Most airlines treat passengers as baggage, Yes, the plane has to be full in order for the company to make money, but aside from making sure you get onboard, everything else is pretty irrelevant.
The big airlines, of course, don't ever say this -- just like your cable company won't tell you it doesn't care if your service is out -- but they view passengers as a necessary evil. That gets proved every time you look at all the added fees and unexpected charges you pay on every flight.
Most airlines charge extra for baggage even though they know you'll be bringing bags and you know you'll be bringing bags. You might also get charged for actually getting a seat assignment and on some budget airlines, you'll pay for soda, water, and any sort of snack.
Southwest (LUV) has never treated customers that way. Bags are included, you don't pay extra for anything, and the airline happily hands out beverages and snacks. In addition, the company has a very simple, but meaningful loyalty program.
Rapid Rewards celebrates loyal customers by offering meaningful perks that are relatively easy to obtain. If you fly 25 one-way trips (or earn 35,000 tier-qualifying points) you earn A-list status and get priority boarding, same-day flight changes at no extra charge, same-day priority standby, and a dedicated help phone number.
It may not be the most luxurious frequent flyer program -- Southwest doesn't have airport lounges or first class seats -- but Rapid Rewards members who reach A-list status get perks that make flying easier. That makes earning (and keeping) A-list status valuable and the airline has been very aware of how hard that might be in 2022 given the ongoing impact of the pandemic.
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Southwest Had a Major Passenger Problem
Southwest has been very aware of how the covid pandemic impacted its passengers. It extended all Rapid Rewards status through the end of 2022 based on what customers earned in 2020 because the pandemic made earning status nearly impossible in 2021.
The airline, however, did not foresee another problem its most loyal customers would have in 2022, but with the year heading into its final quarter, it fixed that mistake.
Under the longstanding Rapid Rewards program, customers only got loyalty program credit/points for flights that were paid for, If you redeemed earned points for a free flight, that did not count toward your total. That made sense as why should the airline reward you doubly for a free flight, but the pandemic caused a problem with that policy.
Many loyal customers booked multiple flights before covid made travel impractical (or impossible). Southwest allowed passengers to cancel those flights and turn dollars into points (which did not expire, whereas flight credits in dollars did), That left many very loyal customers with high points totals that they had actually paid for rather than earned from flying.
As those customers cashed in those points in 2022 they realized they were not earning flights toward maintaining their Rapid Rewards status. It was a policy that inadvertently punished some of the company's best customers and once Southwest became aware of the problem, it did something extraordinary to fix it.
Southwest Makes a Customer-Friendly Move
Like many Southwest A-List members, I accumulated a lot of points due to flights I had to cancel during the pandemic. That meant that the first few flights I took in 2022 were paid for with points and that's when I first became aware that flights paid for with points did not help you earn loyalty status for the next year.
That struck me as somewhat unfair as many of my points were from flights I paid for not awards from flights I had taken from. It was a policy that made it a challenge to keep my status for 2023 and as a very frequent flyer losing those perks was meaningful enough that I was hunting for a cheap Southwest flight I could take back and forth in the same day just to get the credit toward keeping A-List status.
That made it especially rewarding (and loyalty enhancing) when Southwest sent an email saying the following:
Daniel, if you really wanna earn our much-loved tier status benefits, great news.
Reward travel counts
Surprise! We've added reward travel completed 1/1-9/19/22 to your flight segment count toward tier status. Check your account to see if you're closer to earning all the perks.
The airline also made it so that any travel booked with points will count for the rest of the year (that required a very simple registration).
This move, while it may seem small, is Southwest protecting its relationship with some of its best customers. It's the kind of passenger-friendly moves that few, if any other airline would make.
Southwest has constantly shown that it values my business and that's why I always look to book with them first. There are sometimes cheaper flights, but cheap can be relative when you factor in add-ons, but Southwest proves time and again why it deserves my business.
