Southwest Airlines Tickets Can Once Again Be Paid for Using Ultimate Rewards Points
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
Attention Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders: we've got good news. As reported by View from the Wing on Sunday, you can once again book tickets on Southwest Airlines using your Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a fixed value.
When Chase made the switch to using Expedia as its booking engine for cardmembers last year, the ability to book Southwest tickets using Ultimate Rewards points at a fixed value to buy the ticket was lost. Southwest generally doesn't allow tickets to be booked any way other than directly through Southwest.
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While you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio, in some cases you are better off using your Chase points to simply pay for the ticket. When you do that, Southwest deems it a paid ticket rather than an award ticket, meaning that you will earn Rapid Rewards points on the flight and can add the points to your tally for earning status and the Companion Pass with Southwest — without spending cash.
TPG called Chase to test out the news, at which time a representative confirmed that this option is only available to Reserve and Preferred cardholders, and also that paying for Southwest tickets using your Chase Ultimate Rewards points can only be done by calling Chase Travel at (866) 951-6592.
This new — or rather restored — ability will be welcomed by those Chase cardmembers who prefer to fly with Southwest.
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