I love flying Southwest.
I love the boarding process, I love how I can change and cancel flights without penalty, and I enjoy the free drink vouchers from time to time.
It helps that we live near Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport, a big Southwest hub, and so we can get great prices on flights.
But we’re always looking to save more.
There are the obvious tips – like signing up for the Rapid Rewards program (duh), getting the Southwest credit card to earn points (double duh), or get yourself bumped for vouchers (honest who likes doing this) – but those are boring.
We are in search of the hacks that we don’t already know about or have long forgotten.
Let’s get into it…
Table of Contents
- Join Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining
- Know the Boarding Process
- Early Bird for Big Groups? Split the Itinerary
- Switch Electricity Suppliers to EnergyPlus
- Military Fare Discounts
- Check the Promotions Page
- Recheck Your Flight’s Price During Sales
- Sell Your Drink Coupons
- Promo Hunting on Southwest Car Rentals
- Buy Southwest Gift Cards at Discount
- Buy Southwest Rapid Reward Points
- Give Feedback
- Check Southwest Reservation Window
- Companion Pass
- Check the Magazine for Parking Coupons
- Sit in Rows 1, 9 or 17
Join Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining
I’m a fool for not joining this sooner but Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining is the easiest way to earn RR points. If you haven’t joined, you should. It’s a set it and forget it type of thing.
Sometimes they run bonuses too, for a limited time you can earn 500 points by spending $25 in your first 30 days.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining gives you points when you dine at select restaurants, of which there are a lot. We found a local bar with one location, one we happen to go to every few weeks because the kids love it. Dining there rewards us with 3 points per dollar spent; we just have to use the card we registered. If you’re into writing reviews, you get 10 points per review.
When you sign up, you register a card (you can register up to 5 cards), and whenever it sees a charge to a participating restaurant, you get points. That’s it, set it and forget it, easy points.
Know the Boarding Process
This isn’t a huge money saving tip but one that will improve your enjoyment of Southwest!
Southwest has a unique boarding position process. It’s open seating (no assigned seats) but you board in groups, A B and C. Each has 1 – 60 spots, with the first 15 of A saved for Business Select passengers. The Southwest boarding position is assigned based on when you check-in. You can check-in within 24 hours of your flight time.
Even if you check-in immediately, you may find yourself with a later letter because some passengers have automatic check-in, maybe connecting, or you’re just on a super busy flight. Also, family boarding is between the A and B groups.
Usually, if you’re better than B30 you can get an aisle or window seat. Once you get into the later Bs and Cs, you are relegated to middle seats. Boarding position matters!
If you want to board earlier, the key is checking in as soon as it opens – 24 hours ahead of your flight. You can also buy the Early Bird Check-in for $15-25 each way, which is something I do on cross country flights, but it’s usually not necessary. Early Bird Check-in doesn’t guarantee you a boarding position but you’ll usually get a good one.
Early Bird for Big Groups? Split the Itinerary
When you book multiple individuals on one itinerary, getting Early Bird will cost you. Everyone on the itinerary will have to pay for Early Bird.
Our friend Seth (@ASImhoff919) suggests an alternative:
https://twitter.com/ASImhoff919/status/1034414571321286656
If you’re booking a family though, Early Bird may not be worth it. If you are traveling with a child six years and younger, you can board during the Family Boarding phase between A and B groups. You will usually be able to find good seats together without Early Bird.
Switch Electricity Suppliers to EnergyPlus
Energy Plus is an electric supplier available in the Northeast that has a rewards program. Periodically, they run promotions where you get Rapid Rewards points for signing up AND you get points for paying your electricity bill (2 points per dollar, 3 points if you’re a cardholder). Right now they are offering 5,000 Rapid Rewards points for signing up and, if you’re a Southwest Rapid Rewards cardholder, you get an additional 2,500 points. There’s no contract or commitment and no extra fees. Valid for residents of IL, MA, MD, NJ, OH, or PA.
