Southwest has made a no notice devaluation to the value of points. Southwest points are worth a fixed value when redeeming for wanna get away fares (Southwest’s lowest fare class), the value is now 83 points per $1 (1.2¢) previously it was 78 points per $1 (1.28¢).
It’s important to remember that when redeeming with points you only pay the base fare and the mandatory TSA fee of $5.6 for one ways and $11.20 for round trip flights, whereas cash flights also include other fees and charges. That means when the other fees & charges make up a higher portion of the ticket (generally on lower cost flights) the value of Southwest points increases. It also means you always get more than the listed value. For example:
- Flight one: $428 or 31,562 points (1.36¢ per point)
- Flight two: $59 or 3,443 points (1.71¢ per point)
It’s not a huge surprise that Southwest is devaluing points again, below is a list of when devaluations have occurred in the past:
- 2011-2014 (March): All points were worth a fixed 1.67¢ per point
- 2014 (April) – 2015 (April, 16th): All points were worth a fixed 1.43¢
- 2015 (April 17th) – 2016 (April 19th or so): Fares in the lowest class were worth a fixed 1.43¢, fares in other classes were on a sliding scale
- 2016 (April 19th or so) – 2018 (April 3rd): Fares in the lowest class are worth a fixed 1.39¢, fares in other classes were on a sliding scale
- 2018 April 3rd – Today: Fares in the lowest class are worth a fixed 1.28¢, fares in other classes were on a sliding scale
That being said it’s always extremely disappointing when airlines make devaluations, especially when no notice is given and to make matters worse a lot of people have been sitting on points due to the fact a global pandemic has been occurring. Southwest also gave users the ability to turn travel vouchers into points during the pandemic.
shame on them…..
Now it makes even more sense to redeem Ultimate Rewards points via CSP or CSR for Southwest flights at 1.25 – 1.5¢ per point (and earn Rapid Rewards points in the process since it will be considered a revenue flight) 😃✈️ Gotta do it via phone though since Southwest doesn’t show up in the online portal.
I completely forgot you could do that.
Should probably just go to your grocery store or office max an get GC, .015 cashout there too with csr.
It’s gonna be double inflation this summer. Ticket prices goes up again point value goes down.
Oh so this is why they allowed us to convert travel bank dollars to miles last year at a favorable cost because they knew they will be screwing their customers with this shxtty move.
Yeah, this feels like a bait and switch.
It was a 6% decrease… hardly a complete screwjob.
6% is massive
My concerns of this were exactly why I didn’t convert my vouchers to points
When did this occur? A few of my flights I was eying haven’t increased in cash nor point cost?
Overnight. Only affects new bookings.
pretty disgusted, what a di*k move by southwest to do this during the pandemic and without notice.
While it stinks, as long as they keep up the “free changes” thing where I can book a 3000 point transcon a month out and change it to tomorrow for +0, also changing to a more convenient airport, its hard to complain. If you’re regularly transferring chase points then thats where the value is too low compared to cashing out with PYB. I guess its time to use sw gift cards and make a spreadsheet of all the travel credits for cancels going forward after extinguishing my balance. Or wait for another 20% chase bonus and reload.
What can we redeem points for? Think they’ve only restricted it to airlines if I remember. Been wanting to redeem for gift cards for a while.
When you say “Been wanting to redeem for gift cards for a while.” does that imply that points can NOT be used for gift cards? I’ve been trying to find out, but can’t find the information anywhere?
It used to be an option but was halted at the beginning of the pandemic. Doubtful it ever resumes.
There used to be a redeem for more rewards link but that throws up a message saying redeeming for other rewards is suspended due to the pandemic or whatever. Where do you see buying non-southwest gift cards using points as an option?
I don’t have any kind of SW account or card, so I don’t have access to that information. That’s why I’ve been asking many times on this blog (to see if a card is worth getting) and you’re the first one to finally answer, so thanks for the info.
Are TPG valuations majorly inflated or something? They list Southwest as of April 2021 as 1.5cpp, higher than the pre-devalue here.
Does a bear shit in the woods?
Which bear is best?
Keep in mind the tax/fee argument in the post. You still get more than 1.2 value currently
Can these points be used for gift cards? If so, what is the exchange rate?
even worse i guess