22 Best Ways To Earn Lots of Southwest Rapid Rewards Points [2023]

Southwest Airlines is the world’s largest low-cost carrier, but it does not have any airline partners. This means the points you earn for its Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program are only redeemable on Southwest flights.

So, how fast can you earn tons of Rapid Rewards points? Ultimately, that’s up to you and the strategies you employ. Luckily, there are lots of easy ways to earn tons of Southwest Rapid Reward points.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Program

To earn points, you need a Rapid Rewards account. Once that is set up, you’ll be ready to earn points from credit card sign-up bonuses, everyday spending, shopping portals, and more.

Sign Up for a Rapid Rewards Account

The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards program is a stand-alone frequent flyer program. Unlike loyalty programs such as American Express Membership Rewards, a Rapid Rewards membership does not require an affiliated credit card to start earning points.

It’s that simple. While you do not earn any points for registering for an account, you’ll need to create an account to start earning points. Southwest will offer bonus points through email promotions, so make sure you’re signed up for Southwest emails, too.

Earn Rapid Rewards Points With Credit Cards

Using credit cards is by far the fastest way to earn Rapid Rewards, and you can earn tons of points with a simple strategy.

1. Chase Ultimate Rewards Credit Cards (Recommended)

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program is the only bank partner of the Southwest Rapid Rewards program. While you might expect a co-branded Southwest credit card to be the best way to earn Rapid Rewards, you would be mistaken!

Chase Ultimate Rewards points are extremely valuable because you can transfer them to many different Chase transfer partners. Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer 1:1 to Southwest Airlines, so any points you earn on Ultimate Rewards cards can turn into Southwest Rapid Rewards points almost instantly. This is a much better strategy than just collecting Southwest Rapid Rewards points; you’ll greatly increase your redemption options but can also redeem for Southwest flights as needed.

Ultimate Rewards-earning credit cards often come with amazing sign-up bonuses that can earn you tons of transferable points that can be used to book travel with Southwest.

And don’t forget, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are much easier to earn than Southwest Rapid Rewards points are when using one of Southwest’s credit cards.

Recommended Chase Cards (Personal)

Business Owner? Read our article on the best Chase business cards that earn Ultimate Rewards.

Bottom Line: We highly recommend earning Ultimate Rewards points and then transferring those to Southwest Airlines at a 1:1 ratio if you want to book Southwest award flights. The points are easy to earn, the cards come with huge sign-up bonuses — and you have so many more redemption options with all of Chase’s transfer partners.

2. Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards

Southwest Airlines has partnered with Chase to offer Southwest-branded credit cards.

You can only have 1 Southwest consumer card at the same time. This rule does not apply to the Southwest business cards.

Bonus Categories on Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards — A Comparison

Here’s a look at the bonus categories offered on the Southwest-branded credit cards:

3. Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card Cardmember Anniversary Bonus

Each of Southwest’s credit cards offers an annual cardmember anniversary points bonus. The number of points you’ll earn depends on the type of Southwest credit card you hold. The points are earned after each cardmember anniversary date:

• Southwest Plus Card: 3,000 points
• Southwest Premier Card: 6,000 points
• Southwest Priority Card: 7,500 points
• Southwest Premier Business Card: 6,000 points
• Southwest Performance Business Card: 9,000 points

Do note that these bonus points aren’t free — when your cardmember anniversary rolls around, you’ll need to pay the card’s annual fee. With that in mind, do the math to see if the bonus points are worth it.

4. Chase Credit Card Referral Bonuses

Chase regularly allows current cardmembers to refer friends and family. To sweeten the deal, it provides referral bonuses when anyone is approved after using your referral.

Not all Chase cards participate in the referral program at all times, but you will often see the personal Chase Southwest credit cards and even some of the cards that earn Ultimate Rewards.

5. Marriott Bonvoy Credit Cards

You can earn Marriott Bonvoy points and transfer them to Southwest at a transfer rate of 3:1. For every 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points that you transfer, you’ll receive a bonus of an extra 5,000 Rapid Rewards points.

Recommended Marriott Bonvoy Cards

Earn Rapid Rewards Points by Shopping and Dining Out

If you’re going to be shopping or dining out anyway, you might as well earn some extra Rapid Rewards points, too!

6. Earn With the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal

Credit cards aside, there are a lot of other ways to earn points on everyday purchases through the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping portal.

To ensure you earn the bonuses for your purchases:

1. Go to Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping.
2. Sign up or sign in to your Rapid Rewards account.
3. Search for and select a product or store’s bonus points offer.A new browser window should open and look similar to this:

4. Shop as you normally would through the store’s website.
5. When you proceed to checkout, ensure you’re still logged in to Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping so you receive the bonus points for your purchase.

Keep in mind that your purchase can be made with any credit card. However, if you use your Southwest credit card, you will be earning 1 point per dollar for your purchase in addition to the bonus points offered through the shopping portal. This is a great way to rack up points!

