So other than JetBlue and WN RR 2.0, which airlines have "cash-like" points systems?

I'd like to do some comparisons. Thanks.

Virgin America

Randy Petersen says in this article that the best comparison is to the former America West FlightFUND.

Given the routes you fly, you probably pay $70-$100 each way. Under the old program, 16 one ways gets you a free trip anywhere SW flies. But, it is subject to capacity restrictions, so you can't reliably know you will be able to use your free ticket when you want to.

Under the new program, you essentially earn a 10% rebate good for future travel on your tickets. In theory, the value is significantly less then the potential value of the free ticket you were earning under the old program, but you can reliably count on using your credits when you want.

So, the decision of which program is better depends on what you value--the opportunity of a high yield free ticket that you can not reliably use, or a lower value free ticket that you have confidence you can use when you want.

One other consideration: See the discussion a few posts up. There is a discussion of how less frequent travelers will essentially forfeit all their accumulated credits effective March 1. You exactly fit this profile of traveler. So, most likely, SW will start confiscating any orphan credits in your account starting March 1. So, you will essentially starting a new reward from scratch March 1.

Update on Posting from Choice Priv. and SPG transfers
 

As the 1 Mar deadline is upon us, thought I would give my experience.

I transferred most of my Choice Credits to RR and they took about 10 days to post. I think I remember they accumulate requests and batch transfer once a week. So if you want to transfer, best to do this pronto.

I also transferred Starwood credits and they only took 2 days to post to RR.

I preferred to get my Awards now (old) and then extend some - which gives me 3 years to us them if I need that long. Although seat availability is a concern with Awards, I am usually very flexible in plans, so rarely find myself not getting an Award seat. And I fear higher fares in the future will make an Award more valuable than the points I would get. Also do not want to risk devaluation of transfers.

ONLY 2 weeks until the new RR program kicks in!

What is Randy talking about? FlightFund, of which I was often Chairmans/Masters, Gold or Platinum was not based on points or fare purchased.

IIRC, America West's first FF program awarded one point per dollar of fare. After a couple years, they change the program to be miles-based. I think they left the name the same, as Southwest has done with Rapid Rewards.

FlightFundI (pre-1990) was indeed revenue based. FlightFundII was mileage based. The conversion process was incredibly generous resulting in a triple valuation from the old program.

I miss those Concorde/QEII awards.

Now back to WN...

OK, I am totally confused about what to do. I have one sixteen credit standard award that expires tomorrow. In addition, I have 15.25 credits toward a second standard award. I plan no travel in the forseeable future. I assume the first thing I have to do is pay $50 to extend the current award (Do I have to do this by the expiration date of 2/17 or by 2/28? How do I do this - call SW?). Can I get .75 credit somehow before 3/1 to get the necessary 16 credits for a second award? What happens to these credits if I don't get the additional .75 by 2/28? Any advice and experience with this would be much appreciated.

By 2/28.

Yes.

Sure. Any number of ways. Take a one way flight, spend $300 in the Dining program, rent a car with a double-credit offer, stay in a hotel with a double-credit offer, etc.

The 15.25 credits will remain in your account, following the normal expiration rules (ie, they start expiring 24 months after they were earned). Once you have earned 900 points in the new system starting 3/1, you can trade those points in for the remaining 0.75 credits to give you your final Standard Award.

If you log in and go to the awards page the left side menu will include this option:
You can select which award(s) you want to have reissued and pay the fee online.

Why wouldn't you want to wait until Feb 2012 to pay the $50 and extend the award's use until Feb 2013?

Your point is a good one. Folks are talking about even extending unexpired awards this month to preserve the possibility of another extension.* Not everybody needs to rush down the path of costing themselves an extra $50 to gain less than one additional year to use an award.

*The advantage to extending now is that it appears to preserve the right to extend one more time, (up to one year after the next time it expires). That would enable use as late as Feb, 2014.

If you have multiple awards expiring around the same time, it might be a good idea to convert them to Freedom Awards as well.

Thanks, ftnoob , for the online link to reissue my award. It's now good until 2/17/2012 with one more extension if I need it for a year beyond that. Thanks to others as well for your advice.

On my second issue of having 15.25 credits toward a second standard award, I'm still unsure what to do. The following seems to bear on my situation:

"The transition for earnings is simple: You earn credits before March 1, 2011 and points for any activity that posts on or after March 1 (regardless of the activity date!).

You have a one-time option to top off your last 16-credit Standard Award at the ratio of 1200 points per credit. At that point you get a Standard Award. From then on, you can only earn points, not credits. FT member swag came up with a tip: It might be wise to delay exercising your option until you really need the Standard Award. That way it will carry a later expiration date if you don't use it immediately. For this purpose, you need some leftover RR credits, presumably as little as 0.25 credit, in your account as of March 1."

Looks to me that I don't need to rush to get the last .75 credit before March 1 since I will have a one-time opportunity to convert 1200 points earned after March 1 to get the remaining 1 credit I need (actually .75) to complete the standard award and that it may even benefit me to wait to get the new points until I need that additional award since the clock on the one year expiration won't start ticking until I top off that last point. Am I correct in my interpretation?