For more information, here’s the partner page for Energy Plus on the Southwest website.
Sign up through this link or call 1-866-964-5672 and tell them offer code SWA-5643-035. You’ll need your Rapid Rewards number and a recent electricity bill.
Military Fare Discounts
If you are active military, you qualify for military fares that can be 10-15% cheaper than the listed rates. These aren’t available online though, you have to call 1-800-I-FLY-SWA to book and you’ll have to show ID.
It isn’t always the cheapest, depending on the flight, so check prices online and then call to find out the military fare.
Check the Promotions Page
Sometimes Southwest will email you when they have a promotion and sometimes they won’t. I don’t know the rhyme or reason but you can always check the active promotions by visiting their Promotions page.
I recently visited it and saw the 1,000 points for spending $25 in the first 30 days for Southwest Dining, unfortunately, I was already a member.
Recheck Your Flight’s Price During Sales
Southwest runs sales all the time, usually on a Tuesday, and they don’t charge you anything extra to cancel or change flights. ZERO CHANGE FEES.
So don’t wait until an announced sale to book – just book it and check prices when a sale happens. If the price goes down, you get a credit for the difference.
To do this, go to your account and go to “change reservation.” Now re-book the legs of your flight and see if it changes the price in the summary. I recently saved $138 on a flight to Las Vegas and discovered that a direct flight, previously unavailable, was now available. So, I saved $138 and 2 hours of travel time.
You get the balance of the “non-refundable” fare as a credit, with no expiration!
(if you have a Companion linked to your account, you have to remove them first before you can do this- kind of annoying but it is what it is!)
Sell Your Drink Coupons
Did you know those drink coupons are worth cash? Don’t let this drink coupons expire unused!
I like a nice frosty beverage from time to time. Sometimes I get lucky and I fly on one of their free drink holidays (days like New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.) when you get a drink for free! But even if my pocket is full of free drinks, sometimes I just don’t feel like it. Maybe you’re the same way… or you just don’t like to imbibe on the plane.
Sell them on eBay for around $10-$15 for a pack of four.
Boom. That’s cash money.
Promo Hunting on Southwest Car Rentals
Southwest has partnerships with a lot of car rental companies and will often run deals on their Car Rental search page.
The trick (Thanks Erica!) is to search for your rental, find the cheapest price, then come back to the main page and click on the banner to get the added promotional bonus (you still get the miles).
It won’t save you a ton of money, Erica said she recently did it and saved $6 on a three-day rental, but I’d rather keep my own money whenever I can.
Buy Southwest Gift Cards at Discount
There will always be people selling gift cards online – take advantage of their desire to turn their gift cards into cash. My favorite gift card comparison site is Raise and they’re currently showing a small 3.1% discount on Southwest Airline gift cards.
If you’re interested in making the extra trip, you can also buy store gift cards, like Target, and then buy a Southwest gift card at Target. Target gift cards are 6-7% off, so you can get even more savings there. (this is also a good way to turn an otherwise “useless” gift card into something you’ll use)
Buy Southwest Rapid Reward Points
Did you know you can buy Southwest Rapid Reward Points? (you can also transfer and gift them too) It can be a great way to get yourself closer to redemption because the points post within 72 hours of purchase.
There is a minimum purchase of 2,000 points and a combined maximum of 60,000 points, with 1,000 blocks.
Give Feedback
When Southwest first introduced Wi-Fi, I gave it a try.
I found the speed to be slow but worst of all it was cutting in and out. Since it was one of the first flights with the service, they emailed me and wanted feedback. In the survey, I told them about the experience and left my email. About a week later, they emailed me to get more information and followed that up with a voucher and refund of the price. (By the way, their internet works pretty well now)
And, just the other week, I was having trouble (technically, our kids were having trouble) with the TV. It would start and stop. Not a big deal to an adult, world-changing for a child. 🙂
Again, they sent me a survey. I mentioned the technical difficulties and they sent us a voucher! I wouldn’t even classify my response as a complaint, I just mentioned the system was having trouble but since I didn’t pay for it (unlike Internet), it didn’t bother me. They still sent a voucher.
