Southwest Airlines is a fan favorite. From their frequent one way sales, family boarding and not charging for your first checked bag, there’s a lot to LUV! Now that they offer flights to Hawaii, Southwest continues to be a popular option. The thing that’s different about Southwest is that they don’t offer “saver level” award flights. The award price of a flight depends on the cash price of the flight. If there are good cash prices available for flights, those same flights will cost less using Rapid Rewards also. Rapid Rewards points are set at a fixed value. Let’s learn how to find award flights on Southwest.
How To Find Award Seats
First, go to the Southwest website.
When you’re on the home page, go to about the middle of the page and enter in your flight search criteria. Enter in your departing and arriving airport. Then enter your dates and number of passengers. Also make sure to select “Points” in order to view your award prices. Then click “Search”
With Southwest, you can choose either Roundtrip or One-Way when doing your search since awards are set at a fixed value per point.
With that said, don’t let that deter you from using your points for Southwest flights. You can get extraordinary value from your points when you combine their use with a Companion Pass!
Here are the search results for Dallas to Las Vegas. Notice that there are nonstop options and ones with connections. Also notice how they vary in price. Once you find the flight option that you like, click on it.
Once you select the flight option that you like, you’ll be prompted to sign into your Rapid Rewards account if you haven’t already done so. Login and click continue.
After that, you’ll see the total price in points and cash for your flight. That’s pretty cheap to get to Las Vegas, and this price beats what other carriers charge for saver level seats!
Conclusion
Although Rapid Rewards points are set at a fixed value, you can still score some pretty cheap flights, either domestically or internationally. Combine that with the Companion Pass and you can save a tremendous amount of points and cash!. Another great thing about Southwest is they don’t charge you any fees when changing your flight. So if you find that your previously booked flight is now cheaper, you can cancel and re-book at no penalty. There’s a lot to love about Southwest, including how easy it is to book award flights.