I found this out the hard way as well. Fortunately my price difference was only $5 but my lost points was much greater. I had 28,879 points. I needed five one-way flights: 8,424 per ticket, 42,120; or $140 per ticket, $700. I bought 15,000 points for $275. Then I had 43,879. I bought the tickets and had 1,759 points left. I should have bought three tickets with my points: (8,424 x 3 = 25,272). I would have had 3,607 points left. (28,879-25,272). The difference in points between the two tickets is 1,848 (3,607-1,759). Since most of my points come from regular purchases, point wise, it will take me spending over $1,000 to gain the lost points back. Additionally, if I would have bought the tickets instead of points, I would have earned more point: 840 points per ticket x 2 = 1,680 points. I trusted Southwest to offer something that was actually a worthwhile deal; instead I'm out 3,528 points. Don't buy points!
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