DON'T TRANSFER POINTS

[paulamahon18]

If you are thinking of transferring points from one Rapid Reward account to another, to share with your family or friends.... DON'T!

I didn't realize there was a fee. I thought it meant the amount shown was the value of the points being transferred so I didn't hesitate to transfer points. That was a mistake on my part...for not reading the "small print".

But regardless, I ended up paying like double the price for a flight for my daughter by transferring points which is very disappointing. 

It makes me very discouraged so I just wanted to share my experience which I am sure many like me have gone through by not realizing the amount was the cost of the transfer. 

[TheMiddleSeat · Accepted solution]

It sucks to learn the hard way, but it's mentioned quite frequently in posts here that there's no need to transfer points, just have the account holder purchase the flight for someone else.  In fact, I just posted this yesterday, "Since transferring points is expensive my suggestion would be to log into the account and purchase flights for other people"

Also, don't buy points.

--TheMiddleSeat

[bballflyer]

I have transferred points a couple times, and that is when the other person just needs 1000 or 2000 points to be able to use the rest of their to complete a flights and I don't have enough to book it for them.  (for example, recently there was a 30% sale to HI and my daughter had 14000 points but needed 15000 to go to HI so I transferred her 1000 points so she could book the flight)  That is the only time I have transferred, and yes the cost is very high comparatively.  (and in hindsight I probably could have transferred from my Chase card for free) 

[DancingDavidE]

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@bballflyer wrote:

I have transferred points a couple times, and that is when the other person just needs 1000 or 2000 points to be able to use the rest of their to complete a flights and I don't have enough to book it for them.  (for example, recently there was a 30% sale to HI and my daughter had 14000 points but needed 15000 to go to HI so I transferred her 1000 points so she could book the flight)  That is the only time I have transferred, and yes the cost is very high comparatively.  (and in hindsight I probably could have transferred from my Chase card for free) 

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This is great advice - transfer or buy points only to top off another account where they otherwise wouldn't be used.

Even then consider if the fees are going to be too high and you should just buy the flight, there will be some breakeven point where buying or transferring points will cost more and it would be better just to leave the points for a later opportunity to be used.

[bearomo11]

Hi Paula, 

My name is Bea and I have just been victim of the same "unclear" message. and I read other online. Exact same interpretation that you and I gave to the information on the transferring page. 

I had to pay $450 (that I don't have). I live in a religious community and that money belongs to my community. I called Southwest but no pathway to reversed that transaction. 

I honestly wonder how many "victims" of this unclear procedure are there out there. I am trying to connect with many of the people the have our same experience and see if we could take some kind of legal action. I remember that companies like Amazon and Facebook had to pay fines to clients because of blurry and misleading procedures. 

Let me know if you like to directly connect through email.

Thanks, 

Bea 

[dfwskier]

There's nothing unclear about the process. The airline tells people that if they want to transfer points, they will have to pay a fee   -- then the airline explains what the fee will be.

The only thing accurate about your post is the title because it really makes no sense at all to transfer points.

[bearomo11]

Thank you for your reply “Aviator’. The undermining and unkind tone of your message is neither intimidating me nor making me change my mind about it. 

There are several complaints from different people about the same exact matter, online. 

Best, 

Bea

[dfwskier]

I was neither unkind nor undermining, but I was factual.

To each his or her own.