How to Get Elite Status on Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines has become one of America's largest airlines by building a reputation for simple airfare pricing and eliminating extra fees. This spirit of simplicity can also be found in the Southwest Airlines loyalty program, called Rapid Rewards®.

Some airlines have complicated loyalty programs with hard-to-understand rules, multiple levels of elite status, and a confusing jumble of frequent flyer benefits depending on how much you fly and spend. Airline frequent flyer programs also sometimes change their rules in ways that are not in your favor as a customer.

Southwest Airlines is different. There are only two tiers of elite status with Southwest Airlines: A-List, and A-List Preferred. And Southwest Airlines has announced new rules for Rapid Rewards® that make it easier to earn elite status with Southwest in 2024.

Let's look at the details of the Southwest Airlines frequent flyer program, and how to get elite status.

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®: A straightforward frequent flyer program

Compared to some other airlines that have a lot of hard-to-read fine print about their frequent flyer programs, Southwest Airlines makes it easy to understand how to earn points and how to get elite status. With Rapid Rewards®, you earn points every time you book a flight, and the number of points depends on the airfare.

For example, if you buy a Southwest Airlines ticket at the lowest-price "Wanna Get Away" level of airfares, you earn 6 points per $1 spent, or 600 points for a $100 ticket. But if you buy an "Anytime" fare (the standard, non-discount price), you get 10 points per $1, or 1,000 points for every $100 spent. Southwest offers additional frequent flyer points for flights in Business Select® -- 12 points per $1 spent.

And once you earn elite status on Southwest, you get even bigger bonuses to get more frequent flyer points: 25% for A-List and 100% for A-List Preferred. For example, if you have A-List status, and you buy an "Anytime" ticket for $100, instead of earning 10 points per $1, you'll earn 12.5 points per $1.

The Southwest Rapid Rewards® frequent flyer program offers a range of customer-friendly benefits:

• Unlimited reward seats: You can use your points to get reward flights every day, on every flight with available seats -- there are no seat restrictions.
• No blackout dates to use your reward points: Some airlines make it hard for you to use frequent flyer points on busy travel days; Southwest doesn't.
• Spend points with Southwest Airlines partners: Like other frequent flyer programs, Southwest gives you flexible options to use your points, not just for airline tickets. You can use the More Rewards program to redeem your points for other purchases with partner companies, like rental cars, hotels, or international flights with other airlines.
• Your points never expire: This isn't unique to Southwest, but it's worth noting.

Along with booking flights on Southwest to earn frequent flyer points, you can also earn extra Rapid Rewards® points from everyday purchases with a Southwest Airlines credit card.

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards was recognized at the 2023 Freddie Awards, an industry awards program to recognize the best travel loyalty offerings. It won the awards for Best Customer Service and Best Loyalty Credit Card.

Southwest Rapid Rewards: How to get elite status

Southwest Airlines has a reputation as an unpretentious, egalitarian airline, where there is no first class or business class, no assigned seats, and customers seat themselves. However, Southwest Rapid Rewards offers two types of elite status for its most loyal frequent flyers. And priority boarding is one of the benefits.

Here are the two types of Southwest elite status, and how to earn them -- based on the new rules starting in January 2024:

Southwest Rapid Rewards A-List

To earn A-List status, you need to achieve one of these frequent flyer program goals:

• Fly 20 one-way qualifying flights on Southwest; or
• Earn 25,000 tier qualifying points (TQPs)

A qualifying flight is defined as a one-way revenue trip (paid for with cash, not rewards points) from an origin city to a destination city. Stops along the way do not count as additional flights. For example, if you fly from Chicago to Houston with a stop in Dallas, that Chicago-Houston flight counts as one (1) qualifying flight. So if you take 10 qualifying roundtrip flights on Southwest per year, you can qualify for A-List elite status.

Want to buy your way into A-List status instead? You need to earn 25,000 tier qualifying points. You can earn TQPs by purchasing Southwest airline tickets (qualifying flights), and you can get TQPs for other qualifying purchases with a Southwest airline credit card or travel rewards credit card. The Rapid Rewards Premier, Priority, Premier Business, or Performance Business Credit Card from Chase will let you earn 1,500 TQPs for every $5,000 you spend on qualifying purchases on the card.

Southwest Rapid Rewards A-List Preferred

A-List Preferred is the highest tier of Southwest Airlines elite status. To get there, you need to:

• Fly 40 one-way qualifying flights on Southwest; or
• Earn 70,000 tier qualifying points (TQPs)

The rules of earning TQPs for A-List Preferred status are the same as the other Southwest elite status tier. You need to buy qualifying flights on Southwest, or earn extra points by spending money with an approved Southwest airline or travel partner credit card.

But the simplest way to get A-List Preferred elite status is to take 20 roundtrip flights on Southwest per year.

Bottom line: Getting elite status with Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards can be simpler than other frequent flyer programs. You need to take 20 qualifying one-way flights on Southwest in 2024 to qualify for A-List, or 40 one-way flights to get A-List Preferred.