In recent months, news has emerged that many of Southwest Airlines' long-time employees are leaving… (Love) The Dallas-based low-cost airline has announced that customers have not been satisfied.
In late July, CEO Bob Jordan finally confirmed rumors that the airline would replace its decades-old open-seating policy to be more in line with nearly all other airlines, due to an urgent need to make more money.
Investment firm Elliott Investment Management, which recently bought enough shares to become one of its largest investors, has launched a proxy battle seeking to completely replace Jordan and Chairman Gary Kelly. The airline's shares are also down more than 13% from last year.
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Amidst all this, the airline desperately needs something positive to share with its customers and this week brought back an acceleration program in which certain frequent flyers can earn status faster.
Here's how to speed up your points accumulation with Southwest
The latest version of the promotion (Southwest regularly launches these types of programs to encourage greater spending) allows passengers who Register online Earn double the points needed for A-List and A-List Preferred status by spending with the airline either with regular cash or rewards points or by using the credit cards you have under Chase (Ministry of Justice) .
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A-List status, earned by taking 20 one-way flights or earning 35,000 tier qualification points in a calendar year (using the Southwest Credit Card earns you 1,500 TQPs for every $5,000 spent along with more points earned on Southwest purchases), earns you priority boarding and free same-day changes.
A-List Preferred includes 40 one-way flights or 135,000 points to earn and also includes free Wi-Fi on board, a dedicated phone number for faster access to a Southwest representative and faster points collection to maintain status in future years.
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These are the benefits you can get with Southwest status (and how to earn it)
“We're bringing back this popular promotion to give our Rapid Rewards members an extra boost to reach our coveted A-List and A-List Preferred tier status faster, so they can take advantage of all the benefits our Rapid Rewards program has to offer, like earlier boarding, increased points, free same-day standby and same-day changing,” Southwest Vice President and Chief Product Officer Jonathan Clarkson said in a statement.
Those who wish to earn points with a credit card will receive 2,000 points instead of the usual 1,500 for every $5,000 spent, while flights purchased with rewards points (which normally cannot be used to earn status points) will count as a segment of the total flights required to achieve status. All travel must be booked and completed by November 30.
“For the first time, members can upgrade their tier status with qualifying purchases made with car rentals, hotel reservations and other select Rapid Rewards partners,” Southwest clarifies. “Each base point earned on qualifying purchases made with select Rapid Rewards partners between now and November 30, 2024, counts as one tier qualification point, up to a maximum of 5,000 tier qualification points total.”
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