Check Southwest Reservation Window
Your Rapid Rewards points can be used on any flight without any blackout dates, but flights sell out, especially the popular ones.
Get a jump on everyone else by knowing when Southwest releases their schedules and allows booking. It’s always listed at the top of their Travel Tools page.
For Southwest, it’s not a rolling window like with other companies. Dates are released in blocks. Right now, you can make reservations through April 11th, 2016. On October 27th, you’ll be able to make reservations from April 12th – June 3rd.
Keep on top of the rolling windows and move quickly to book those higher demand holiday flights when the window first opens up.
Companion Pass
This one is cheating… because you probably already know about it but GET A COMPANION PASS.
Companion Pass is awesome.
The way we did it was to open a Premier card for myself and a Premier Business card for my business, each netting 50,000 Rapid Reward points after we spent $2,000 (each). That gets you to 104,000 RR points (100,000 by promotion, 4,000 by spending), which is only 6,000 points away from Companion Pass.
I’m currently working on a post explaining what we did and will link that up as soon as it’s ready.
Check the Magazine for Parking Coupons
If you parked near the airport at a non-airport parking lot, the Southwest Magazine might have a coupon in between the ad for America’s Best Plastic Surgeons and the Tilted Quilt.
It won’t be there because frequent fliers know those are always full-page ads. 🙂
Check the Advertiser Directory. Under Travel, there probably will be some parking lot ad with a coupon. The September 2015 issue has one for 10% off The Parking Spot valid until December 2015.
Sit in Rows 1, 9 or 17
They’re usually the first rows to get served drinks. 🙂
Do you have a hack not listed?
Let us know in the comments below – I’d love to include it!
Ginger says
One hack I’ve used is probably dicey but I’ve gone through CL and bought vouchers there. There’s some vetting that needs to be done but it works once you know the other party is on the up and up.
Oooh that seems so risky to me – what do you do to make sure it’s legit?
Ginger shared on our Facebook group that she – ” set up a phone call and in person meeting (in public). I then verify while they are there with SW and with their drivers license that the voucher belongs to them. Everything is done in person as far as the transfer/exchange. It is risky LOL But I haven’t been burned. I don’t do it often tho…”
Kelly says
This is great! I love flying Southwest whenever I can. The free bags and the customer service are awesome.
I sometimes forget how generous (and by generous I mean — NORMAL) Southwest is on a lot of things other airlines now charge for, like bags and picking seats.
Missy says
A few more money-saving things people don’t know about SWA–from a girl who lives on their planes!!
1. If your flight is late (more than 45 min) they will rebook you on another flight for free
2. Instead of flying business select, choose the cheaper fare, then upgrade to that level at the airport for $40 (if available)
3. If you are on a delay due to mechanical issues (NOT WEATHER), SWA may give you cash vouchers towards tickets for waiting for your flight.
4. If you have points, you can use them toward changing your flight or fare class instead of cash
5. Instead of gifting points (which will cost you), you can make a reservation for someone directly through your own account on the website for no extra fees!
Solids tips, thanks Missy!
Justin @ Root of Good says
Great point on the “constantly recheck your flight’s fares”. We did this for a return flight from Cancun to Raleigh that we booked with points. It dropped from 10,000 points per ticket (x5 for the whole family) to 8,800 points.
We also took the opportunity to change the connecting flight so it was more direct and to book the trip for one day later. That meant an extra day of vacation (51 days instead of 50 days in our case!).
I love Southwest.
I booked a flight to Las Vegas on a “less than ideal” itinerary (it had a layover), when I checked during a recent sale, there were seats available on a better flight for less. I saved over a hundred bucks and 2 hours (no layover). The credit to Southwest is as good as cash money here.
In your case it’s even better, you got an extra day of vacation and saved a ton of points!
