nsx

See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...stockpile.html

for a discussion of this odd change. It might be an intentional and permanent change or it might be an accidental error. It works in your favor when redeeming points for WGA fares.

This would be an excellent time to book or rebook your award travel at the old points exchange rate and with the benefit of this reduction in points charged for taxes and fees.

nsx

In case you had forgotten, or in case you thought the devaluation of your points would start on April 1: Tomorrow is the last day to book your points flights at the old rate.

In other news, I failed to announce the March 3, 2014 schedule extension through October 31, 2014. More international destinations were added under the Southwest brand, so your Companion Pass will take you to more places soon.

The next extension extension is due out on May 19, 2014 for travel through January 4, 2015. That's the big one, covering both Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Be aware that award inventory is not always fully loaded when the schedule opens. It might appear some hours later. You need to re-check all day.

nsx

Virgin America believes it will win two gates at Love field in Dallas and has started a fare war at $79 each way. Southwest has responded with similar fares for travel September 9 through October 29, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays only. Similar fares for SFO (but not OAK), LAX, DCA, and LGA. Sale ends at 10 PM Pacific Time Saturday. Note that Virgin America is offering these fares from October 28 through November 20, but Southwest's schedule does not extend into November.

Southwest is selling Rapid Rewards points at a 25% discount through the end of May. This gives you an excellent opportunity to top off 16 AirTran credits for a capacity-controlled Standard Award, or even to buy an entire Standard Award for $400, as explained at
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...-402-19-a.html

In other news, the AirTran A+ Rewards program will end November 2. All remaining AirTran credits will change into Southwest points provided that you have already linked your Rapid Rewards account to your AirTran account. Never before have old credits been changeable into new points, and it will likely never happen again. If you value 19200 points more highly than a capacity-controlled Standard Award, this is your chance to change the latter into the former or just to change a few stray credits into points.

For discussion of managing expiration dates of credits and other Q&A see
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...l#post22749642
and
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/airtr...ember-1-a.html

nsx

On Monday May 19, 2014, Southwest's schedule should open for sale through January 4, 2015. Previous extensions have happened between 5:30 AM and 6:15 AM Central Time.

This is the big one, covering Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day. Expect the new dates to show up between 5:30 AM and 6:15 AM Central Time Monday, May 19. This extension is expected to complete the change of AirTran cities and routes to Southwest branding for all dates after October 31, 2014.

If you need to book at the earliest possible instant, you'll need to glue yourself to your computer and constantly refresh the flight search page. To avoid any nasty Master Session Timeout surprises, you should also plan to delete southwest.com cookies every 10 minutes or so. Note: it is best not to log in first! You may encounter booking problems and inconsistent behavior due to website overload. Be aware that the schedule opening may not activate on all Southwest's servers at the same time. Reloading the web page may put you on a different server, opening or perhaps even closing the schedule extension. Patience is required.

In some past schedule extensions, standard award seats did not become available immediately. Please post your results on finding any award seats or not finding any for any routes or dates. As soon as one person posts finding an award seat during the new dates, we will know that at least some award inventory has been loaded.

For information on future schedule extensions, see the travel tools page at www.southwest.com/html/travel-tools/index.html

In other news:

1. Mark your calendars for a probable distance-based anniversary sale either June 10-12 or June 17-19. Expect the fares to be higher than last year's $49/99/129/149 offerings.

2. Southwest is selling points at 25% off, amounting to about 2 cents per point, until the end of this month. Purchased points do NOT count toward a Companion Pass. One possible use is to top off the 19,200 points you need in order to transfer to AirTran and back to generate a Southwest Standard Award.

3. Speaking of AirTran, their A+ Rewards loyalty program will close on November 1, 2014. Any AirTran credits remaining will be converted into 1200 Rapid Rewards points each, our first and probably only opportunity to convert credits to points.

4. If you have some orphan Rapid Rewards credits or Rapid Rewards points expiring after November 1, consider moving them to AirTran and waiting for them to become points with new life.

5. If you want to create any Standard Awards by transferring 9600 points to Airtran and back to Southwest as 16 credits, you need to do so before November 1. Don't cut it too close to that deadline in case the transfer feature stops working earlier.

