4.2.22
During the first decade raising young kids, I didn't fly all that much. Aside from the fact that life is crazy to begin with, flying a family of 5 isn't cheap. For those reasons, I was never loyal to a particular airline and would always just fly whatever was most convenient for my travel needs. When I began my points journey, I started to understand what worked best for my family and have been fairly loyal to Southwest for the last 4 years. There are several reasons now why Southwest is my go to airline.
In this post
Transfer from Chase
My allegiance to Southwest was mostly born from my entrenchment in the Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem, and Southwest being a transfer partner of Chase (the only flexible points currency that can transfer to SW). Although I have access to the Big 3 US carriers either through direct transfer (United) or by using alliance partners of Delta and American, transferring to Southwest is seamless and should be considered a strong option for those with Chase points.
Fixed points
Most airlines price award points needed for flights either dynamically or with a chart that is arbitrary, not tied to the cash fare of the flight. This has pros and cons as there are times where you can get great value for points if cash fares are high and likewise poor value when prices are low. However, Southwest prices their reward flights in direct correlation to the cash fare. In general, all fares categories are around 1.4 cents/point. So the points required always fluctuates with the price of the ticket. This may sound bad, and 1.4 cents/point isn't spectacular value for your points, but often times for me, it is still less points than using other carriers. For example, this United non-stop CLE-DEN is priced at $183 and 15700 miles.
The Wanna Get Away fare on a similar non stop on Southwest that day is 43% cheaper dollar wise but 66% less points than the United flight.
So despite Southwest offering only 1.4 cents/point value, I can still use a lot less points than transferring my points to United for a similar flight. Now this is just one example, and it may not always be the case that Southwest is less miles, but number of points required isn't the only factor in my proclivity toward Southwest.
Free bags and no change/cancellation fees
On Southwest, 2 bags are free per passenger. That is nearly impossible to find on US carriers now. In my Denver flight example above, even if the points required were similar, the 10 bags I recently took with me on a family ski trip could have cost up to $80 per passenger. So for big families, this is huge.
Although most carriers have slackened or eliminated change and cancellation fees during the pandemic, Southwest has among the most customer friendly policies in this area. If you book a flight with points and the fare goes down (thus points required goes down) the process for rebooking the flight and getting the difference in points refunded to your Rapid Rewards account is pretty easy and seamless. Almost every flight I have booked has gone down at some point and I simply rebook and pocket the points. If you want to cancel, same deal. Full points are refunded to your account.
The terms are slightly different if booking Southwest with cash, as a refund or cancellation will result in Travel Funds good for one year from time the ticket was purchased. It's not as user friendly and hassle free as booking with points, but still good to know there is no penalty for fares going down or needing to cancel.
It is for this reason that I often speculatively book flights on points for me or my family, even if I'm not certain I will take the trip. I can always cancel no problem. I have booked mutiple flights out west during ski season and then waited to see what dates may be the best powder days.
The flexibility of these policies is where Southwest excels.
Companion Pass
One of the best perks in flying is the Southwest Companion Pass. This pass, when earned, allows you to bring one companion with you for free (besides taxes) on any flight you take in the year you earn the pass and the whole next year. So if you earn the pass early in a calendar year, you can have 18-24 months of 2 for 1 fares. To earn the pass you need to amass 125,000 Southwest points in a calendar year, and this is typically done through earning the sign up bonuses (SUB) of the various co-branded Southwest credit cards that Chase offers. For my family, when I consider I have have to pay for or use points for only 4 out of my 5 family members when we fly, it is near impossible to find better value flying any other carrier.
Route Map
This is completely subjective, but in Cleveland, the big 3 US carriers typically only fly to their hubs and a few other locations. Southwest has a decent route of non-stop flights that meet most of my travel needs.
Conclusion
Like any aspect of the points game, you need to evaluate what best meets your travel goals and needs. It became obvious pretty quickly to me that Southwest checks a lot of the boxes that make for successful flying for my family. The reasonable cost of flights in points, the lack of ancillary fees, convenient change policy, and the huge potential of the Companion Pass make it a great use of those hard earned points to make fun family memories.
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