Southwest is one of the most popular airlines for Americans. It offers numerous methods to earn Rapid Rewards points that can be . When you need extra points to book an award flight, one option is to purchase points for Southwest Airlines.
Buying points generally isn’t recommended because you might end up paying more for the points than you would if you simply bought the flight, but in certain cases, it might be the quickest way to top off your account.
In this article, we’ll share how to buy Southwest points and provide examples of when it makes sense to do so.
Southwest Airlines partners with Points.com to sell its Rapid Rewards points. Follow these steps to learn how to buy Southwest points for your next award flight.
1. Go to southwest.com, log in to your account, and click on Rapid Rewards.
2. Click on Buy or Transfer Points.
3. Click on Buy points.
4. Choose how many points you want to buy.
5. Enter your payment details to complete the purchase.
The base cost to buy Southwest points starts at $60 for 2,000 points, which is 3 cents per point. As you buy larger amounts of points, the price per point decreases. Sometimes Southwest offers a bonus points promotion, like 40% off when you buy more than 15,000 points, which can make the price per point drop even further.
Meanwhile, NerdWallet found the average when redeemed for award flights is each. If you buy Southwest points at the base rate of 3 cents per point, you’re paying more than double what they’re worth. That’s why there are only a few instances when it makes sense to buy Southwest points.
Unlike United Airlines or American Airlines miles, Southwest points have a fairly fixed value. Because of this, it’s hard to find outsize value that justifies the cost to buy Rapid Rewards points. That being said, buying Southwest points can still make sense in a few scenarios, like:
Because the price per point is higher than the average redemption value of Southwest Rapid Rewards points, you may be hesitant to purchase them. Thankfully, there are alternative ways to earn additional Southwest points without flying:
For travelers who need extra points, Southwest Airlines allows Rapid Rewards members to buy points to boost their account balance. While these points can be used to book travel, they do not count toward earning the Companion Pass or . Buying Southwest points can be significantly more expensive than the value of those points. Because of that, there are only a handful of situations where it makes sense to buy them.
For most people, it makes sense to buy Southwest points only when you need to top off your account to book an award flight or when a promotion brings the cost down significantly. Better options to boost your account balance are to earn points through a partner, spend on your Southwest credit card, transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards® or convert Marriott Bonvoy points.
You want a travel credit card that prioritizes what’s important to you. Here are our picks for the , including those best for:
This post was originally published on Nerd Wallet