6. American Express Daily Getaway offers for 2014 start on Monday. There are several opportunities to buy hotel points which can be transferred to Southwest and which have always counted toward Companion Pass qualification. In past years the Hyatt offers have sold out so quickly that they were virtually impossible to buy. The Choice offers were slightly less popular, and the Best Western offer remained available for weeks. All these offers will cost you a premium over the redemption value of the Rapid Rewards points, so they only make sense if you are close to the necessary 110,000 companion pass qualifying points.

7. Check your email for a personalized offer from AirTran for 750 bonus points if you validate their information on your AirTran account and Southwest account. Clink the link in the email. It takes less than a minute.

nsx

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...off-300-a.html

That's about as high as it gets for RR shopping:Other useful codes and expiration dates:

nsx

This appears to be 2014's distance-based anniversary sale. Its scope appears to be limited, but check your city pairs to be sure. My favorite OAK-LAX was not on the list, but Southwest has nevertheless reduced the fare from $69 to $59.

• Purchase from June 3 through June 5, 2014, 11:59 p.m. for the respective time zone of the originating city.
• Travel August 25 through December 17, 2014. Travel DAL - LAS and DAL - LAX available October 13 through December 17, 2014. Travel DAL - FLL, DAL - PHX, DAL - SNA, ATL - PUJ, MDW - CUN, MDW - MBJ, SAT - MEX, and SNA - MEX available November 3 through December 17, 2014.
• Travel valid every day excluding Fridays and Sundays. Travel to Florida or Nevada is valid Sunday through Wednesday only. Additionally, travel from Florida or Nevada is valid Tuesday through Friday only. Travel between Nevada and Florida is valid on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only.
• Blackout Dates Apply: September 1 and November 21 - December 2, 2014.
• Fares not available to/from Richmond, VA.

See discussion of this sale at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ting-49-a.html

Buying now avoids the security fee increase. Starting July 1 you will pay $5.60 per one-way trip rather than $2.50 per flight segment. It's almost as if this change were designed specifically to target a certain low-fare short-haul airline.

nsx

This is your big chance to earn Companion Pass Qualifying Points and save big at Sears. 10 RR points per dollar at a par value of 1.4 cents equals 14% off all sale prices. You can also buy gift cards at the same price and use them later, perhaps the next time RR shopping has a similar earning rate. Then you could double dip for 25% savings.

You could in theory "buy" a Companion Pass by spending $11k at Sears, or by buying $5.5k in gift cards and using them to pay for another portal purchase at 10 points per dollar today or later in the year.

The Sears offer is for June 26 only but it has already started.

Follow the discussion at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...l#post23097833

nsx

On Monday, August 25, 2014, Southwest's schedule opened for sale through April 6, 2015. As usual the extension happened sometime before 6:30 AM Central Time.

www.southwest.com/html/travel-tools/ says: "On October 6, 2014, we will open our schedule for sale through June 5, 2015."

I failed to announce the August 4, 2014 schedule extension through March 6, 2014 in this thread.

The November 1, 2014 end of AirTran's A+ Rewards is rapidly approaching. Consider whether you want to convert any of your points to Standard Awards before then. I have found the capacity-controlled Standard Awards very useful when family members call me with requests to help with last-minute changes in their travel plans.

Even if you decide not to create extra Standard Awards, consider this low-risk tactic. Send just 300 points to AirTran and send that 1/4 credit back to Southwest Rapid Rewards by October 31. That will give you a 1/4 credit "seed" toward a Standard Award. You will then have a 12 month long option (starting the day you created this 1/4 credit) to add 18900 points to create your last Standard Award, which will then be usable for one full year.

nsx

The day after Wright Amendment restrictions were lifted, allowing long-haul flights to and from Dallas Love field, Southwest has started a 3-day winter sale. See http://www.southwest.com/html/promot...le-141014.html for city pairs and fares.

• Purchase from October 14 through October 16, 2014, 11:59 p.m. for the respective time zone of the originating city.
• Travel December 3 through December 17, 2014 and January 6 though February 11, 2015. Travel to/from San Juan, Puerto Rico is valid December 3 through December 11, 2014 and January 13 through February 11, 2015.
• Travel is valid every day except Fridays and Sundays. Travel to Florida or Nevada is valid Sunday through Wednesday only. Additionally, travel from Florida or Nevada is valid Tuesday through Friday only. Travel between Nevada and Florida is valid on Tuesdays and Wednesdays only.

nsx

AirTran's A+ Rewards program ends after November 1. That gives you just two days to make some important decisions about your points and credits.

