally". At least in 2.0 I won't have to hunt down an award seat. Last summer I wanted an award seat and had to fly home 4pm on a Monday instead of returning Sunday night. The flight on Monday was priced at $119 and the Sunday flight was $139 (no standard award available). In 2.0, it will only cost me 8340 points instead of 7140, or 1200 points more than the Monday flight. That wasn't an option last year.

ByrdluvsAWACO

100 to 120 points per dollar? With todays higher fares, surcharges, and govt taxes I can't see any intl ticket being less than 120 points. I would also add that WN intl awards have the disadvantage of always having travel agent fees included in the price.

toomanybooks

Wait a minute. They don't have a fixed exchange rate for RR 2.0 points into $$$?

So if I can be reasonably sure there's a ticket on, say, AA, for $800 to Europe, I won't know how many RR 2.0 points I am shooting for ahead of time? They can quote some random amount?

nsx

That's the way I interpret it, yes. My guess is that the 120 points per dollar will be in the ballpark unless the travel agent can come up with a lower non-published fare and give you a better points price. This flexibility to offer non-published fares is, I believe, one reason Southwest is avoiding a stated dollar value for the points.

toomanybooks

Yes, but we will get miles/segments, etc. on these award tickets on other airlines, I assume. WN's travel agent will be buying those tickets with $$$.

Until WN comes across with some details on this, which they certainly ought to do, my earning (especially what I had earmarked for the WN Visa) will go elsewhere.

toomanybooks

OK, thanks. Screwy. Less than a month out we shouldn't have to be "interpreting" ambiguous terms.

So clearly we won't be able to do this online, yes? We will have to call some travel agent every time we want to price itineraries, check availability, etc.? I HATE talking on the phone.

What a waste of time this is going to turn out to be for WGA travelers. AA is looking better all the time.

nsx

It's pretty clear to me that international redemption will be a bad deal, just as are most (all?) redemption opportunities where the program has to pay out cash to buy you something. This aspect of RR 2.0 is superficially interesting but fundamentally lame.

FSUNole

For those in a similar position to me (details below), I contacted Customer Service and received a ruling. (Situation below)

*Credit Needed by: 12/XX/2011*
Existing Companion Pass Cardholder: Yes, DR. FSUNOLE
Existing Companion Pass Date of Birth: XX/XX/XXXX
Existing Companion Pass Begin Date: 12/XX/2010
*Existing Companion Pass Valid Through: 01/31/2012*

The representative confirmed (via a chat with the "Head of the Customer Service Training area", per her) that my companion pass will be extended through 12/31/2012. I would infer from this that the mythical "Expiration Date" that they're using is, indeed, the "Existing Companion Pass Valid Through" date. Hopefully this will still be the case come the day of reckoning. I am not using Marriott Points to requalify prior to 3/1/2011 as I had originally planned due to this new information, so I sincerely hope the lead/representative were correct.

ftnoob

Today's pre-dawn Rapid Report confirms the above speculation as far as it applies to standby travel (emphasis added):
What has not been specifically addressed yet is what happens if the pax wants to make an outright change* rather than fly standby. Presumably that also requires more points and the same restrictions (made by account holder, one hour notice) would apply.

* because seats are available; this is of particular interest in cases where WGA bucket fares are still offered on the flight

nsx

I'll bet that before too long Southwest decides to allow passengers to use a credit card to pay the difference between Anytime and WGA fares when making same-day changes to an award ticket. Otherwise it's just too difficult to deal with the situation when the account does not have enough points.

toomanybooks

"Member must be present to approve the use of additional points for the increased cost. Because this requires additional points, the Member must be the one to make the change, so he/she can authorize usage of additional points. (This is for protection of the Member’s Rapid Rewards account.) The Member may make the change at least one hour prior to the scheduled departure of the flight on southwest.com or by calling 1-800-I-FLY-SWA."

Do they even read this stuff before sending it out?

kennycrudup

I'm sure they did; but if someone other than the account holder makes any changes, they have a legal(?) case for deliberate misrepresentation, I'd think.

UnitedEF

I wouldn't assume that. If they were going to have to pay real dollars to a TA why would they care about the redeemer earning miles? It would make more sense to make sure that the TA books the lowest possible fare, which a lot of times earn nothing. Besides do they really want to help one of their customers earn status on a competing airline?

curunir

You know, I've never seen the 24 month thing written in stone at Southwest. I'm still wondering if awards that are 18 months expired as of this moment will be unrecoverable come March 1st and one should revive them post haste?