Southwest Airlines and Airtran Airways are merging. This week the airlines announced that for the time being, transfers will be allowed between Southwest’s Rapid Rewards loyalty program and Airtran’s A+ loyalty program.
This presents an arbitrage opportunity similar to the one I detailed last week, which involved converting Rapid Rewards points to Rapid Rewards credits to save a bundle when booking expensive Southwest flights.
First let’s look at the the mechanics of the now allowable conversions between Rapid Rewards and A+:
1,200 Rapid Rewards points converts to 1 A+ credit
1 Rapid Rewards credit to 1 A+ credit
1 Southwest Standard Award (two oneways) to 16 A+ credits
1 A+ credit converts to 1 Rapid Rewards credit
16 A+ credits can be used to fly two oneways on Airtran, and 16 Rapid Rewards credits can be used to fly two oneways on Southwest.
So what does all this mean, and how can we exploit it. Because there are unlimited transfers between the programs, it means that we can use 19,200 (1,200 * 16) Rapid Rewards points for two free oneway trips on either airline.
19,200 Rapid Rewards points are worth $324, so if you can find two oneways on either airline that cost more than that, you can profit from transferring.
In today’s environment of sky high fares, finding a roundtrip or two oneways that cost more than that is pretty easy, especially since Airtran flies internationally to Mexico and the Caribbean.
Let’s go through some examples to show how to determine whether you can exploit the transfer options.
LAX-MDW-LAX for the dates I want costs $408, and I value it at that price because I need to get to Chicago, and there are no cheaper options. In Rapid Rewards points it costs 23,160 and $5. This is a prime example of a fare where exploiting the transfer options saves money!
Instead of paying cash or 23,160 points, I can transfer 19,200 Rapid Rewards points to A+ credits. The transfer is instantaneous. I can then immediately transfer 16 A+ credits to 16 Rapid Rewards credits. After that instantaneous transfer, I now have two free oneways on Southwest that I can use to fly LAX-MDW-LAX for just the same $5 in taxes.
So I got an itinerary for 19,200 Rapid Rewards points that should have cost me 23,160 Rapid Rewards points. Exploiting the transfers saved 3,960 Rapid Rewards points with a value of $63.54! Awesome!
Here’s an easy example of when not to transfer. I want to fly LAX-LAS-LAX, and the flights I want cost $114 or 5,520 Rapid Rewards points and $5. Transferring 19,200 Rapid Rewards points to 16 A+ Credits to 16 Rapid Rewards credits would be folly. Instead I would just book with 5,520 points and $5.
Now that you know when to transfer, here’s how to transfer. It’s incredibly easy.
- Log in to your Southwest account on the right side of southwest.com
- Click on the My Account link that appears where you typed your password.
- Click on the My Rapid Rewards tab.
- Choose the Transfer Between A+ Rewards and Rapid Rewards button on the left side of the page.
- Type in your Airtran account information, then follow the instructions to transfer Rapid Rewards points to A+ Credits (then A+ credits to Rapid Rewards credits if you are booking with Southwest)
This transfer option makes Southwest’s program temporarily much more lucrative. For short cheap flights, the normal points price will remain incredibly low, sometimes just a few thousand points for a roundtrip. For longer, more expensive flights, though, a roundtrip is effectively capped at 19,200 points, so we get the best of both worlds: points-cheap short trips and points-cheap long trips.
I hope everyone seriously looks into these transfers for their ability to use up orphaned Rapid Rewards credits, use up orphaned A+ credits, and save a bundle on expensive Airtran and Southwest flights.
I have earned millions of points, primarily though credit cards, to travel the world in first class for pennies. This blog will show you how to earn and redeem points to do the same!
A big question is how easy can we find award availability especially in case of expensive flight?
In my experience, very easily. Every Southwest flight I’ve checked has had space. Best practice is to find the flights you want, call 800-435-9792 to see if space is available, then make the transfers.
Good question. I like the caution.
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Do you know if it’s possible to transfer old Southwest credits to Airtran credits? I have 9 past credits and 626 points so I’m right in the middle of the road to an award. My credits will start expiring in Septermber so I was thinking if it’s possible to transfer them to A+ and extend their expiration this way?
You can transfer AirTran credits to Southwest credits.
What about the other way around? And if I transfer Southwest -> AirTran -> Southwest, will it reset the expiration dates?
When will this ability to move points between the two programs, or redeem on either program stop? Thanks
I would very much like to know that. I hope they give us warning.
Friend is trying to fly LGA – HOU 8/31-9/3. I’ve found flights going there for 6,400 SW and coming back it’s 50,000. Am i right to assume that by transferring (SW – Airtran – SW) that he’d have enough for any 2 one ways no matter what amount of points needed is? So he’d do the transfers and then book the return using one of the one ways but because the flight there is cheap he’d simply use 6,400 and leave the remaining one way for another time??? Please help!
Call Southwest and ask whether the flight has standard award space. If it does, transfer 19,200 RR pts -> 16 A+ credits -> Southwest credits.
Thank you for all your help!!!
Can I still transfer Southwest Rapid Rewards into AirTran Credits and then back again to maximize my Southwest credits? I tried to follow your instructions on your April 22, 2012 blog post but I don’t see the option to transfer points. Thanks! By the way, I love your blog
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Hello,
My wife has the companion pass. If we do this trick of tranferring to airtran and then back then booking her flight with the credits will I fly for free using the companion pass? Thanks
I’m not sure. I would think the answer is yes.
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Frank had a great question, what’s the answer?
Also, does this still work?
Thanks!
This still works, and I don’t know the answer to Frank’s question.
I saved a total of 27120 points using this last night; thanks so much! Things did get a little iffy with my wife’s ticket (booked using $ on the same itinerary), as it turned out that the standard award seats for my daughter and myself consumed the last WGA space on the outbound leg of our trip. Fortunately, I was able to change everyone’s outbound leg to a flight that had both standard award space and enough WGA fares.
Great work! Thanks for sharing.
To answer Frank’s question, a companion pass is valid on Southwest flights booked with points or credits. The downside with credits in general is that there are blackout dates and limited availability, and it HAS to be a roundtrip (16 credits=1 Southwest round-trip)
Mile Value-I thought I followed everything above, until you let @Sruti’s comment about “it HAS to be a roundtrip (16 credits=1 Southwest round-trip)” stand without correction. I thought I understood you to say the SW credit could be redeemed for 2 one way tickets?
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How many credits are needed for a business class ticket? Is it also only 16?
oneway business class award is 16. oneway business class upgrade is 4.
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I’ve got like a 10% success rate in finding standard award seats on days I want to travel…. and that includes times I “hit “, but the flight schedule I wanted was unavailable.
Hello,
Is is possible to get the companion pass now, then again a few years later? Assuming there are still 50k card bonuses available. I would really like to get 100k Southwest points now, but have little use for the companion pass. But, would love to get it in the future when I have the need.
Thanks, Zach
You can earn the companion pass every year. The real question is whether credit card bonuses will always count toward the 110k points you need. I doubt that will last long.
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