Background

For newbies to Southwest, Rapid Rewards maintains two separate accounts for you: RR points and RR credits. Credits operate as they did in the pre-2011 Rapid Rewards program: When you accumulate 16 credits you automatically receive a Standard Award good for two capacity-controlled one-way trips anywhere Southwest flies. Standard Awards are typically not useful for trips planned far in advance, but they can save you a lot of money on short-notice trips. A Standard Award seat will be available if low fares would have been available on your flight but for their advance purchase restriction. You can get very lucky: I have even redeemed a Standard Award for the Monday before and the Sunday after Thanksgiving on two days' notice.

Credit balances are viewable under "View My Old Credits and Awards" in the left column after logging in to My Southwest.

Under the old program many members' credits expired before they could accumulate 16. Those members got nothing from the old program. The new program gives you the option to use points to top off your 16 credits at any time. You can earn the points in many new ways, or you can just purchase them. The purchase price for the full 16 credits ranges from about $375 to $500 depending on whether Southwest is running a promotion on points purchase. A last-minute trip normally costs more than $250 each way, so purchasing the points for a Standard Award can save you money.

However you can't purchase all 16 credits for a Standard Award. You need a "seed" of 0.25 credits minimum to activate the option to top off with points. That's why I am recommending planting that seed.

How to Plant Your Seed Credit

1. Create an AirTran account for yourself if you don't have one. Make sure the name and other information match your Southwest account exactly, because mismatches may block the necessary transfers until it's too late.

2. Login to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account. Click the My Rapid Rewards tab at the center near the top. Look near the bottom of the left column for "Transfer Between A+ Rewards and Rapid Rewards". Click that.

3. If you have credits in the AirTran program or credits (not points) in the Southwest program, skip to step 6.

4. If you have no credits in the AirTran program and no credits in the Southwest program, transfer 300 points, worth about $5, from Southwest to AirTran, where they become 0.25 credit. Then do another transfer to bring that credit back to Southwest. Logout of My Southwest and login again. Click "View My Old Credits and Awards" in the left column and you will see that you now have 0.25 credit expiring in 1 year, giving you the option to top off with points. You have a year to top off that award or not, and it only cost you $5 to create the option.

5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for all your family members. The $5 of points you invest now might save hundreds of dollars on a round trip in the next 2 years.

6. If you have some Southwest credits or AirTran credits, check their expiration dates. The object of this exercise is to create a long-duration option to top off. Early-expiring credits will shorten your option period. The best way to clean out early-expiring credits is to top them off the 16 and create a Standard Award. That award will be good for one year. Then don't forget to go back to step 3 and move 300 points to AirTran and back.

7. If you don't want to create a Standard Award and you have credits which will expire worthlessly, you should move all your credits to AirTran and leave them there. Some time after November 1 those credits will come back to Southwest as points, at 1200 points per credit. Your points will be good for two years from the last earning date in the Southwest program, not including points purchases. This is the first and presumably last opportunity to convert credits to points. I still recommend transferring 0.25 credit to Southwest before November 1 even though the result will be a shorter-term option to create a Standard Award. It's only $5.

8. If you have existing Standard Awards you can extend their expiration by transferring them to AirTran and back. This only works with an even number of one-way awards. Any odd number of one-way awards will leave you with 8 credits rather than a one-way award.

For further discussion including reports of transfer glitches requiring a phone call, read these two threads:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...you-doing.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...10-2016-a.html

nsx

Look for Southwest's schedule to open for sale through June 5, 2015 tomorrow morning: Monday, November 10, 2014 around 6:00 AM Central Time.

In other news, AirTran's A+ Rewards program shut down at the end of the day November 1, 2014, as has the AirTran website (which now sends you to Southwest). If you took advantage of the opportunity described in the preceding newsflash post, be sure to monitor the expiration date of your 0.25 credit. Act a day or more before that deadline if you decide to exercise your option to create a Standard Award.

Southwest is currently running a promotion on purchase of points giving you 1400 points for the price of each 1000 points. That brings the cost of Standard Award below $400, provided that you have a seed credit. This promotion appears a few times per year.

Southwest is once again offering 50,000 bonus points for all four of its credit cards at http://www.southwest.com/html/rapidr...rds/index.html
Expect to receive the bonus if and only if you have not applied for exactly the same card type within the preceding 24 months.

