Unable to purchase a SW Gift Card Using Rapid Rewards points

[AndrewMcC]

At present, there is no way to use Rapid Rewards points to purchase Southwest gift cards.

The Gift Card purchase page does not list points as a payment option: https://www.southwest.com/gift-card/buy/purchase

The Rewards section for Travel gifts cards does not include SW cards:  https://www.1.awardhq.com/24468SWA0SWARR/shop/gift-cards-travel/_/N-115352

There was a discussion that covered this in 2019, and it was stated then that SW was going to turn the ability back on:  https://community.southwest.com/t5/Rapid-Rewards/Gift-Card-Using-Points/m-p/90950

When will this be available again?

[dfwskier]

Since this is a customer forum, it's not likely that you will get an  answer to your question here.

You could ask SW directly by clicking on "contact us" below.

[AndrewMcC · Accepted solution]

From SW:

Thank you for contacting Southwest More Rewards Award Headquarters.

Great News!  The Southwest gift card is now available for redemption using your reward points.  The card is available in $50.00 denomination for 7,500 points and $100.00 denomination for 15,000 points.  Just enter "Southwest" in the search bar to locate the gift card.

Please contact us by calling 1-800-833-4861 or by email if you need additional assistance.  We will be glad to help.


Lisa
Southwest More Rewards Award Headquarters

[gsking]

This is a quite inefficient way to use points.  15,000 points will get you about a $220-250 flight, depending on the taxes you save.  Plus you get free refundability... So it's like buying an Anytime fare.

Spend them on a $100 gift card and you're instantly out over 60% of your value... Plus you lose refundability except to the purchaser's travel funds.

The only reason to do this would be to get qualifying flight credit for the flight purchased, but that's a very high cost.

[bwallet]

A whopping 0.6 2/3 cents per point. Wow!