Upgrading to Business Select for A-List points?

[thoenk]

So I'm an A-Lister and desperately trying to hang on to my status for next year. I have 6 flights scheduled between now and the end of December and was thinking I could upgrade them to business select in order to gain the extra points I need. Before I spend a ridiculous amount of money on these upgrades, I have two questions:

a) Will the points definitely count toward A-LIST? I recently bought things through SW partners that said the points were Tier Qualifying, but they only went toward Companion Pass and NOT A-List. (Seems ridiculous that I can potentially obtain a Companion Pass without being A-List but whatever.)

b) What's the conversion rate for upgrading a base fare to business select? On one of my recent flights, I asked the attendant at the gate how many points I would get in return for the $300 it cost to upgrade to business select and she didn't know. Do I get more points for upgrading since I'm already A-List?

If anyone knows these answers, it would be awesome if they could tell me since no one I've asked at SW so far seems to know. Thanks!!

[DancingDavidE · Accepted solution]

A-list and A-list Preferred are largely from flights with a few exceptions:

• Business select earns at 12x fare price
• Anytime earns at 10x fare price
• WGA earns at 6x fare price
• Cardmember anniversary if you have Rapid Rewards Visa I believe counts
• For the cards with annual fees you get 1,500 points per $15,000 spending that count
• Recently I had a promotional offer to purchase points that would count towards A-list to close the gap - but my gap is too large so I won't be taking that offer.

For companion pass you get additional points for all spending on the RR Visa, plus 1x bonus on all Southwest.com purchases - these don't count towards A-list though.

A-list and ALP bonus earns rapid rewards points that you can redeem for flights and other perks, but the bonus points don't count for A-list. They are still points in your account for your use though.

You can change the flight to the new fare. I believe the whole new fare will be eligible for the 12x points and not just the upgrade cost...I might refer that one to @chgoflyer @franktravel @TheMiddleSeat to verify that the new purchase price all counts.

Otherwise if not, cancel the flight and save travel funds for your next round of flights and book new refundable BS fares.