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SWA Special Points Offer is a very bad deal.

smithdp
Explorer C
I got a promotional email from SWA that I was specially chosen to receive a bonus 40% pts when I buy 10,000 pts or more. So I just purchase 18,000 pts and received the 7,200(40%) for $495. I just figured that since SWA was a no nonsense player(TRANSFARENCY) it must be a good limited time offer.  Well now after the fact, I have just gone online to see what the value of 1 SWA point might be. There are multiple sites that have done thorough analysis on point values on all airlines. They are mostly consistent and say 1 SWA point = $.016. So if I do the math correctly 25,200 pts X.016 = $403.20 in value. Please explain to me how this is a "Special Offer" when it appears I lost $90 in this exchange. I feel hoodwinked by a trusted friend.
6 REPLIES 6

Re: SWA Special Points Offer is a very bad deal.

TheMiddleSeat
Aviator A
Solution

Buying points is a never a "good deal" and it's always cheaper to pay cash for a flight rather than buy enough points to purchase an entire flight. The only time you should consider buying points is when you are short a few points in your account to redeem towards a flight and need to top off your account. 

 

--TheMiddleSeat

Re: SWA Special Points Offer is a very bad deal.

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

Redirect any additional discussion to original thread:

https://www.southwestaircommunity.com/t5/Rapid-Rewards/SWA-Special-Points-Offer-is-a-very-bad-deal/m...

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: SWA Special Points Offer is a very bad deal.

smithdp
Explorer C

Somehow this has been posted as RESOLVED when it is not until changes are made with SWA promotions.

 

In my opinion the only resolution would be if SWA would be more forthright with promotions like this. This would mean SWA would clearly state that SWA points **NEVER** trump cash when buying tickets. Anything else is flirting with intentional deception. 

Re: SWA Special Points Offer is a very bad deal.

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@smithdp wrote:

Somehow this has been posted as RESOLVED when it is not until changes are made with SWA promotions.

 

In my opinion the only resolution would be if SWA would be more forthright with promotions like this. This would mean SWA would clearly state that SWA points **NEVER** trump cash when buying tickets. Anything else is flirting with intentional deception. 


If you the question is that you would like a refund or want to lodge a complaint with Southwest's marketing department then you'll have to reach out to customer service.

 

This community is a user-to-user forum for advice and suggestions, I had marked it as solved from the point of view that the question was "was this a deal to buy that man points?" and the answer was "no" - on this forum we wouldn't have the opportunity to provide any formal complaint, that would be best coming from you direct to the customer service.

 

The equation is complicated, there are some times when buying points can make sense for individuals depending on how much of a gap they have and how badly they need to use the points that they already have. 

 

But for your case looking at buying a flight with cash or points, it wouldn't make sense to buy the points based on cost alone.

 

But for example a points booking is refundable - so if that was important to someone and they wanted to buy WGA fares but have them be refundable and not receive travel credit back, maybe they buy the points. 

 

Someone migh also have a large quantity of points they need to use, but don't have enough and need to buy a large chuck of points to complete a purchase...in that case they might also do it in order to use up their points account. 

 

The case where it seems to make the most sense is topping off an account to buy one ticket where someone has 50% to 80% of what they need and only need to purchase a few extra.

 

Anyway - you can feel free to "unmark" the solution as original poster, it may be my mistake in thinking it was covered in context of what we can do on this community as fellow users of Southwest.

 

 

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: SWA Special Points Offer is a very bad deal.

dfwskier
Aviator A

@smithdp wrote:

Somehow this has been posted as RESOLVED when it is not until changes are made with SWA promotions.

 

In my opinion the only resolution would be if SWA would be more forthright with promotions like this. This would mean SWA would clearly state that SWA points **NEVER** trump cash when buying tickets. Anything else is flirting with intentional deception. 


If you are really unhappy with your purchase, I'd recommend that you contact Southwest and ask that your trasnaction be cancelled: Southwest takes back the miles and you get your money back.

 

Details of how you might do that are at the upper left of Southwest's contact us webpage

 

https://www.southwest.com/contact-us/contact-us.html

Re: SWA Special Points Offer is a very bad deal.

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Unfortunately, all points purchase/transfer transactions are non-refundable and non-reversible. (Southwest uses a 3rd party to provide the service -- points.com -- and these are their terms.)

 

This seems obvious, but perhaps it's a good idea to remember that, generally, commercial solicitations you receive are sent with the sole purpose of generating profit for the sender. 😉