Justin @ Root of Good says
Yeah, it was pretty awesome because it was at the tail end of our trip and extended our time in Cancun from 3 nts to 4. And we used Starwood points to get another free hotel night at Aloft in Cancun (an amazingly sweet bargain at 3000-4000 SPG points per night!).
I’d say we’re able to rebook for a better deal about half the time on SW. I think we also did a rebook on a SW flight to Vegas and landed a non-stop instead of a connecting flight and a credit back to us.
Rachel says
Does the rechecking/rebooking apply to “wanna get away” fares? Or only the second and third tier tickets?
Yes, in fact I’ve only ever purchased Wanna Get Away fares. This won’t work within two weeks of your flight because that’s when those Wanna Get Away fares become unavailable.
Holly@ClubThrifty says
Oh man, there are so many reasons to love Southwest! In addition to their awesome rewards program, I would have to say my favorite part is that checked bags are free. That’s a huge savings when I fly my family of four somewhere!
It’s always a shock to me whenever we book another airline and have to pay extra for things like checked bags, picking seats, etc.
Linda Stockton says
So is it true that if you book a flights with SW and then have to cancel you lose the money? I know that if you book with points you will get them back.
You don’t lose any money, you get the full value back as credit. I cancelled a flight to NY and my confirmation number acts as a credit (‘travel funds’), I can use it on a future flight (which I did when I rebooked). The travel funds have an expiration date, mine were for sometime next year, but you get a credit.
Mishelle says
Yes, the problem is, if you have purchased a ticket for another person and cancelled it, the “travel fund” credits back under that person’s name and no one else can use that money and it expires after one year. If you can get around this issue, let me know.
Ahhh yes, that is 100% correct. Those credits are linked to the person on the original itinerary. No way around it I’m afraid.
Debbie says
Exactly! We are sitting on travel funds that we probably won’t be able to use before they expire. I have heard that you can get SW LUV dollars in exchange for your expired travel funds but it will cost you $100 fee (deducted from your travel funds.)
Rather than buying flights on my credit card, I’m thinking that in the future, I will buy points when they go on sale for 40% off and use points to book travel so if I need to cancel then the points come back with no restrictions.
Deacon@WellKeptWallet says
I am so making sure I sit in rows 1, 9, or 17 now. Thanks for the tips Jim!
🙂
Sometimes they are off by 1 so you might be the 2nd row served. 🙂
Nela Gilbert says
You can also cash in your accumulated change through the green change counter machines at the grocery stores now and pick a gift card and therefore don’t pay anything to cash in you jar full of change and guess what… last trip got me a $137.00 non expiring gift card / receipt for your next Southwest Airlines trip to Belize!!!!! Works great!
Loved all the great tips! Thanks for all these!
Ha Coinstar will convert change to Southwest credit? That’s awesome! We don’t use it very often but when we do we always convert it to Amazon gift cards.
Lauren Wittry says
Sign up for E-Rewards! I take their surveys a couple times a week and turn my points in for Rapid Rewards points. Last year alone I cashed in for 6,000 points. Free money!
Great suggestion, thanks Lauren!
Lisa says
I don’t see Southwest as a reward partner. How did you get Southwest points?
DO says
I have a travel credit for my 5 family members from a fare drop last year that is going to expire in 1 month. We don’t have any travel planned in the next month. Can I book a flight with the credit, then cancel it and use the entire amount to buy tickets in the future? Or will I only have what I paid above the credit to use for the next year?? Does this make sense? Thanks for any input
It won’t work – you’ll get the credit back on the original confirmation number and one on the new confirmation number. Unfortunately there’s no way to buy more time on the expiration of that credit.
Nela says
Can he (DO) donate the credit to a charity to at least receive a tax deduction as a donation to a charity? There are some organizations I’ve seen who you can donate miles to to help individuals in need and you get the tax deduction for being the good guy. Just an idea!
Sadly, mileage donations are not tax deductible.
