I've gone from denial to anger to depression and finally now to acceptance. I knew that SWA would need to change the Rapid Rewards program in some way once it went international, otherwise I could make 8 roundtrips from Dallas to Austin and then get a free flight to London or Paris! The new program will make it more difficult for me to get a free flight (in some cases much more difficult) and initially seems fairly complicated--perhaps easier to understand as a 10% credit dollarwise against a future flight, if you stay in the same tier. But with no black-out dates and no seats held back, plus no baggage fees, etc, I think that Rapid Rewards will still have advantages over other airline programs in most cases. And I would still rather fly Southwest.
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I use the SWA credit card to earn my Rapid Reward awards. Currently, I have to spend $19,200 to earn a round-tip ticket (16 credits at 1 credit per $1,200 spent). I am using one of those awards to fly to Las Vegas next month. Under the new system it appears I will need to spend $34,000 - $84,000 to make that same trip (1 point per dollar spent, roundtrip fare $340-$840 x 100 points per dollar). Hmm.... I think I'll start using my American Airlines credit card again.
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So I need 84,000 points to fly to Las Vegas from Love Field? ($840 x 100) Do I understand that correctly? Holy Cow!
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Clearly the new program will be most favorable to long-haul business travelers, and will actually have a negative impact on budget travelers. Southwest is steering away from an egalitarian approach to customer appreciation, but then the purpose of a business is to make money and this should draw in more customers who have more of it.
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I would describe myself as cautiously pessimistic. From this presentation it looks like the number of points I would have to redeem to get a ticket would depend on the cost of that ticket. If so, I might need over 43,000 points to get a roundtrip ticket from Love Field to San Diego. Even considering the benefits of no blackout dates and the ability to travel in any seat, that seems excessive (although not bad compared to American's 70,000 miles to fly at any time.) Since most of my points come from using credit cards I'll wait awhile and see whether it makes sense to swtich from using my SWA card to my AA card for most purchases--although I do prefer Southwest and that counts for something too.
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