August 2025 Newsletter

🚀 Southwest News 🚀

The following changes have been announced for Southwest. They can be bucketed into 3 categories:

- Credit card changes

- Boarding changes

- New Southwest credit card offer

Credit card key benefits for 2026:

- 1 free checked bag for everyone on reservation

- Annual anniversary points

- Bonus earn on Southwest purchases

- Bonus earn on gas stations, groceries or or restaurants depending on the card. **New

- Complimentary preferred seat up fee are if available **New

- $75 credit for the most expensive tier

- Flight coupon for 10-15% for the other card tiers. **New

You no longer receive:

Free upgraded boardings (since the boarding process is changing)

Increased annual fees:

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card: Increased from $99 to $149.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card:Increased from $99 to $149.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card: Increased from $149 to $229.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card: Increased from $99 to $149.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card: Increased from $199 to $299.

A-list is less beneficial now. Most of the perks of A list can be earned just by having the top tier credit card. The only reason to get A list now is for stand-by flying, a priority check in line and earlier boarding (maybe, since A-list boards with groups 3-5 and credit card holders board in group 5) Is that worth trying to work in 20 flights a year? I’m thinking not really.

100k SUB offer: you have 5 months to earn the SUB which means you can earn it in 2026 and get CP for 26-27’ with just a single card and 20k additional points earned maybe through a hotel stay or shopping portal. This feels too good to be true and has me skeptical thinking they may make changes to the companion pass for 2026. If you’re taking advantage of this offer be sure you are well under 5/24 and won’t be devastated if those points end up not eligible for the pass. As of today they are.

Boarding groups:

Groups 1 & 2: Passengers who purchase a Choice Extra seat (which includes extra legroom) or upgrade to one after booking, along with A-List Preferred members.

Groups 3-5: Passengers who purchase a Choice Preferred ticket, A-List members, and Southwest credit cardholders.

Groups 6-8: Passengers who purchase Choice or Basic tickets.

Bottom Line Thoughts: Southwest had the fastest timed boarding process and just screwed it all up. Now they are doing traditional boarding with groups 1-6. They had said they were not messing with boarding so I am not sure what made them change their mind but I assume it was the possibility to earn more revenue by having more than 3 groups. They still say there is more to come so maybe they will keep the numbers? Stay tuned.

I hate speculation but I’m worried changes are coming to the companion pass. If going for the pass by opening new card(s) then be cautious and prepared for those points to maybe not count.

If you were going for the fast track method for 2026 and have not earned a bonus in the last 2 years then I think this new offer is worthwhile as it will reduce the number of cards needed to get CP to just one card instead of 2. This offer ends on Sept 17 so sign up as close to the end of the promo as possible.

Seat selection is LIVE:

Seats range from ~$32-$79 and the seats on the rear of the plane are free to select if you buy wannagetaway plus fares or higher.

Your companion can pick a seat for free if you have any seat picking benefits (A list or certain cards) but you won’t be able to see their seat in your app.

If you book a flight for someone else they may need to log into their frequent flier account to pick their seat for free (if they are eligible for any free seat benefits).

My thoughts:

Seat selection is more expensive than I envisioned but in line with competitors. The problem is their competitors are not supposed to be large national carriers like American, yet that’s how Southwest is behaving. If they want to keep up with their competitors they should have in seat entertainment, better WiFi and some sort of first class offering/ long haul routes and lounges. That’s the fundamental problem with all of these changes. I think it will be bad for their bottom line but I am no expert in airline economics. We just have to wait and see!

-Steph

🛍️ Southwest Schedule Update 🛍️

- The current schedule is open until Mar 4th. On August 14th, 2025, the schedule will open for sale through April 6th, 2026. (Date is subject to change).

🛍️ Current noteworthy shopping portal finds 🛍️

*As of Aug 1, offers change often

- Earn 15 points per dollar on Cariuma shoes. Terms and conditions here.

- Earn up to 5 points per dollar on CVS online. Terms and conditions here.

- Oral B is now offering 5 bonus points per dollar! Terms here.

How does the shopping portal work? Use Southwest shopping to link to all of your favorite stores and make a purchase! You will then be awarded the bonus points listed on the offer directly into your Southwest account.

*Note you cannot combine shopping portal offers, so do not click on Rakuten or any other portal if your intent is to earn southwest points.

🏨 Southwest Hotel Spotlight 🏨]]

Southwesthotels.com

A 7 night stay at this hotel in Hawaii for Thanskgiving will earn you 24,000 points for ~$283 per night! That is an earn rate of 12 points per dollar. Fantastic!

A few notes about hotels:

It is not recommended to bundle hotel and flight with Southwest unless you are getting a much lower price than booking separately. It is much easier to make changes to your flights if they are not bundled.

Southwest uses Booking.com as their booking system, so your hotel will see the booking as a booking.com reservation.

I always confirm my reservation with the hotel to be sure they got it.

Make sure to check your Southwest Account for credit card offers!

Here is how.

1. Visit Southwest.com

2. Log into “My account”

3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page! Make sure to register for any offers you like!

For folks on the FAST TRACK for 2025:

You should have opened two cards so far and are working on your sign up bonus or have already earned your companion pass for the year.

For folks using the HYBRID method for 2025:

You should have opened your new card already this year. If you need to open a card still I recommend switching to the Fast Track method or waiting until 2026.

You may have already opened your card which means you should be working toward your minimum spend, make sure you earn your sign up bonus!

You should have about 60,000 points earned already on the year or are close to getting your sign up bonus.

For those following the slow and steady method:

You should already have your plan for how you will earn 135k points in 2025! You should have 65,000 points already to get you started on the year.

Do you have hotels you need to book? *points will post after checkout.

Check out some shopping portal deals to plan for the year!

Don’t forget about Southwest dining in the new year.

You can find your totals under “My Account” On Southwest.com. It looks like this:

- Stephanie