Southwest has made a no notice devaluation to the value of points. Southwest points are worth a fixed value when redeeming for wanna get away fares (Southwest’s lowest fare class), the value is now 83 points per $1 (1.2¢) previously it was 78 points per $1 (1.28¢).
It’s important to remember that when redeeming with points you only pay the base fare and the mandatory TSA fee of $5.6 for one ways and $11.20 for round trip flights, whereas cash flights also include other fees and charges. That means when the other fees & charges make up a higher portion of the ticket (generally on lower cost flights) the value of Southwest points increases. It also means you always get more than the listed value. For example:
- Flight one: $428 or 31,562 points (1.36¢ per point)
- Flight two: $59 or 3,443 points (1.71¢ per point)
It’s not a huge surprise that Southwest is devaluing points again, below is a list of when devaluations have occurred in the past:
- 2011-2014 (March): All points were worth a fixed 1.67¢ per point
- 2014 (April) – 2015 (April, 16th): All points were worth a fixed 1.43¢
- 2015 (April 17th) – 2016 (April 19th or so): Fares in the lowest class were worth a fixed 1.43¢, fares in other classes were on a sliding scale
- 2016 (April 19th or so) – 2018 (April 3rd): Fares in the lowest class are worth a fixed 1.39¢, fares in other classes were on a sliding scale
- 2018 April 3rd – Today: Fares in the lowest class are worth a fixed 1.28¢, fares in other classes were on a sliding scale
That being said it’s always extremely disappointing when airlines make devaluations, especially when no notice is given and to make matters worse a lot of people have been sitting on points due to the fact a global pandemic has been occurring. Southwest also gave users the ability to turn travel vouchers into points during the pandemic.
