[This offer is now expired, you can still earn 750 points by signing up to Southwest Rapid Rewards, click here for more information. Make sure you follow us on twitter, like us on facebook or sign up to our newsletter to be notified of deals similar to this in the future.]
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Southwest is offering 2,500 Southwest Rapid Rewards points (it used to be 750 points) for a few simple tasks, this offer is only for people without a Rapid Rewards account. If you already have one, you can still earn 500 bonus points (see bottom of this post for how), here is how new account’s can earn the points:
- 2,000 Points when you enroll for Rapid Rewards
- 250 Points when you sign up for the Rapid Rewards e-mail summary
- 250 Points when sign up for the Rapid Rewards e-mail update
The e-mail points will take three months to appear in your account, the sign up points should appear instantly.
How Much Are These Points Worth?
- When redeeming for flights they are worth a fixed value of: $1 = 60 points this would make the 2,500 points worth $41.67
- On the 31st of March, 2014 this fixed value is changing so that $1 in flights costs 70 points. This’ll make the points worth $35.71
- You can also redeem Southwest Rapid Rewards for gift cards. The minimum amount of points you can redeem is 3,000 for a $25 gift card which would make these points worth $20.83. If you have 5,000 points you can redeem them for $50 in gift cards making these points worth $25
The Fine Print
- New account holders only
- You must stay subscribed for a minimum of three months, points from the newsletters will post after this three month period (+500)
- Points from account enrollment show immediately (+2,000)
- Points will expire after 24 months, unless you have flight or partner earning activity within those 24 months
- This bonus is available to everybody, regardless of your country of residence.
What Can You Do With 2,500 Southwest Points?
2,500 southwest points isn’t enough to redeem for anything in the online shop, it’s also not enough for a one way flight (these start at $69 or 4140 points) . You can transfer to a friend or family member, but you must pay 1¢ per point. This means you can get a friend to transfer 1,000 of their points for $10 and then redeem this for a $25 gift card.
You can also purchase points, each point costs 2.75¢. The minimum you can purchase is 1,000 ($27.5), this means you’d lose money if you purchased 1,000 points so that you could buy a $25 giftcard.
Our Verdict
Signing up takes less than a minute and doesn’t cost anything, even if you don’t plan on using Southwest in the near future you might as well sign up anyway. The points won’t expire for 24 months and another offer in the future may pop up which will make it easier to redeem these points.
Screenshot of the offer | Click here to apply for a Rapid Rewards account (new account holders 2,500 point bonus)
To get the 500 point bonus for existing account holders, log in and then click “About” then click “Rapid Rewards E-mails”