If you apply for one or more Southwest credit cards, I advise delaying meeting the spending requirement until January 2015. Your bonuses will then count toward Companion Pass qualification in the new year, for a Companion Pass good through all of 2016. If you want to take the very small risk that Chase could change your statement date you can meet the spending requirement after your December statement closes and is viewable online.

nsx

Southwest's schedule opened for sale through August 7, 2015 today just before 6:00 AM Central Time, as reported by FT member tatterdema. The new schedule includes Puerto Vallarta.

In other news, today is the last day of Southwest's best-ever points purchase promotion:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...l#post23941909

It's broadly targeted so you have a good chance to be eligible to get 1500 points for the price of each 1000 points. If you have a seed credit, this brings the cost of Standard Award to about $350. Login to My Southwest and don't believe the 40% they show you at first. If you get to the pull-down menu to select the number of points to buy, you'll probably see the 50% bonus points for each option in the list. If you are not targeted you will see 40% bonus points for each option.

Southwest has not had a major Christmas fare sale in the past several years, but lower fuel prices might make the difference this year. Visit FlyerTalk to stay up to date.

nsx

Look for Southwest's schedule to open for sale through October 30, 2015 tomorrow morning: Thursday, February 19, 2015 around 6:00 AM Central Time.


The big news is another surprise devaluation of Rapid Rewards points which will begin for redemptions on or after April 17, 2015, barely a year after the first devaluation from 60 to 70 points per dollar.

Southwest has declined to tell us anything about how many points per dollar it will charge for award travel, except that some flights, presumably off-peak flights which will not sell out at the lowest cash fare, will still be available at the same rate as now. Other than that unquantified commitment, Southwest will have the flexibility to increase award travel cost without notice and without limit.

Southwest has, in effect, cut Rapid Rewards points loose from any fixed dollar value. The change from the innovative initial program of 1 point = 1/60th of a dollar in guaranteed value to a traditional program of 1 point = unknown and declining value is almost complete. Speaking for myself, I could hardly be more disappointed. I hope Southwest can figure out how to give us some better assurances of the value of our points, at least over the next year or two.

Read the Southwest forum starting April 17 for our members' assessments of the new system and our inferences about Southwest's secret points per dollar formula. In the meantime you can read our reactions, concerns, and expectations in the devaluation thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...17-2015-a.html

I have also written a very long post on MilesBuzz at
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...ly-doomed.html
explaining why Southwest may have believed this change was necessary. If my analysis is correct, Southwest has demonstrated the unsustainability of revenue-based redemption without some sort of capacity controls. (Charging a high points premium for high-demand flights is a soft form of capacity control, as is limiting the best redemption rate to flights offering the deepest discount fares.)

What should you do about this devaluation? You have until April 17 to book future travel at 70 points per dollar. I'm going to book all my summer flights that way. If the points price decreases later, you can rebook.

After the dust settles in late April you may want to consider switching from the Rapid Rewards Visa to Barclaycard's Arrival Plus or CapitalOne's Venture, both of which pay you back 2% of your purchases in cash and give a $400 signup bonus. Aside from Companion Pass qualification, those cards are already superior to the Rapid Rewards Visa card in earning power. Also, if you use your cash back to buy Southwest tickets, that travel will you earn RR points and count toward A-list status! I plan to make this switch myself later in 2015.

nsx

Starting Thursday, April 17, 2015, your Rapid Rewards points will have an uncertain value. Some flights will be available at the current rate of 70 points per dollar. I'm guessing that flights at peak travel times, namely flights which are going to sell out, will no longer be available at this rate.

Book any of those flights now. There is no reason not to. If your plans change, you can cancel and get the points back. If the points price decreases later, you can re-book.

Don't let this deadline pass without acting!

nsx

10 Companion Pass qualifying points per dollar for Sears, today (May 1) only at Rapid Rewards Shopping. 10 RR points per dollar at a par value of 1.4 cents equals 14% off all prices. You can also buy gift cards to earn 10 points per dollar and use them later, perhaps the next time RR shopping has a similar earning rate. Then you could double dip for 25% savings. Follow the discussion at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...l#post24748662

In other news, Southwest has been emailing a targeted offer of 250 points for referring someone to become a member of Rapid Rewards. Read about it at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...-6-2-15-a.html

If you have a Rapid Rewards Visa card, check for some new bonus offers after reading this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/south...ase-cards.html
You may be targeted for double normal earnings on Southwest purchases, or for bonus points after reaching a spending threshold. The bonus period is April 15 to June 15.