Southwest Airlines is making it easier to avoid the expiration of travel funds. Now through December 15, 2020, they are allowing travelers to turn qualifying travel funds into Rapid Rewards points.
What are the Details?
To qualify for this offer there are a few parameters listed below.
- The funds must expire by September 7, 2022.
- The name must match the name on your Rapid Rewards account.
- The funds must have originated from a ticket purchased on Southwest.com, booked by a Southwest Customer Representative, or for business ticket purchases, be approved by your employer.
- Travel fund conversions must be requested by December 15, 2020.
- Conversions are final.
- The funds are converting at a rate of 1.28 cents= 1 Rapid Rewards point.
- Rapid Rewards points (as always) cannot be used to pay taxes or fees.
- You do need to be a Rapid Rewards member, but you can sign up online in a few minutes if you are not already a member.
What are the Benefits?
There are a few reasons that it makes sense to take advantage of this offer. First, Rapid Rewards points do not expire so you are moving to a currency with a longer shelf life. Secondly, you can redeem your points for travel for anyone whereas travel funds have more restrictions. There are also some interesting strategies to maximize this opportunity if you want to take advantage of this offer.
What Do You Need to Do?
To convert your Southwest travel funds to Rapid Rewards points you need to go to this link. Then follow the prompts and redeem your travel funds. It may take up to 72 hours for your Rapid Rewards account to be credited but typically it is quicker. If you have questions on the process, Southwest has an FAQ page to review.
Are you planning to take advantage of this offer? Let us know in the comments below!
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
If I plan on using my travel funds before they expire, wouldn’t I be better off then not to transfer them to rapid rewards?
That’s a great point Reid. It probably does make sense to just use the travel funds if you plan to travel before this offer ends.
Do the math, but because converting them is essentially buying points at around 1.28 cents per point, you may save a bit of points by converting and then using your points to book your trip. Whether it’s enough points to be worth the hassle is potentially another story…
Hi,
Thank you for sharing, this is so informative article for traveller.
Southwest already offers some of the most flexible points and funds policies in the industry. It’s nice to see the added flexibility will bring. Although, I agree that travel funds are best used before they expire as opposed to the Rapid Rewards program.
The text in the article needs fixed. It’s 1.28 cents per point, not 28 cents per point.
Great catch Nick! It’s been updated. Thanks!