InkUnderNails

I tried to. I was standing in line to check in for my second flight on them and found that my flight was delayed for 12 hours and I would miss a connection meaning I would not get home for 24+. When I got to the agent I asked of I could cancel and get a refund and he said yes. I walked over to WN and bought a BS one way home. I went back and cancelled and got my refund.

Peoriaman1

I don't think anyone WANTS other people to make the same mistakes we did, but seeing a thread titled "Beware Southwest will steal your points" probably does little to win us over to his side. That's where the "Read the terms and conditions!!" posts come from. Its not plain mean-spirited snarkiness.

Perhaps if the initial post read something like "Help, my points have expired; is there any way to get them back?" the OP might have gotten some sympathy and/or helpful hints.

sallyerd

All drivel and sniping aside, I am glad our Missing-In-Action OP bought this topic to the forefront. Even though the T&C outline how to keep points active ... the OP served up a good reminder. I just double-checked my account and see I misunderstood the T & Cs. I thought that paying for priority seating on top of using my companion pass would constitute activity. On the contrary, Nada. Zip. Fortunately, I pay a annual fee on my credit card and get annual bonus points. The 6000 points appear to constitute "activity."

I consider the $69 annual fee to be a fair swap for the 6000 points since they seem to buy about $100 worth of travel. I just hope I am not mistaken again and that $69 actually is the approximate worth of 6000 points.

Critterlynn

it is possible to get about $100 worth of flights on some of the lower-cost routes for 6000 points. However, you are mistaken about the $69 fee earning you 6000 points. The $69 fee card (Southwest Plus) only earns 3000. The Southwest Primier card on the other hand, earns 6000 but carries a $99 fee.
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ursine1

You need points earning activity in your Rapid Rewards account in order to keep it alive. Buying Upgraded Boarding (or EBCI or any other ancillary product or fee) does not earn points.

As long as you have a Southwest credit card your points will not expire (since the anniversary points count as point earning activity).

trouble747

Oddly, my experience was that -- although Chase advertises the Southwest credit cards with the benefit that 'points never expire as long as your account is open' -- Southwest was adamant that this is not actually a thing and that a RR member must have point-earning activity within 24 months to prevent points from expiring. This does not appear to comport with Chase's fine print, which seems to suggest that simply holding the card is sufficient and when the card account is closed points will expire after 24 months.

I learned this after I opened a new southwest credit card and a month later (just before chase had notified southwest of any points-earning activity) southwest expired the 8k points in my account. While this was obviously an avoidable scenario on my part, I did feel that the card terms were unclear or confusing at best. Yet in various phone conversations and written correspondence Southwest refused to even acknowledge this so-called card benefit (all except the front-line CSR, who conceded that it was confusing). In any event, Southwest refused to budge.

I then contacted Chase, where a front-line CSR resolved the issue upon one secure message.

ursine1

Can you elaborate?

Did Chase grant you the forfeited 8,000 points?

(I agree that the wording on Chase's side is confusing, and misleading.)

rsteinmetz70112

As long as the Chase Credit Card Account is open you will get an anniversary bonus every year which is enough to keep the Rapid Rewards Account open. If you close the Chase Credit Card Account and do not have any other points earning activity, the Rapid Rewards account will be closed 24 months after the last points were earned. This may be sooner than 2 years after closing the Chase Credit Card Account. There are two separate accounts, the Chase Credit Card Account and the Rapid Rewards Account.

ursine1

I think you're missing the point.

Chase advertises that your Rapid Rewards points never expire as long as your credit card account is open.

As was mentioned in his post, there are scenarios where this is not true. Simply having a Chase Southwest credit card account does not keep your points from expiring.

Imagine this scenario: The last activity on your Rapid Rewards account was over a year ago. Without new activity your points will expire in 11 months. You open a new Chase Southwest credit card, but don't use it for whatever reason. You aren't earning any monthly points from Chase. 11 months later, despite the fact that you have a Chase Southwest credit card, which promises that your points don't expire as long as you have an open account, your Rapid Rewards points expire.

Does this illustrate more clearly how the language Chase uses is confusing, and likely incorrect?

Peoriaman1

I think even if you don't use the card, as long as you pay the $69 (or $99) fee, your points remain alive (because you earn points by paying the fee). But I do confess by being confused by the language Chase uses! Glad its not just me.

trouble747

By Chase's description, Southwest agreed to reinstate the points at their request. Of course it could be that Chase simply paid for them (as my complaint was largely with their stated T&C).

trouble747

Sure, makes sense. Except that leaves nearly 12 months during which time you can have a card account open and not actually earn any points with it. And I'm fairly certain the T&Cs state that the points will expire 24 months after the card is closed, which is something else entirely. (Not to mention that 'points never expire as long as CC account is open' also isn't true if the points expire while the CC account is open but before any points have been credited to RR, as happened to me.)

Any time that I made this specific inquiry to southwest the question would be ignored out of hand as if I had never asked it, even on the phone!

*edit* Here's what the fine print says:

Emphasis added on the word 'or.' Southwest insists that this should actually be interpreted as "and"; that the card itself offers no points-saving benefit. The second sentence is unclear but arguably suggests you have 24 months from account closure.

MJMLBBtoCPH

Looks like OP was a drive-by because he has yet to come back to FT.

Still, as an A-lister, I have to admit that I did not know this about WN's program, so the OP's post and the following discussion (including the snarky comments) were quite helpful to me. Granted, I don't seem to keep more than about 15k to 30k in points in the program, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if they expired.

I will say, however, that although the OP did not follow the rules (and he'd be more strategic at this point to use honey instead of vinegar in getting WN to reinstate the points), what the snarky commenters with WN-colored glasses in this thread don't seem to admit or realize is that sometimes these mega corporations also don't follow the rules either. And, it can be very difficult to hold them accountable - which is why some people sympathized with the OP's experience. I'm not surprised by reports in posts above that people's points expired even when they had a Chase WN credit card in spite of the language in their corporate advertising. And it's not just Chase and WN. By way of another example, Barclays and Choice hotels promise 5 points per spend at their cheapola hotels using the credit card, but Barclays suddenly started only giving me 2 points for spend for a hotel. I've gone round and round with both Barclays and Choice Hotels and each mega corporation say it's the other's responsibility to provide the 3 additional points. This is actually the second time it has happened to me in 2 years (they admitted they cheated me in 2017 and fixed the issue for about 9 months, but now it's started up again and both are claiming the other is responsible - I only use this card at Choice hotels so it's easy to see the shorting of points). My first mistake was probably holding onto this card after the bonus award anyways.

I currently like some of WN's policies (like free cancellation and retention of ticket fares for use later), and their employees are generally happier and pretty service oriented compared to other airlines (much better than UA), but no mega corporation is your friend, and they will take action that primarily caters to Wall Street investors and shareholders (sometimes executives cater only to the short-term shark shareholders of Wall Street while screwing long-term institutional investors). So, my advice is to be aware of the terms and conditions but also realize that the corporation may not follow their own terms and conditions anyways and be prepared to deal with that as well.

ursine1

The annual fee doesn't earn points.

joshua362

That scared me so I had to check as I haven't earned in a long while. Yes, the $99 didn't earn 99 points but it triggered the 6,000 "bonus" points causing "activity" to WN RR

Tomato / To-mah-too