Nuts About Southwest

Will this cut out the time frame for get rapid reward points

I'm confused!
Will I earn 1 point per $1 spent when using my RR Visa to purchase everyday items?
and earn 2 points per $1 spent when buying any SWA tickets, etc...?

In other words if I use my RR Visa to buy a Business Select Fare I would earn 14 points per dollar spent?
The slider on the Southwest Web site is confusing me because it shows 12 points per dollar spent when using your Visa.

What a confusing mess! What looks good on a spreadsheet to a bunch of executives behind closed doors and windows (absent fresh air), really is a hot mess of nonsense. RR used to be straightforward and easy to understand. That was the beauty of WN. Now its just some sort of pyramid scheme disguised as a loyalty program. I highly doubt I will ever see another rapid rewards ticket or EVER be able to use it anymore. How can you possibly think this is "Rewarding?" I need a slide rule just to figure out how to get to Portland from ABQ after months of travel with WN? If I understand this, you are "awarding" points based on a number that is multiplied off a published fair? Who seriously in the real world, amidst fresh air and daylight can seriously understand this? A complicated, hot mess!! I am fed up and will remain loyal IN SPITE of your ridiculous loyalty program. And the VISA now seems useless in this whole scheme. That lame website that intro'd this whole thing is way confusing too. I agree with the above posted comments that the slider is stupid. Way to mess up, guys!!!

I might have thought that someone would have figured out, that if it takes a 2-minute video to only partially explain earning/redeeming, the design of the new program was poor.

What I get is that it will now take longer for my college daughter to earn a flight. That to chase new customers, you threw the rest of us under the bus. We've flown SW almost exclusively for years. The only time we DON'T fly them is when they don't service the airport. I've flown then even when the flights are less than convenient than other airlines. I've flown them when the cost was more expensive. For goodness sakes, we even flew them as the airline of choice to Hawaii when you partnered with another airline.

And now - reading the ponzi scheme you created - business travelers can use their RR # on full cost flights their business pay for, and then redeem those points for lower cost tickets. So if you earn 26,000 points on a single round trip by flying Business select, you have enough points to fly two round trip economy tickets for free. Which then cuts the amount of those seats available for customers (like my college age daughter) who fly economy out of necessity.

I want the Amex points program back (I'm platinum) and I want more rewards for those of us who bought the stock and stuck with the airline in good times and bad.

Non-expiration doesn't help if you've stacked the deck in favor of business travelers. I know you have to appease the Air Tran group - but good grief. SW used to stand for fun and different. Now it's going to be easier to just shop for more convenient flights on other airlines.

Very VERY disappointed. The Southwest culture is pretty much DOA now.

are there any answers to all these comments about the new rewards program? you can still use your points to purchase tickets for family right?

Wow, my beloved Southwest is becoming more and more a regular airline. I fly for business and they make me get the cheapest flight available. Screw Southwest for rewarding people that pay them the most money. The old system could not have been more simple. Just watch, paying for bags is not far behind. I can guarantee that.

I LOVE S/W, but agree this new program sounds confusing. What is odd is that the dollar amounts are different on the slider, making the "points" dramatically different, by not comparing $100 to $100. I love my "A" status, and can't figure out if I'm losing it at the end of the month or not. Glad I never went for the VISA card . . . still getting at least four junk snail mails every month. But thanks for the cute luggage tag for 10 years of flying with you!

anonymoyus 18:59 Yes you can use the points to buy tickets for others.

I'm fed up with Southwest, the simple & easy airline, becoming complicated like the other guys. I earn around 25 free flights/yr and have decided as of March 1, 2011 to start using USAirways, Frontier, and a few of the other airlines since using Southwest is no longer to my advantage. What kind of crazy formula is this? Who are the insane marketing people who thought this is what their loyal customers want? And where the hell was Gary Kelly when this piece of trash was approved? What a shame. This simple airline with the easy frequent flyer program has just brain fried it's loyal customers in how to calculate a free flight from Phoenix to Albuquerque.