Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa: 2 Bonus Tickets with First Purchase
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa has a new offer: Get 2 free round trip flights after your first purchase. As is standard for the card, you’ll earn 2 Reward Dollars on Southwest-related purchases and 1 Reward Dollar on purchases everywhere else. Do note that the $59 annual fee is not waived for the first year under this promo.
There are also some restrictions on the 2 free plane tickets, per FW:
You get two vouchers good for anywhere, under the basic program with blackout days and limited availability. Or you can combine them and use them for a premium ticket good whenever there are seats available. They are good for 1 year from when they are mailed, but can be extended within a year of expiration for a year for $50; which stretches it to 3 years.
2011 BLACKOUT DATES
January 2
March 13, 20, 25, 27
May 27
July 1
October 16
November 23, 26, 27, 28
December 23, 26, 30
The 2 free roundtrip ticket offer has expired.
It’s important to note that there is an older, alternative Southwest deal that may be more attractive: Get 1 free flight plus $500 in Southwest gift cards. The older deal also has the annual fee waived for the first year, but requires $5,000 in spending to receive the $500 in gift cards. Depending upon your spending habits, the older deal may be more valuable.
I currently have a Southwest Chase card. Could I transfer what I owe them to this card? The older program would work.
Thank you,
I currentlyhave a AirTran (Barclay’s) Visa Card.
Now that AirTran and Southwest are combined, is
the mileage or points that I have left on Air Tran
able to be combined with a new Southwest Visa card
?? I also have had a Southwest Rapid Rewards card
for several yeaars. Thank You
Joan Dwyer
August 15, 10ll
@Joan
The rewards systems of Air Tran and Southwest are not fully integrated yet. This means that for now, A+ Rewards credits cannot be transferred into Rapid Rewards points or redeemed for Southwest flights or vice versa. Eventually, the airlines will provide options to earn and/or redeem in both programs, but that day has not come yet.
Missed the 2 free flights I guess. do you think southwest will offer the two flights again, maybe in Jan?
Linda
@Linda
The 2 free flights offer has come and gone a few times this year, so there’s a good chance that Chase will bring it back at some point. Whether it will be as soon as January remains to be seen– I haven’t heard anything to that effect as of now. If it does reappear, we’ll definitely cover it in this blog, so if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe!