Southwest Additional Perks

Hopefully you know by now what a huge Southwest fan I am. And if my top four reasons weren’t enough, here are some other added bonuses as well.

1. Rapid Rewards Partners.

Did you know that Southwest partners with car rental companies and hotels? This means that if you rent a car from one of their partners or stay at a partner hotel, you can actually earn Southwest miles from it. For me this beneficial if I stay at a Marriott for work (one of the partner hotels) because I hardly ever stay at them and it would take forever to get enough hotel points saved for free nights. Instead, I ask Marriott to put the points to my Rapid Rewards account instead. Same for rental cars- since I don’t pay for rental cars very often, it takes a really long time for me to save up enough points for a free rental. Instead of getting a few rental car credits here or there, I’d rather use those points towards a Southwest flight. Often times you can earn around 600 miles for one paid rental car- that’s much more valuable to me.

To clarify- if you want to use Rapid Rewards Partners to earn miles instead of car/hotel points, you forfeit earning those hotel/car points completely for that purchase. Sadly, you can’t get both- but since miles are most valuable to me, that’s usually what I choose.

2. Shopping Portals.

I’ve written before about the Chase Shopping Portals and how to earn free extra points by using them for your online shopping. Well Southwest has their own shopping portal as well! Since Chase points can transfer to Southwest, I would recommend simply doing a comparison of the two portals when you’re getting ready to shop. Whichever one will earn you more, use that one.

3. Dining Program.

Similar to the rapid rewards partners, my enrolling in Southwest’s dining program you can earn miles whenever you dine at restaurants in the program. Enrollment is free so log onto Southwest and check out which restaurants can get you free extra miles!

4. Free tv on planes.

Southwest is starting to implement wifi options on more and more flights. While you do have to pay for wifi, you can connect to their free tv show offerings without paying at all! Pack an iPad or Laptop to use for those domestic flights that usually don’t offer any free entertainment.

Although these perks wouldn’t be enough to be a deciding factor for me in which airline to use, they are a nice addition. Southwest offers so many opportunities for earning miles, don’t delay starting another day!