Johnna S. says
If you call Southwest customer service, they will extend the expiration date; however, they will deduct $100 from each credit amount.
Ahhhh good call – so many times I don’t even have $100 on the confirmation number, but this is very useful – thank you!
Danielle says
Will the Rocketmiles points count toward the companion pass?
It should.
Jim says
How did it work with getting a second card to get your companion pass? am considering doing the same and wondering if there were any problems.
Thanks
Jim
Brendan says
Jim great website thank you! As of right I have 83,000 points. Can I have someone transfer me points (not with the bonus points for trasnfering) and have those count toward companion pass? By the end of the year if I have 105,000 can I get transferred 5,000 and then still get companion? Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Brendan
Transferred points do not count towards CP.
Connie says
I cancelled my Southwest Visa Nov. 2014. When can I reapply and get the 50,000 Rapid Rewards points again?
I’d call to find out – it’s getting pretty close to the limits so I don’t want to give inaccurate suggestions. Good luck!
Jeremy says
Hello Jim, everyone…
I occasionally fly on Southwest alone & when I do I & always try to take advantage of the LUV voucher they give out if they flight is overbooked by requesting/volunteering to stay for a later flight.
Does anyone know if they’re is a good strategy for this or is it mostly luck?
I’d like to do it more often. It’s worth the inconvenience for the voucher, in my opinion.
Thanks!
It’s mostly luck in that the flight has to be overbooked. You can increase your chances by flying on popular times and days (weekends vs. weekdays) and then asking at the gate when you arrive.
Lisa Eatman says
I have a small amount of credit left from changing to to a cheaper flight. I do not have a Southwest credit card. Is there anything I can do to use that money before it expires next month? I don’t want to buy another flight (and it’s not enough to warrant spending $100 to get the extension). Any suggestions?
Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do, that credit is tied to your name.
David says
The dates I am currently looking to travel on in April 2017 do not have “wanna get away” rates available. I can get them on my departure date (a Tues) and on the day (Sat) before my preferred return date (Sun). If I book the Tues-Sat dates and then “wanna get away” rates become available for the preferred Sun return…can I change the reservation without any penalties?
You can always change your ticket without penalties. If the ticket price is lower, you get a credit you can use for up to 1 year later.
Tim says
Southwest’s refundable ticket rules state a ticket refund has to go back to the original form of payment. I used a credit card I no longer have. I have no credit cards anymore. Do they ever issue a refund as a check even if you paid with a credit card?
They may refund you to your credit card, which is now cancelled, but the credit card company should issue you a check.
Sia says
I bought 3 round trip tickets at $135 each from San Diego to Oakland, CA. Now, I have to purchase a 4th ticket as we are attending a wedding in Oakland. Unfortunately, the ticket prices have gone up to about $500.
The departure flight is this coming weekend. Is there a way to get a less expensive ticket – somehow?? Thanks!
Unfortunately last minute is going to be the most expensive because you lose out on the Wanna Get Away Fares. 🙁
The only options are buying gift cards at a discount, like from Paypal via Ebay here http://www.ebay.com/itm/282387038016, but that’s only 10% off.
Steve says
Hey Jim: I’m planning to book 4 nights at the Westin Grand Central Station through the Southwest website. It will earn me 9,000 RR points. Do these points apply towards the 110,000 I need for the Companion Pass?
Hi Steve – I just asked Southwest and they confirmed the points would count towards Companion Pass qualifying points!
https://twitter.com/SouthwestAir/status/849228230212976640
Lauren Lewis says
Hi Jim! Great info! Thanks for sharing.
We always book our tickets as one way tickets instead of round trip because it allows you to capitalize on the ability to rebook you fares for cheaper. We have found scenarios where you book round trip and one leg of the trip may go down, but the other leg goes up and the total amount of money/points spent remains the same. But if you book one way, then you have the ability to rebook when that flight is cheaper.
