Without notice, Southwest Airlines massively devalued earnings on its most reasonable Wanna Get Away fares, effectively introducing basic economy fares by another name.
Southwest Airlines Guts Earnings On Wanna Get Away Fares
The value proposition of Rapid Rewards, the loyalty program of Southwest Airlines, has changed without notice.
| Fare Type | Bookings before 04 March 2025 | Bookings as of 04 March 2025 | ||
| Wanna Get Away | 6 points per dollar | 2 points per dollar | ||
| Wanna Get Away Plus | 8 points per dollar | 6 points per dollar | ||
| Anytime | 10 points per dollar | 10 | ||
| Business Select | 12 points per dollar | 14 points per dollar |
In essence, the cheapest fares will earn a fraction (67% less) of the points they once did. Meanwhile, the priciest “Business Select” fares will earn slightly more points than at present.
Elite Bonuses of 25% for A-List members and 100% for A-List Preferred will continue.
The practical effect of this is making Wanna Get Away fares akin to basic economy on other carriers in terms of earning…your future bookings will earn a small fraction of the points they once did. These cheap fares will earn points at a rate that makes it very hard to save up sufficient points for a free trip.
Pushed by Elliott Investment Management to increase profits, Southwest hopes that its loyal flyers will buy up to higher fare classes in order to earn more points. But the move also risks alienating flyers who seem to be experiencing death by a thousand cuts lately as Southwest panics due to pressure by a nefarious hostile investor.
> Read More: What Is Really Going On At Southwest Airlines?
Boycott?
Since my call to boycott Avianca Lifemiles after its latest unannounced devaluation oddly stirred a fair amount of virtue-signalling dissent, I thought I’d address that now. No, I’m not calling for a boycott of Southwest Airlines over this for two reasons. First, because change does not represent a devaluation of your points in terms of redemptions (redemption prices are not changing). Previously booked tickets will also still earn at the old rates. As painful as any devaluation is, there’s a big difference between devaluing points already earned (or tickets already purchased) and devaluing future. Notice is always preferred, but this move does not constitute the sort of unethical lack of notice that Avianca Lifemiles was guilty of.
Second, Southwest Airlines remains a behemoth domestic carrier in the United States. It’s easier to boycott a small airline or loyalty program that is hardly unique in its offerings than the nation’s third-largest domestic carrier.
Still, I will be unlikely to cover deals at Southwest or pushing the Southwest co-branded credit card because I see the carrier moving in a very dangerous and negative direction under the pressure of Elliott.
CONCLUSION
Southwest Airlines has gutted earnings on its cheapest fares, a de facto introduction of basic economy fares. Previously booked tickets (prior to 04 March 2025) will not be impacted and the redemption side has not been devalued…yet. What’s next, though? The elimination of free checked bags on the cheapest fare as well? The introduction of change fees? We’ll soon find out.
image: Southwest Airlines
Ever since Rapid Rewards went revenue based (quite a long time ago) has their program really been a reason people choose to fly Southwest?
I suppose I can see how A-List/Preferred could be valuable, but if you’re a road warrior earning a substantial amount of RR points, wouldn’t you be far better flying a network carrier in almost every case? People are flying Southwest because of their leisure network, or for short commutes. While this is unarguably a customer unfriendly move, I think it might be a smart one, and not move the needle that much on customer behavior, but will certainly save money.
The only people I know that are “loyal” to WN are friends/family who don’t travel outside the US much, don’t live near any hubs for the US3, and still think WN *always* has the lowest fares…as if this were still the mid-1980s when they handed out boarding cards still. They’re also the people that swear by their Southwest credit card and have a companion pass that gets them “free flights” wherever WN flies. They’re not travel savvy in general, and definitely not miles/points savvy. WN does have a niche market for some point-to-point routes, but for the types of people reading this blog, WN’s likely not the carrier of choice except in extremis. In my anecdotal evidence, these are lots of boomer-aged people, and GenX/Millenials that don’t have the means to travel abroad and WN presents – to them – the best ROI for domestic flying.
If you do a lot of domestic business travel southwest has been a good choice. When you have status you can book last minute and be guaranteed a non middle seat. Redemption amounts for flights are reasonable so one expensive flight could net you enough points to redeem for a cheap RT.
BUT, gutting the earn rates and adding assigned seats kills those 2 benefits. I largely gave up on WN last year and moved mostly to United, and this change makes me feel justified in that choice
Unless it’s non-refundable and non-changeable, I wouldn’t call it basic economy.
I don’t see much value from Southwest points anyway. You can’t book a fancy long-haul first class flight with Rapid Rewards points.
There is something else to consider here. Once assigned seating gets introduced, you’re getting Economy Minus by another name anyway, because Wanna Get Away fares supposedly won’t allow you to select a seat assignment in advance. That’s probably going to spur a lot of people to move up to Wanna Get Away Plus anyway (I know I’m not buying any fare where I can’t select seats). Elliott Investment Management does still deserve to burn in effigy, but I don’t know that cutting points earnings really means much in the grand scheme of things.
P.S. I know you don’t want to hear it, but a good bit of the “virtue-signaling dissent” was spurred by a perception of hypocrisy in calling out LifeMiles, while giving Flying Blue, Mileage Plan, Aeroplan, et. al. a pass. I better understand your position now, though I still think you’re giving the major programs more of a benefit of the doubt than they deserve. (Though I confess, I just made some very nice J redemptions through both Aeroplan and Privilege Club and am laughing all the way to the bank…)
Basic economy fares are far more restrictive. Call this for what it is, a reduction in earning rate. But to say it’s basically basic economy is wrong and plain sensationalism.
Basic economy fares and Frontier, Spirit, Avelo (at least until this month) were not restrictive like those with American, Delta, or United.
Last month, I flew on Southwest despite the route being served by big airlines. I did so because I wanted to burn points/miles and they have a free checked luggage allowance. The flight was fine. I currently fly about 5% of my flights on Southwest and expect it to continue at that rate, not lower.
I like it that they did not destroy the points/miles that I already have, unlike Delta SkyPesos. Some day you might need half a million miles to get a free LGA-ATL economy class ticket.
This myth that Southwest isn’t a business airline is so old. If you live in Austin, San Antonio, New Orleans, OKC, Baltimore, Nashville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Albuquerque, Burbank, John Wayne, and countless other Cali Airports like Oakland, Southwest is the airline of choice because it flies nonstop to dozens of destinations. Would people in all these cities enjoy more options? Sure, but they take Southwest’s efficient service because it’s the fastest option.
I would argue their program hasn’t been attractive for earning free flights for a while, though I’d argue the points do absolutely nothing to offer incentive to buying up a fare.