7. Earn With the Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining Program

Like several other airlines, Southwest participates in the Rewards Network dining platform. Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining makes it easy for you to earn Rapid Rewards points when you eat out at restaurants all over the U.S.

Membership is free; you simply register for an account, add any credit card, and start eating to earn. To sign up for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining program:

1. Go to Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining and create an account.
2. Go to your account on the upper right side and click Manage Account>Linked Cards. Then add any credit card you like (try to use one that earns bonus points on dining).
3. Search for restaurants near you by using the search engine at the top of the page.
4. Simply eat at participating restaurants and use the registered credit card when you pay.

Usually, you will earn 3 points per dollar at participating restaurants, bars, and clubs after opting into Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining email notifications. You’ll also earn 10 points for every review you complete after each dining experience.

Check out the Bonuses section of the site to find promotions that will earn you even more points. For new members, there are often several options for earning bonus points such as:

• Sign Up Bonus – Earn 1,000 bonus points for signing up, dining ($25 or more) at a participating restaurant within 30 days, and submitting a review for the restaurant.
• First Step Bonus – When you reach 1,500 points, you’ll be given an additional 500 points just because.
• Thank You Bonus – After you’ve earned the First Step Bonus, every time you earn another 1,000 points you’ll be rewarded an additional 300 points.

Bottom Line: Shopping online through the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping and dining out at participating Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining restaurants will help you earn tons of additional points.

8. Earn With Shopping Partners

Southwest Airlines has a few specialty shopping partners that offer bonus Rapid Rewards points:

• 1-800-Flowers – Earn 1,000 points for each order of $29.99 or more when using the code RR22
• – Earn 1,000 points for each order of $29.99 or more when using the code SW44
• Home Chef – Earn 1,200 points per box (up to 5 boxes), plus get 10% off your first order
• – Earn 2,000 points with your introductory wine club case; earn 1,000 points on each future club case

Earn Southwest Rapid Rewards Points Through Travel

Finally, we arrive at the tried and true method of earning Rapid Rewards points: flying on Southwest Airlines.

9. Airfare and Airline Purchases

Luckily, with Southwest-branded credit cards, you earn bonus points for every dollar spent on purchases with Southwest Airlines. This includes all flights, inflight purchases, and Southwest gift cards purchased through Southwest Airlines.

However, you don’t need one of these cards to start earning on your travel purchases. Your Rapid Rewards membership will start earning you points on any Southwest flight you purchase regardless of the card you use to pay.

Since Southwest Airlines is an independent carrier, you can only earn Rapid Rewards points on Southwest flights.

Being limited to Southwest for earning points on airfare may seem like a major disadvantage, but you can earn a lot of Rapid Rewards points each time you fly with Southwest.

Hot Tip: Don’t think you are only stuck with “boring” domestic destinations either. Southwest flies to many international destinations, too (including some that might surprise you).

The points you will earn on Southwest flights are much more than many other airlines tend to offer. If you love flying Southwest, then this is wonderful news!

Of course, the number of points you earn will depend on the class ticket you purchase.

• Wanna Get Away: 6x fare
• Wanna Get Away Plus: 8x fare
• Anytime: 10x fare
• Business Select: 12x fare

Points earned also depend on your status or tier as a Rapid Rewards member.

Tiers are reached in a variety of ways, including flying on Southwest flights. Aside from the base or general member tier, the achievable tiers are A-List and A-List Preferred.

If you’re able to reach either of these tiers, you will have the chance to earn more points on each flight than a general member.

Along with other perks like priority boarding, you’ll receive bonus points with each tier:

• A-List: 25% bonus Rapid Rewards points
• A-List Preferred: 100% bonus Rapid Rewards points

This might seem like a lot to calculate, but it’s a pretty simple calculation. First, determine your base fare (without taxes and fees) and fare class.

Once you have the info, you simply multiply these numbers. Then add additional points if you have A-List or A-List Preferred status.

For example, if your base fare is $250, you would earn 1,500 points if it was a Wanna Get Away ticket (6x points). If you had A-List status, that flight would earn 1,875 points and if you had A-List Preferred status, it would earn 3,000 points.

Bottom Line: A-List Preferred members in Business Select seats will earn the most points on Southwest flights.

10. Car Rentals and Other Transportation

Need to rent a car? You can earn bonus points on your rentals by booking through Southwest.

Here’s how many points you can earn on your car rentals:

11. Book Hotels With Southwest Hotels

Southwest Hotels gives you options to earn Rapid Rewards points for hotel bookings. The site often runs specials offering anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 extra points per stay, making it a good alternative to booking hotels through Expedia, Orbitz, and other booking companies.

In the absence of a promotion, you’ll earn an extra 1 point per $1 spent on hotels booked through Southwest Hotels.

12. Book Hotels Through Rocketmiles

Rocketmiles is another way to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards on hotel bookings. With Rocketmiles you can earn up to 10,000 Rapid Rewards points per night on hotel stays. While most stays probably won’t earn quite that much, it’s still a good way to earn extra Rapid Rewards points.

