Southwest Airlines And AirTran Airways® Enable Rewards Conversion Across Rapid Rewards® And A+ Rewards® Programs

April 24, 2012 flight2000it

Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) today announced that Members of its Rapid Rewards (Southwest Airlines) and A+ Rewards (AirTran Airways) frequent flyer programs are now able to transfer their loyalty rewards between the two programs to redeem for reward travel to 97 destinations*, including Mexico and the Caribbean. While the two loyalty programs remain separate for now, the ability to redeem rewards for more destinations represents an enhancement to both programs.

“We are thrilled to share this news today with Members of both Rapid Rewards and A+ Rewards,” said Kevin Krone, Southwest Airlines Vice President of Marketing, Sales, and Distribution. “Members of both programs have been asking for this ability, and we know they will enjoy using their loyalty rewards to travel to even more destinations.”

The ability to convert loyalty rewards requires an active account in each program. Members then use their Rapid Rewards Member account number to access the loyalty rewards conversion capability on southwest.com. Southwest’s Rapid Rewards Members can convert their Rapid Rewards Points, active credits, and active Awards/Certificates into A+ Rewards Credits for flights on AirTran. AirTran’s A+ Rewards Members can convert their active A+ Rewards Credits into Rapid Rewards Credits for flights on Southwest Airlines.
Members can make the following conversions:
Transferring Southwest’s Rapid Rewards* to AirTran’s A+ Rewards
• 1,200 Rapid Rewards Points —> 1 A+ Rewards Credit.(1)
• 1 Rapid Rewards Credit —> 1 A+ Rewards Credit.(2)
• 1 Rapid Rewards Standard Award —> 16 A+ Rewards Credits.(3)
• 1 Rapid Rewards Freedom Award —> 32 A+ Rewards Credits.(4)
Note: 16 A+ Credits = one roundtrip Coach ticket on AirTran
Transferring AirTran’s A+ Rewards to Southwest’s Rapid Rewards
• 1 A+ Rewards Credit —> Rapid Rewards Credit.(5)

Source: Southwest Airlines