The Rapid Rewards program changed March 1st, so it’s tough to evaluate the new system. The new Rapid Rewards isn’t nearly as good as it was, and I’m stuck fighting with Southwest about the conversion. So I agree with Nerdwallet that this card should really only be considered by people who are already Southwest frequent flyers. However, I think you’ve made it out to be worse than it is.
The sign up bonus has been reduced to 20,000 points, but 20,000 points is worth more than $200, as Nerdwallet calculates. It’s $333 at the rate of 60 points per dollar of reward. I don’t work for Southwest, but I’ve read most people buy the 60pts/$1 Wanna Get Away tickets.
Also, the card comes with 3000 pts. each year, worth $50, nearly offsetting the annual fee of $69 after the first year. The 3000 pts. is listed as a benefit, but it does not appear to be included in the Estimated Annual Rewards calculations.
Those two fixes would show this card to be pretty competitive with other airlines’ cards.
BTW, great website.
http://www.nerdwallet.com NerdWallet
Thanks for the note, Joe. I’m glad you like our site, and we love getting detailed feedback like yours, from users who clearly understand these rewards programs and keep us on our toes.
We updated this review on March 1st to account for the new system. And rather than set the redemption value in our calculator equal to the cheapest fares, we went with the middle-road, to account for those who might want the cheapest or most expensive fares (hence 20,000 points = $200).
We do mention in all of our reviews, however, that there is a more valuable redemption option, we just don’t default to that because we don’t want to make assumptions about our users’ flying habits.
We wrote more extensively about the new system and the new credit card in our blog post review of the new Rapid Rewards. Thanks again!
Brandon
This card is a must for any frequent traveler on Southwest Airlines, for infrequent travelers make sure you do your homework if the rewards here out weigh other cards. Few thing to point out that I don’t see mentioned above or in any other comments:
- All points you earn on this card count towards your Companion Pass Status (110k flying points, credit card points, or combination of both in a calendar year). This card makes it much easier for me to get this every year.
- Points earned on the credit card do not count toward your A-List or A-List preferred status (35k and then 70k points total in a calendar year)
- Points can be redeemed for gift cards ($50 Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, $100 Marriott, Ritz, Hyatt, and about 100 other types of gift cards. The going rate for gift cards is 1 point to 1 cent, so 5,000 points gets you a $50 gift card. At the time of this post Southwest is running a promotion reducing the required number of points on all gift cards by 20%. I just cashed in 60k points on a whole range of cards. These points can also be used for event tickets, Airline tickets on other airlines, and experiences that Southwest has put together. https://www.southwest.com/rapidrewards/redeem-more-rewards