13. Earn Points With Hotel Partners

You can earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points by staying at select hotel chains. Just be sure to set your earning preference to Southwest in each hotel’s respective loyalty program.

Not all of a hotel partner’s brands may be included. Please click each partner’s link for more details.

14. Transfer Points From Hotel Partners

You can transfer hotel points you earn through hotel co-branded credit cards and loyalty programs, but it is a terrible use of points. If you are in a pinch and really need Rapid Rewards points, it might be a good move. Otherwise, use hotel points for hotel award stays to get much more value out of them.

15. Book Vacation Packages

Southwest offers some great vacation package deals, and you’ll earn Rapid Rewards points when you book them through Southwest Vacations.

The points earned on each vacation vary depending on the package you choose and your status as a Rapid Rewards member.

Specialty Earnings Opportunities for Southwest Rapid Rewards Points

Southwest Airlines provides a few ways to earn Rapid Rewards that you might not expect.

16. Home Services Purchases

Southwest Rapid Rewards has partnered with a few energy companies that will earn you bonus points for enrolling and remaining with them. These partnering companies offer special bonuses for Southwest Rapid Rewards members:

Be wary of these offers! You can definitely earn a lot of points, but those points may not outweigh the cost of the product or service.

You should always consider the cost of the services, as well as the terms and conditions, before diving in simply to earn extra points.

17. Buy Gas for Your Car

Southwest Rapid Rewards and Marathon gas stations have teamed up to reward Marathon MakeItCount members with Rapid Rewards points at the pump.

To take earn Rapid Rewards points when filling up your car, simply sign up for a MakeItCount rewards account and link your Rapid Rewards account on Marathon’s website. Then, you’ll earn 1 Rapid Rewards point per gallon and bonus points on in-store purchases.

18. Fill Out Surveys for Rapid Rewards Points

Surveys take time and the points earned aren’t astronomical, but if you need a few more points for an award booking, taking a survey for points might make sense.

With that in mind, Southwest has partnered with e-Rewards and Rewards for Opinions.

There is no public registration directly with e-Rewards. Instead, you’ll need to be invited through Southwest Rapid Rewards to participate. However, anyone can sign up for Rewards for Opinions.

With e-Rewards, the currency becomes points after filling out surveys. The e-Rewards currency you receive upon completing a survey can be transferred into Rapid Rewards points in set increments.

Here is the breakdown of e-Rewards earnings:

• $15 e-Rewards Currency = 300 Rapid Rewards points
• $25 e-Rewards Currency = 600 Rapid Rewards points
• $50 e-Rewards Currency = 1,200 Rapid Rewards points
• $100 e-Rewards Currency = 2,400 Rapid Rewards points

You can transfer e-Rewards currency for as low as $15. This means 1 survey worth $15 could immediately translate into 300 Rapid Rewards points.

19. Use Emergency Assistance Plus

Emergency Assistance Plus provides medical and travel insurance services, including medical evacuation, medical assistance, companion assistance, and transportation home.

You’ll earn 1,200 Rapid Rewards points when you join and 1,200 points each year that you renew your membership.

20. Transfer Points From Diners Club

You’re in luck if you’re a Diners Club International member. Southwest and Diners Club have partnered so you can easily convert your Diners Club rewards into Rapid Rewards points.

The transfer rate is not great at 5:4. This means for every 5 Diners Club Points, you’ll only receive 4 Rapid Rewards points.

Ultimately, you’re losing 20% of your points, so this should only be done if you really need a few points to complete a booking.

Other Ways To Accumulate Southwest Rapid Rewards Points

21. Refer a Friend to the Rapid Rewards Program

Once in a while, Southwest will send emails to targeted Rapid Rewards members. These lucky members have the opportunity to earn 500 bonus points for every friend (up to 4) who joins the Rapid Rewards program.

New members who join from the referral will receive 250 points as a welcome bonus!

Since these are targeted offers, you may or may not be chosen to refer your friends. However, by signing up for a Rapid Rewards account, you’re eligible to receive the promotion.

Once you have signed up for a Rapid Rewards account, watch your inbox for the invitation to participate!

22. Buy Southwest Rapid Rewards Points

While buying Southwest Rapid Rewards points is generally a poor value proposition, occasionally a points sale can make it worth it if you need to top off an account. However, the general rule is to avoid buying points if at all possible.

Hot Tip: Got a stack of Rapid Rewards points but no travel on the horizon? Check out these unique ways to use Southwest Airlines points that don’t involve flying. 

Final Thoughts

There are so many ways to earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points!

In addition to Southwest-branded credit cards, several cards earn Ultimate Rewards points and Marriott Bonvoy points that can be transferred to Southwest.

There are also many other ways to earn Rapid Rewards points through hotel, shopping, and rental car partners. If you’re a few points short of an award flight, there are plenty of ways to earn those last few points and book your award flight.

For even more ideas on earning Southwest Airlines points, check out our other article dedicated to the ways you can earn without even flying!

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