The biggest benefits of becoming a frequent flyer are the perks — from early boarding and a free checked bag to lounge access — that begin to build as one reaches status.
But as the highest tiers would require spending tens of thousands of dollars with an airline in a single year, a much more immediate perk is the points that travelers collect with each flight that can then be used for another trip or to buy in-flight services such as Wi-Fi or food from the onboard menu.
Related: Another airline just made it more difficult to collect points for status
Given that one or two trips would not earn one enough points to book another trip, airlines will allow travelers to book travel with a combination of points and cash. Mainstream airlines such as Delta (DAL) and United (UAL) have had this option for years while low-cost carrier Southwest Airlines (LUV) just announced that it would also start doing the same with its new "Cash + Points" program.
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This is how you can redeem those points for a partial discount
"No more waiting to save up all those points," the airline writes of the new option. "Use what you've got and go now!"
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Now live for anyone who has points with Southwest, the program was initially tested on a subset of frequent flyers. When clicking to book a flight, there will now be an "Apply Cash + Points" widget asking how many of one's points one would like to put toward the flight as the cash amount goes down depending on how much one puts in. To avoid going into decimals, one will be given up to five amount options.
While there are regular promotions for earning points faster, Southwest Rapid Rewards will generally earn those who are yet to reach status one point per dollar spent with the airline or two per dollar if paid through the Southwest credit card with Chase (JPM) . The minimum amount for redeeming will start at 1,000.
The new Southwest points redeeming option has one big problem
The program is already seeing some criticism from some industry insiders who crunched the numbers on whether it is better to save one's points or redeem them.
"This is useful for those who only fly Southwest occasionally since it means the Rapid Rewards points that you accrue can score you a discount [but] don't get a whole lot of value per point; when you outright redeem for a Rapid Rewards award flight, each point gets you around 1.1 cents (or so) toward the cost of a Southwest ticket, while with the examples given, you're generally getting around 0.6 cents of value per point, which is almost a 50% reduction in value," writes Ben Schlappig of One Mile At A Time.
One also will not earn any Rapid Rewards points for working toward A-List status or the airline's recently-launched Companion Pass on any Cash + Points (even for the cash portion of that booking) so this is truly the best option for those who only occasionally fly with the airline but have amassed a small number of points that would otherwise go to waste.
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