Southwest Travel Credits: The Good, The Bad, and The Smart Workaround
.jpg)
Let's talk about something that makes my travel-planning heart sink: airline travel credits. They expire when you're not looking, you can't give them to anyone else, and finding them in your account feels like a scavenger hunt nobody wants to play.
Just last week, I was working with a client planning her Arizona getaway on Southwest. We dug into her account and discovered over $1,000 in Southwest travel credits just sitting there! The kicker? She'd been buying new flights while these credits collected digital dust.
Here's what's changed (and not in a good way): Southwest travel credits now expire anywhere from 6 months to a year after purchase, depending on your fare type. Picture this nightmare scenario: you book a fare four months before your trip, life happens and you need to cancel, and boom – your credit expires just two months later. Not exactly the flexibility we're looking for as families.
The Game-Changer: Southwest Points
Ready for the solution that'll make you wonder why you ever booked any other way? Always book with Southwest points. When you cancel a points booking, those points flow right back into your Rapid Rewards account. No expiration dates, no restrictions on who can use them – just pure travel flexibility.
Building Your Points Stash
Southwest is currently offering 100,000 bonus points when you open one of their personal credit cards and spend $4,000 within five months. That's more time than usual to hit the spending requirement, which makes it much more manageable for families.
Here's where it gets exciting: this bonus gets you most of the way to Southwest's Companion Pass. Earn 135,000 points in a calendar year, and you've unlocked buy-one-get-one-free flights. If you time this right and earn the bonus after January 1st, 2026, you could have companion pass benefits for both 2026 and 2027.
Southwest has three personal credit cards to choose from, and while the benefits have shifted with their new assigned seating and fare structure (along with higher annual fees), all three cards currently offer that same generous 100,000-point welcome bonus.
The bottom line? Skip the credit headaches and go straight to points. Your future travel-planning self will thank you.
Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. Not ready to dive into the coaching program, download the ebook or custom tracker or book a 1:1 consulting call with me. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable.
*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities.
