About a month ago I received the below email from Southwest notifying me that my Southwest Rapid Rewards points would be expiring since there had been no activity in my account in 2 years. The Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card by Chase was one of the first credit cards I opened in 2014 as I began exploring the world of signing up for credit cards and cancelling them before the yearly fee hit or in the case of the Southwest card, another yearly fee hit.
These points were used to pay for our airfare to Mexico but clearly we had some left over. 20,000 points is significant amount so I sought out a way to keep my account active (note you’re not able to redeem points for gift cards if you aren’t a Southwest cardholder which is what I attempted to do). The points are worth around $200 in gift cards and probably more if used for a flight.
You can obviously buy miles, but there are other free ways to earn points as well as I share below.
Earning Points with Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Partners
This is probably the easiest of the two, and takes very little time or effort. Rapid Rewards partners with major retailers such as Macy’s, Apple, Home Depot, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Walmart, Newegg etc. The full list is on the Southwest Rapid Rewards shopping website. All you need to do in order to earn points is to use the link they provide that takes you over to the retailer’s website. Simply make a purchase and your account will be credited. I personally did this to coincide with a planned purchase of an external hard drive from Newegg. The points were credited to my account almost immediately. Note that each retailer partner offers different point values for every dollar spent. In my case I wasn’t trying to maximize points so I received 1 Rapid Rewards point for every dollar spent.
Earning Rapid Rewards Points with e-Rewards
If you have no need to make a purchase at any of the partner retailers as listed above this is another way to earn free points relatively easily, although it takes more effort. e-Rewards is a survey company where consumers take surveys on any number of topics. Upon completion of the survey, users are rewarded with e-Rewards points that can be redeemed for rewards such as Rapid Rewards points, gift cards, magazines etc.
However you can earn 500 Rapid Rewards Points for just completing one survey if you are brand new to e-Rewards. Once you signup for e-Rewards (make sure you use the link within your Southwest airlines account) you’ll eventually receive an invite to complete a survey. Even if you don’t fully qualify for the survey, meaning that you start a survey and you receive a message that you aren’t the demographic they are looking for, you still can receive the Southwest bonus. You’ll be able to redeem your 500 Southwest points by navigating to the “Rewards” screen within your e-Rewards account. Below is a screenshot of my free redemption.
Preventing Southwest Points From Expiring Wrap Up
These are just two ways to prevent Southwest points from expiring. The points were credited to my account well before my points expired and I now have two years before my points will expire. I’ll likely signup for the Southwest Credit Card again before then and use the miles for a trip or redeem for gift cards.
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