Southwest® Airlines has introduced a new booking option: Cash + Points, providing increased flexibility for its passengers.
This innovative feature allows you to blend your Rapid Rewards points with cash, opening up a world of possibilities for your next adventure.
Here’s how it works:
Combine Your Rapid Rewards: With a minimum of 1,000 points required, you can now leverage your Rapid Rewards balance to combine with cash.
Eligible Cash Payment Options: Acceptable methods of payments include, but are not limited to credit and debit cards, Southwest® gift cards, flight credits, and Transferable Flight Credits™
How to make Cash + Points Bookings:
To book your Southwest Cash + Points journey seamlessly, follow these simple steps:
- Visit Southwest.com or open the Southwest App
- Select Your Travel Dates and Destination
- Make sure that the Dollars option is selected to proceed with your booking.
- Proceed with your booking as usual, entering passenger details and any additional preferences.
- When you reach the payments page, scroll down to find the new Cash + Points form of payment drop-down menu.
It looks like the cash savings for using Rapid Rewards points equate to a value of 1 cent per point (cpp). This means that for every 1,000 Rapid Rewards points redeemed, you’ll enjoy a $10 cash savings.
Final Thoughts
While this newly added feature provides flexibility and may make sense for some travelers, if you have the required amount of points available, I personally would bypass this option as you’d get more cpp value with a complete awards booking.
For instance, the total cash price for this $627.40 flight would only require 47,712pts + $11.20 for taxes and fees
Yielding almost 1.3cpp value ($627.40 – 11.20/ 47,712) for your points versus just 1cpp with the Cash + Points option.
For those interested in utilizing and learning more about the new Cash + Points Payment Option click here to access comprehensive details
