Happy New Year, everybody! Indeed, today is a happy day, both for me personally and for Southwest Airlines, as we are officially unveiling our All-New Rapid Rewards program. I know many of you have been anxiously waiting for us to announce the details of the new program, and believe me, we have been just as anxious to share our plans with you. This is, after all, the single biggest new product launch in our Company’s history, and I am so proud to be a part of it. While the new program will not officially launch until March 1, 2011, we are announcing the details today to give our Members plenty of time to become familiar with the changes.
Believe it or not, we actually began work on enhancing our Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program several years ago. While I know that seems like an awfully long time, it is hard to comprehend the magnitude and scope that goes into revamping an entire loyalty program. If you think about it, our Rapid Rewards program impacts almost every single aspect of our operation and our Company, from our Frontline Employees, to our Customer Support and Services Representatives, to our Customer Relations and Rapid Rewards Employees, to our Technology folks and our Reservations system, to our policies and procedures--not to mention all of the research that goes into hearing what our Members want to see in a new program.
And that is exactly what the All-New Rapid Rewards program is all about--meeting your needs and the needs of today’s traveler. We began by asking you, our Customers, and even those who don’t currently fly on Southwest, what is important to them in a loyalty program. We conducted months of Customer surveys, focus groups, and research to find out what travelers like about our current program, what they don’t like, and what they’d like to see changed. Best of all – we listened!
You told us that you don’t like blackout dates, seat restrictions, expiring credits, and limited options for earning and redeeming your credits, and that you did want additional ways to redeem, including travel to international destinations. Well, do I have some good news for you! In the All-New Rapid Rewards program, Members can redeem their points for every seat, every day, on every flight, with absolutely no blackout dates or seat restrictions. Simply put, if we are selling the seat, you can redeem points for it. And points don’t expire as long as you have some earning activity in a 24-month time period. Members will earn points for every dollar spent, so the amount of points you earn is based on the fare and fare product purchased. The same is true for redeeming points.
Another new feature of the enhanced program that we are really excited about is that Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Credit Cardmembers will not only be able to redeem their points for Southwest flights, but they will also be able to redeem their points for international flights to more than 800 worldwide destinations, for hotel stays, gift cards, and much more.
The new program is designed to give you, our Customers, more control and flexibility over how and when you earn and redeem your points. When you buy certain fare products, you earn more points. And you can get the most out of your points by planning ahead so you can redeem them for the lowest fare possible. When you can plan ahead, you spend fewer points, and when a flight goes on sale, the number of points needed to redeem for that flight goes on sale, too. In the new program, you have the flexibility to spend your points as you wish. After all, this is a program designed for you, and these are your points!
The new program also features enhancements for our A-List Members and includes a new level of status with the A-List Preferred level. A-List Members will now enjoy new benefits, including a 25 percent earning bonus on flights. Additionally, the new A-List Preferred level includes all of the benefits of A-List, plus a 100 percent earning bonus on flights in addition to a few other benefits. And we’re excited to carry our popular Companion Pass program into the All-New Rapid Rewards.
Of course, Current Rapid Rewards Members will retain their existing Awards and credits, and our A-List and Companion Pass Members will retain their status level in the new program. All Members will be enrolled in the new program, and there is no need for them to re-enroll.
There are far too many details of our new program for me to mention here, and we’ve developed a whole host of resources and information for you to learn about the All-New Rapid Rewards. I encourage you to watch the brief videos that accompany this post right here on our blog, as they help explain the crucial elements of the new program. Additionally, we created a special web site, www.newrapidrewards.com, where you can learn even more. Plus, existing Rapid Rewards Members should be on the lookout for information that we will send directly to them.
I know our Rapid Rewards program is beloved and has been around for 24 years, and for the most part, we haven’t really changed it that much. But the time for an upgrade has come, and we truly believe that we have taken an award-winning program and made it even better. I hope you will agree, and I wish you all the very best throughout the New Year!
Comments
WAKE UP! YOU ARE LOSING CUSTOMERS!
You lost my loyalty immediately when you cancelled double miles for college students 2 wks after we signed up. We planned to give SW a min of 8 coast-to-coast flights per year for at least 4 yrs and possibly more for our college student son, plus RT visits from us as parents 2 times
per year,plus continuing loyalty from him (lifelong habit for him & evventual family after college, plus our continuing retirement travel. SW was going to be our exclusive "college" airline. SW threw this all away when you cancelled your college double mile program right after we signed up. Made me so angry I will never use SW unless really unavoidable, & go out of my way to give you bad advertising by telling anyone I talk to about flying what an untrustworthy airline you are. LOUSY business decision by SW, followed by others, such as cancellation of transferability of unused ticket credits to othervfamily members (again, something many parents with plane trip flying college kids would flick to!) But you've lost me! Blew off 3 of my son's college transportation years already!
