Some companies attract such a devoted following of customers, that they achieve a cult like status. You only need to observe the legions of fans of waiting in line to purchase Apple latest product, or at the opening of a new Krispy Kreme store. In the much pilloried travel industry, the one company has managed to attain an almost mythical status among travelers, Southwest Airlines.

If you haven’t flown them, you might want to if only because of their vaunted “No Hidden Fees” policy. As for members of their Rapid Rewards loyalty program, travel rewards can be earned through Chase Bank’s Rapid Rewards Card.

How It Works

In a world where airline programs are measured in miles, Southwest uses Points. Accumulate 16 points and you are automatically issued a Standard Award, good for a free round trip flight. Since Southwest does not offer international travel or a premium class of service, the program is simplicity itself. There are the usual blackout dates and capacity controls, only the later of which can be waived if you combine two Standard Awards into a Freedom Award.

Earning Southwest Rapid Reward Points with Chase

Earning Southwest Points with Chase is only a little more complicated. Each dollar you spend is referred to as an Reward Dollar. When you earn 1200 Reward dollars, you are automatically credited one Southwest Rapid Reward Point. When you use your card for purchases on Southwest, or their vacation, hotel, and rental car partners, you earn two Reward Dollars for every dollar spent.

How Does the Card Add Up?

Since 16 award points are automatically redeemed for each round trip flight Southwest, and it takes 1200 of spending to earn a point, my calculator indicates that you will receive a Standard Award for every $19,200 of spending. This is substantially less than most airline affiliate cards, and even slightly less than the $20,000 of spending on an American Express Starwood card needed to claim the 25,000 mile standard award at most airlines. These days, a domestic airline ticket is worth at least $500, and often much more. Even if the ticket would have cost you only $500, the reward value per dollar spent comes out just over 2.6 cents per dollar spent. If the ticket was worth $800, as many Southwest tickets are, your reward value shoots up to over 4 cents per dollar spent, about the same as the premium international award value at other airlines.

The Downsides

The phenomenal reward value of 2-4 cents per dollar spent is great, but there is always a catch. Southwest is actually the largest domestic airline in terms of passengers carried, however they have been very careful in what markets they serve. This caution has made them consistently profitable, yet there are some gaping holes in their route map. New York City is only served by distant Long Island airport in Islip, and Boston’s nearest Southwest City is in Providence, Rhode Island. Worse still, there is no service at some important regional business centers such as Minneapolis, Memphis, Charlotte, and Atlanta. There is no current international service, however they have recently announced a partnership with their Canadian counterpart WestJet.

The Rapid Rewards card from Chase also has an annual fee, however you do earn a generous 8 Rapid Reward points at signup, plus 2 more every year.

Who Is This Card For?

The die hard Southwest fan will love it of course, and those who’s travel takes them to cities served Southwest will find this card has a lot to offer. Southwest has a huge presence in tourist destinations such as Orlando, Denver, and Las Vegas. These destinations can be reached by families with up to two bags each for free, something to consider strongly in these days of sky high fees.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 22:36 and is filed under Maximize your Credit Card Rewards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.