Southwest Promotions: How to earn extra points with current deals

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As all airlines compete for your business right now during this slump in the travel industry, Southwest is doing their part to earn your money. They’ve published some promotions to help you earn an award flight quicker when buying points, or by scoring some extra rewards with your upcoming holiday food shopping when you swipe a Southwest credit card.

Let’s take a look!

Current Southwest Promotions 

Southwest status match challenge

All of your hard work to earn elite status with one airline can be duplicated with Southwest! However, you’ll need to meet some requirements and complete a short challenge first before receiving Southwest’s A-list status. 

• You’ll need to be a member of the Southwest Rapid Rewards program
• You’ll need to have current elite status with another U.S. airline
• Complete the registration form
• Confirmation and verification is completed within 12 days of registration
• Complete your qualifying travel within 90 of receiving your status match to receive an additional year of A-list

Southwest will grant you A-list elite status once they’ve verified your status with another airline, however, this status will only last you 90 days from your enrollment date. You can extend your A-list status a full year if you meet the challenge —  fly three round trips or six one-way flights within 90 days. These flights will qualify only if they’ve been paid for and does not include flights redeemed with points. 

There are many benefits of Southwest’s A-list elite status, and being able to match an already existing airline status is a great perk. Otherwise, you’d have to fly 25 qualifying one-way flights or earn 35,000 Tier Qualifying Points in a calendar year. 

It’s also worth mentioning that any flights you may have booked before registering for the status match are not eligible qualifying flights. But thanks to Southwest’s generous cancellation policy, you could cancel your existing flights and rebook once your status match challenge begins.

Southwest flight sales

Currently, Southwest is not running any flight sales, but that changes almost weekly! Bookmark this page and check back regularly to see if Southwest publishes any great deals.

Southwest card deals

Southwest personal credit cards, such as the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, earns a Companion Pass® through 2/28/2022 plus 30,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.

However, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card comes with a respectable 60,000 Southwest points after spending $3,000 within the first three months of account opening. And the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card comes with up to 100,000 bonus points:

• 70,000 points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening
• 30,000 additional points after spending $25,000 on purchases in the first six months of account opening

Opening one personal and one small business Southwest card is key to earn the coveted Southwest Companion Pass. In fact, if you were to earn the full bonus from the Southwest Performance Business alone, you’d immediately earn the Companion Pass.

That’s a big deal — the Southwest Companion Pass allows you to bring along a travel buddy whenever you fly Southwest for just the cost of taxes and fees – for up to two years!

Increased Bonuses

Right now you can earn extra points just for buying your Thanksgiving turkey with a Southwest card. This is a targeted offer so be sure to check if you’re one of the lucky ones here. 

• Earn 5X points on Amazon purchases 
• Earn 5X on grocery store purchases 
• Promotion is valid until December 31, 2020
• Bonus points are eligible on the first $1,500 spent in a month on Amazon and/or groceries

Be sure to use one of the below cards for your purchase:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs)

Ordinarily, you receive 1,500 Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs) for every $10,000 you spend on a Southwest card. The new promotion doubles the amount of TQPs for the remainder of the year. 

• Receive an additional 1,500 TQPs for each $10,000 spent, totalling 3,000 TQPs
• Promotion ends with the last day of your December 2020 billing cycle

TQPs are earned through paid Southwest flights and also through using a Southwest branded credit card. 

Companion Pass Deal

Currently, Southwest is not running any Companion Pass deals. We’ll post them to this page if they do! Make sure you read our guide on the Southwest Companion Pass here.

How to Earn Southwest Points

You can quickly earn a plethora of Southwest points by opening the right credit card and acquiring the sign-up bonus with cards like:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

Additionally, you can instantly transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio, so a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve® is another great option for earning Southwest points (and gives you the ability to transfer to other partners like United, Hyatt, Marriott, British Airways and more).

Or, you can go the old-school route and earn points through paid flights on Southwest and points earned through Southwest Rapid Rewards partners.

How to maximize Southwest promotions

Make sure you use one of the best Southwest credit cards, or a travel credit card that earns bonus points for airfare, and rack up the extra points with your Amazon or grocery store purchases!

How to find more Southwest deals and promotions

You can opt into Southwest promotional emails which will alert you when Southwest updates or adds promotions. Also, subscribe to our newsletter and we’ll let you know when great Southwest offers pop up. 

FAQs

How long do Southwest Promotions last?

Most of the current promotions last until Dec. 31, 2020. Southwest promos can last anywhere from just a few days to months at a time.

Do I have to register for Southwest Promotions?

For most of the promotions, you do. Check the above chart to see if you need to register for the promotion that interests you. 

Can I get these promotions if I am not part of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Program?

You’ll need to be enrolled in the Southwest Rapid Rewards program to be eligible for these promotions.

How do I join Southwest Rapid Rewards?

Fill out some basic information on this one-page form here to create your new Southwest Rapid Rewards account. You can also read our step-by-step instructions for how to setup a Southwest account.

Bottom line

You can earn more Southwest points through the airline’s promotions, which can help you quickly achieve elite status or your next free vacation. They’re great ways to increase your Southwest Rapid Rewards stash in a hurry.

Subscribe to our newsletter if you want to stay on top of the latest Southwest promos!

Featured image by Felipe I Santiago/Shutterstock.