I HAVE 8 RAPID REWARDS THAT ARE TOTALLY WORTHLESS, THERE ARE NEVER ANY SEATS AVAILABLE WITH A STANDARD REWARD AND WHEN THEY STOPPED LETTING YOU CONVERT THEM TO FREEDOM REWARDS IT MAKES THEM WORTHLESS. THE NEW POINT SYSTEM IS OK ( NOT AS GOOD AS SOME OTHER AIRLINES ) BUT WHEN THEY CHANGED THE RULES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME THEY COMMITTED FRAUD ON THE GENERAL PUBLIC
this new stupid system sucks big time! they're trying to make up the money for the fees they don't charge for extra bags! i used to love this airline and take more thant the required 8 round trips to get the award every year and now you have to buy the highest price ticket how many times to get one??? bulls@#$!. the only good thing about them now is that if you book a flight and miss it or don't use it it goes into a credit that u can use anytime, not like other airlines where you have to pay to change it...but who knows, they'll probably start charging for that too! i'm soooo discouraged with them now! :o(
This new program is a scam for sure. A flight from Nashville to Albany that use to cost a standard award of 16 credits now runs over 60,000 points. That would equal 50 credits based on the points I earn on my SWVisa Card. Sure you can get the super discounts where it may only cost you 30-40 thousand but you better be prepared to take the one flight at 6am or be willing to make 2 or three stops to get there. As soon as my last free ticket is used I will be canceling the VISA and never use SWA again!! Not feeling the "Luv"
Shame on Southwest. All this deceptive, in fact totally false, advertising about the new Rewards program when, in fact, you can no longer use your reward tickets even though a seat is available. I just tried and got the "sold out" screen when neither flight was sold out and, if I had just over 66,000 points available, I could have booked it. So in other words, my free tickets, some of which expire May 2011, will probably go unused (surely SWA didn't anticipate this!!!). How can SWA continue to expound "unlimited reward seats" and "no blackout dates" when it clearly is not true! I am so disappointed in what was once a special airline. I will go out of my way to fly other airlines now.
true that! i tried to book waaaaay in advance my award ticket and the "non blackout and unlimited reward seats" were booked.....5 months in advance?? please! my friend had the same problem but she called customer service and they ended up giving her a seat. good for her! they refused me..booo!!
Have been a LOYAL SWA rapid rewards customer since the program's inception. The new system is a mess - there are no point totals- just a list of 'standard awards' (16) and another list says I have zero points. It's 10:30 pm and there is a 25 minute wait for to speak to someone. I have always been one of SWA biggest cheerleaders. Their system was fabulously easy to use but no more. They’ve decided to replace it with the new system which is nothing more than a thinly disguised shell game. I need a straightforward booking system and if I'm to continue using the RR credit card I need value; I don't see the value any or SWA’s trademark ease-of-use simplicity.
They treat us like fools that have days to sit around figuring out what ‘shell’ the points are under, then another shell has the flight hidden underneath it. Forget it. I haven't flown ANY OTHER AIRLINE in 25 years. If they didn't appreciate our loyalty why should we continue to be loyal? I just booked another airline for an upcoming May flight. Maybe they are trying to get rid of some of us? Well SWA it worked in my case. I’m ditching the RR credit card as well. What good is it?
Change is good but did you need to create an unworkable mess for us?
Bad move SW. Your RRs and A-Listers are your loyal base. You don't mess with your loyal base.
I have been a loyal customer / consumer of SWA for ten years. I frequently travel from PDX to LAS. Previously I needed 8 round trips for an award ticket, now I'll need almost 14 round trips...effectively a 74% tax. In addition, I was one flight away from re-qualifying for A-List (on March 4th), now I'll miss that benchmark because it will take me 74% more flights to gain my status!
I will fly SWA exactly four more times; my return trip home, and three one way awards. Hello Alaska Air, here I come!
Signed,
Discontented
The more rewards program from what I can tell stinks really bad. On other cards I can fly from Reno to Hawaii for 40k points. Southwest 104k.
I used to fly to Ft. Lauderdale for 19200 points now 32K
What a ripoff.
My AA card let me fly around the world for 75K points. Reno to Rome 175K
Are they kidding?