Southwest has posted a notice in members rapid rewards statements stating that on January 1, 2024 Southwest points will be devalued and worth approximately 4% less. Currently points are worth 1.2¢ each. After this devaluation they will be worth 1.15¢ per point. Southwest last devalued the program in 2021.
Keep in mind when redeeming with points you only pay the base fare & mandatory TSA fee of $5.6 for one ways and $11.20 for round trip. When paying with cash you also have to pay other fees and charges so you always get more value than 1.2/1.15 per point. When the other fees & charges make up a higher portion of the ticket you get better value.
Hat tip to DDG
View Comments (43)
Is there any floor where they’ll stop devaluing? Going to look pretty dumb when they’re worth less than 1cpp
Southwest had to respond to Bidenomics and pass on the savings from the inflation reduction act. Next they'll become like United and ask for $ (or points) to offset their fuel and co2 emission.
I think they're worth 1.shit now.
Not surprising given that Southwest recently eliminated point expiration. This seems reasonable.
You accept getting ripped off? What a rube!
Airlines raise prices, then devalue points/miles
and add more rows, squeeze more seats in each row and nickel and dime you on water and carryon
Next stop, standing only rows. It will be called Healthy Flying for Ergonomically Sensitive People.
All good, folks. TPG says they are currently worth 1.4 even though Southwest themselves says they are only worth 1.2. Pretty sure they know better than the airline offering the points.
They are worth 1.31 cents. I checked a lot of flights earlier this year and that was the consistent value:
So does that mean they are worth 1.25 now?
If one has the CSR, does it make sense now to book with UR for Southwest flights at 1.5 cpp instead of transferring to Southwest and booking with Southwest points?
Southwest isn't usually available to book through portals, so that's not really an option unfortunately
You can call Chase to redeem UR points for a Southwest flight.
That's better than transferring for most flights, though occasional flights seem to have lower points value.
yea, thats true you can always call in to get a better value. I specifically don't do this though since I think it's a pain in the ass to go through Chase in case your flight gets canceled and you need a refund.
What happens if you cancel? Do you get UR points back or Southwest RR points or ??? (Honest question, never tried that)
You're using the portal to buy a cash ticket with WN. So WN would give you a flight credit for the cash
that is not true, i just tried to cancel southwest flight booked through Chase. It has several restrictions unlike the ticket booked through Southwest. This is the drawback of booking through Chase, you should treat it as non-cancellable.
You cannot cancel the flight through the Chase portal. You need to cancel the flight at Southwest. Then you will get a flight credit.
Points aren't a set value I don't think. My round trip between Sacramento and San Diego is 2176 points, the dollar value is $58. That's 2.67 cpp. I feel like it varies depending on flight length.
$58 minus $11.20 = $46.80 (the value of your 2,176 points). $46.80/2,176 = 2.15 cpp.
Typically, the lower the fare is the higher your cpp because the taxes and fees make up so much of the fare price. 2.15 cpp is as high as it will get with SW because the SMF to SAN $29 fare is the the lowest I’m aware of (other than maybe Hawaii interisland fares?)
I’ve always noticed this as well and found it odd that people put a fixed amount on the point value. I still generally get 1.5 cpp, though it fluctuates a little each way.
Since points are directly in proportion with the cash prices, this makes it even worse since prices have gone up so much. If I didn't have a companion pass, I probably would choose another airline.
They control my home airport so if I am flying domestic I am flying southwest.
Yeah the Southwest model does have some benefit in that you always have a general idea of what points are worth. And theoretically they should never have to devalue, because they're value basically goes down as flight prices rise. But as we can see, that isn't true in reality.
My guess is their in the middle of doing a financial forecast for next year, and this was a quick way to show a 4% reduction in points on the books.
This seems to be the trend as of late. The floors for me have gone from 1.5 -> 1.25 cpp for Chase UR; 1.25 -> 1.1 cpp for Amex MR; and now southwest points as well. Of course this is the floor and there is still potential for big redemptions but I travel enough for work already; I find myself cashing out points more and more since I moved back to the mainland USA.