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Unable to apply my husbands 2000 pts to his ticket while purchasing the ticket using my account

mc119
Explorer C

Hello,

I have 28000 rr points and would like to purchase 2 tickets for myself and my husband that total 30000 rr points.  My husband has 2000 pts under his own rr account.  Is there a way for me to allocate those 2000 pts to him using his rr number while purchasing both tickets under my rr number?

6 REPLIES 6

Re: Unable to apply my husbands 2000 pts to his ticket while purchasing the ticket using my account

dfwskier
Aviator A

Hello.

 

Unfortunately, Southwest does not allow you to combine points from two accounts to make a purchase. Southwest WOULD allow your husband to gift or tranfer points to you. Downside: IT IS PRETTY EXPENSIVE -- $60 to move 2000 points. I've found the cost high enough that, for me at least, it rarely makes sense to move points around.

 

My recommendation would be to buy one ticket with $ and one with points - thus preserving the full value of both your and your husbands points for future use.

 

Details on how to move points follow:

 

https://www.southwest.com/account/rapidrewards/points/gift-points?int=

Re: Unable to apply my husbands 2000 pts to his ticket while purchasing the ticket using my account

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@dfwskier wrote:

Hello.

 

Unfortunately, Southwest does not allow you to combine points from two accounts to make a purchase. Southwest WOULD allow your husband to gift or tranfer points to you. Downside: IT IS PRETTY EXPENSIVE -- $60 to move 2000 points. I've found the cost high enough that, for me at least, it rarely makes sense to move points around.

 

My recommendation would be to buy one ticket with $ and one with points - thus preserving the full value of both your and your husbands points for future use.

 

Details on how to move points follow:

 

https://www.southwest.com/account/rapidrewards/points/gift-points?int=


That's the same cost to buy new points! Don't do that if you can help it.

 

If someone booked a flight for someone else, would that person then be able to change their reservation by adding their own points to the confirmation number?

 

i.e. you can't combine points in a new reservation, but could you change an existing 13,000 point reservation that you have the confirmation number for into a 15,000 point different reservation with the points coming from your own account? It would seem like that wouldn't work as it would be getting around the cost to transfer or buy points.

 

I'm honestly not sure if that would be allowed or is in accordance with program terms, just throwing it out there for discussion or further research. 

 

This may not work anyway, since you'd be looking for a combination of flights that exactly equaled the totals and that may not be available.

 

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Unable to apply my husbands 2000 pts to his ticket while purchasing the ticket using my account

chgoflyer
Aviator A

Correction to the above:

 

Southwest does charge a fee to transfer points, but it's only 1 cent per point, not the 3 cents per point fee for purchasing or gifting them.

 

Rapid Rewards points are valued at approx. 1.9 cents each, so when you transfer you lose about half of their value. Just like purchasing points, transferring is not really a good idea. That said, it can be helpful in certain situations. If you don't fly much and want to utilize all the points you have in multiple accounts, and are ok with the $20 fee, it may be a good option for you.

 

FYI: You cannot change a points reservation using points from someone else's account.

 

Edited to add:

 

Here's a link that shows the various point purchase/gift/transfer options.

 

Buy: Purchase for yourself. 3 cents per point

Transfer: Move points from one account to another. 1 cent per point.

Gift: Purchase for someone else. 3 cents per point.

 

There are also options to donate points to charity as well as claim gifted or partner company granted points.

 

 

Re: Unable to apply my husbands 2000 pts to his ticket while purchasing the ticket using my account

elijahbrantley
Aviator A

Agree with @dfwskier! One more thought: if you want to minimize your out of pocket cost, you could book one leg of one of the tickets separately for cash. This gets a little complex, but you could book the 2 one way going tickets on points, then make separate reservations for the return one way...one on points and one with cash. 

 

Just a thought!

-A List, Companion Pass holder

Re: Unable to apply my husbands 2000 pts to his ticket while purchasing the ticket using my account

DancingDavidE
Aviator A

@elijahbrantley wrote:

Agree with @dfwskier! One more thought: if you want to minimize your out of pocket cost, you could book one leg of one of the tickets separately for cash. This gets a little complex, but you could book the 2 one way going tickets on points, then make separate reservations for the return one way...one on points and one with cash. 

 

Just a thought!


That's a great point @elijahbrantley - to miniimze the out of pocket book two people RT as four one-ways, that should let you get three legs on points and only one leg purchased for cash.

 

Also with the updated transfering points rate, maybe it would be worth it to transfer the 2,000 points and clear out the account, especially if the husband isn't active and would eventually let the points lapse. 

 

 

 

 

Home airport MDW, frequent visitor to MCO to see the mouse.

Re: Unable to apply my husbands 2000 pts to his ticket while purchasing the ticket using my account

mc119
Explorer C

Thank you all for the responses!  Southwest should allow point allocation if the flyer is the owner of the points regardless of which account is being used to purchase the tickets.  I have decided to transfer the 2k to my account for $20 and get 2 round trip tickets which will cost me $30.