A simplified example
Round trip DEN to SJC total is 10,000 points, 5,000 points for each leg of the trip when you originally book. You check back on the fare and the total remains 10,000 points, but the components have changed to 3,000 points to SJC and 7,000 back to DEN. If you book as one way flights, then you can capitalize on the reduced one way fare: 3,000 pts + 5,000 pt (from the original booking) for a total of 8,000 points.
We have saved hundreds of dollars and thousands of points this way!
Excellent point!
Tenley says
Even with a round trip, you can still choose to change only one leg of your trip. It prompts you to “select flights to change” and can choose one flight (note “flight” of course being the entire one-way trip even if it’s 2 flights). I do this all the time.
However, booking one way flights comes in handy if you think you might need to cancel only one of your flights. You can do that either way, but if you book a round trip and need to cancel one flight you need to call b/c the website can only cancel an entire reservation.
Another thing to keep in mind, if you’re booking for multiple people, sometimes there might be only 1 seat left at a price. If you’re searching for fares for 2, it will show and charge you the higher fare for both. If you book separately for the two people, one will get the cheaper rate. (Same of course if you’re booking for 4, might be 3 seats left at one price, etc). If you do book together, and the fare drops later but there’s only 1 seat that price you can call and have them split the reservation so you can rebook one of the reservations.
Another reason to consider booking different reservations for each person, if you might need to cancel for one person and they’re on the same reservation you have to call. This probably isn’t a situation a lot of people run in to, but my husband travels a lot for work so often we’ll book a trip somewhere, then it will turn out it’s the beginning or end of a business trip so we’ll just meet at the destination, or he’ll leave directly from the destination.
Tenley says
Oh and one more thing- the only downside to booking people traveling together on reservations, when you check-in of course it’s more confirmation numbers to enter. You can’t just enter 1 and select everyone on it… the upside though is you can currently only get mobile boarding passes if there’s one person on a reservation
Great tips, thanks Tenley!
Tiffany says
How do you get discounted gift cards at Target? Is this in store only? Online I see the gift cards for regular price only.
Vinny says
After 13 years of flying SW here’s my hack. Best rows to sit in hopes of no one taking the middle seat is the 5th or 6th. Here’s why. If you take the aisle someone will surely take the window. The 1st row passengers have to store there luggage. The 1st bins are smaller than the rest because there’s an overhang at the entrance. Flight attendants will also take those bins. Now the 1st several rows bins are full. Nobody wants to take middle seats until later in the boarding process but by then there is no more bin space so the passengers keep moving to the back Works 80-90% of the time.
Brilliant!
Carter says
Does SW ever lower the prices for flights within the week or “last minute”?
When do fares generally go up. I checked a fare this morning for a flight next week and it doubled this evening. Any advise?
Within the last week, the Wanna Get Away fares are unavailable. Before then, if a Wanna Get Away fare is unavailable, it’s because the allotment has been sold. It can come back if someone cancels, but I rarely see it happen. Wanna Get Away is the cheapest flight, and you earn the fewest Rapid Rewards points, so you will rarely see the other classes become cheaper. One week is the latest I’d wait.
Tenley says
Wanna get away fares are still avail within the last week (I just checked for a flight today). Chances of the price dropping that close to the flight is rare, but I guess anything is possible, especially if a bunch of people cancel their flight last minute (unlikely, but possible)
Kara Phadael says
So in the fare dropping thing, people keep mentioning different flights. If the fare drops on my original flight will they refund me that money?
It’s not automatic, you have to reschedule the flight back to the same time and they will give you the difference as a credit.
David says
If you purchase SW gift cards at Target and pay with the Target RedCard, you’ll get a 5% discount. Ditto for gift card purchases from Walgreen’s or grocery stores if they’re part of the quarterly 5% bonus for the Chase Freedom card.
Lori says
Hi Jim, I was wondering if I purchased 2- $200 SW gift cards now during 5xs points, if I would then get 2,000 points that could be used towards a cp?
I don’t know if buying gift cards counts as a “Southwest travel purchase.”