Southwest Drink Coupons: How to Get Free Drinks While You Fly

Southwest Airlines offers a variety of free beverages in-flight, including soft drinks, tea, hot chocolate and coffee. Beer, wine and spirits, on the other hand, come with a price tag of $6 to $7 per drink.

Scoring Southwest drink coupons can save you money on those purchases. Here are some tips for getting free drinks on Southwest.

How do I get Southwest drink coupons?

There is only one way to get free drink coupons from Southwest:

Book a Business Select fare. When you fly Business Select, you get a coupon that's good for one free premium drink in-flight, along with priority boarding and Fly By check-in. Your drink coupon may be electronic (especially if you check in through the app), or it may be a printed coupon with your boarding pass.

Previously, you could sometimes get drink coupons when you booked 10 qualifying flights with Southwest. This wasn't an officially published policy, you can book flights to earn drink coupons. Specifically, these flights need to be ones that you pay for, not ones booked with Southwest Rapid Rewards points. Normally, you'd get physical coupons sent to you in the mail to bring on your flight and use to pay for your drink.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Southwest temporarily suspended in-flight alcoholic drink service, and it stopped sending drink coupons. Southwest never resumed the perk, so drink coupons may have gone the way of airline cancellation fees and daily hotel housekeeping.

» Learn more: How to rebook and save when Southwest prices drop

What’s on the Southwest drink menu?

Southwest offers a variety of free nonalcoholic beverages, along with complimentary in-flight snacks. Drink coupons are meant for beverages that you'd ordinarily have to pay for.

Beverages that aren't free include:

• Beer.

• Wine.

• Individual spirits.

According to the in-flight menu, all of these options can be purchased using Rapid Rewards or Southwest Business Select drink coupons. If you're flying between Hawaiian Islands, Southwest limits service to water and juice. But the airline will still honor drink coupons if you're flying Business Select.

» Learn more: The cheapest ways to fly to Hawaii using points and miles

Do Southwest drink coupons expire?

Business Select drink coupons are valid only on the day of travel.

Save on drinks without Southwest drink coupons

If you don't have any drink coupons, here are some other tips you can try to save money on beer, wine and cocktail purchases.

Book with the right card: You can get 25% back on in-flight drinks and Wi-Fi when you use one of these four Southwest credit cards to make a purchase on a flight. You'll also earn Rapid Rewards points on those purchases, which you can use toward future flights.

Look for free drinks on holidays: Southwest offers complimentary drinks to travelers on selected holidays. Based on crowdsourced data, free drinks have been offered on St. Patrick's Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day and Veterans Day. Some customers have also commented that they received drink coupons on their birthday. While there's no guarantee, you may score a free drink without a coupon if you're traveling on a holiday or your birthday.

Ask: You may be able to get a free drink coupon just by asking. For example, if your flight's been delayed, Southwest may be willing to offer a free drink as partial compensation. The worst that can happen is they say no.

» Learn more: Is a Southwest credit card worth it?

If you want to use Southwest Airlines drink coupons

Southwest drink coupons can save money on in-flight purchases. If you don't have any coupons on hand, you may be able to save on in-flight drinks by paying with a Rapid Rewards credit card and earning 25% back on those purchases. Be aware that Southwest's in-flight drink menu can change regularly, so pay attention to any price updates if you're paying for alcoholic beverages out of pocket.