Five of the best adventure travel companies around have just released a fresh crop of adventure trips for 2024. Some of them are staking out a claim to fairly untrammeled places—Cape Verde, for example. Others are rethinking wilderness trips in North America. As popular destinations continue seeing more visitors to the point of overcrowding, these trips promise a respite far from the madding crowd.
Southwest Just Revamped Its Loyalty Program for 2024
26.10.2023 - 16:57 / afar.com
Usually when loyalty programs announce changes, frequent fliers prepare for the worst. However, Southwest’s recently announced changes to its loyalty program, Rapid Rewards, are all for the best.
Rapid Rewards is different from other frequent flier programs in that members accrue qualifying flight segments for both elite status (called A-List) and Southwest’s coveted Companion Pass, essentially a free ticket for a travel companion on every flight.
Come 2024, it will become easier to earn A-List and A-List Preferred elite status through new qualifications as well as credit card bonuses. Moreover, Rapid Rewards members will be able to pay for flights with a combination of cash and points. Furthermore, Southwest will continue a new perk, which debuted quietly earlier this year for holders of its cobranded credit cards: an automatic 10,000-point boost for the Companion Pass annually.
Here, everything you need to know about the recent changes to Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program.
In spring 2024 (an exact date has yet to be revealed), Rapid Rewards members will be able to pay for their own tickets (as well as others) with a combination of cash and points, starting with as few as 1,000 points. Currently, members can pay for flights with either points or money, not both. When using points as the sole method of payment, each point is worth between 1.3 to 1.45 cents when redeemed for Southwest’s cheapest “Wanna Get Away” fares. Though it’s unclear if this will be the same valuation used for calculating combo points and miles fare, there are no indications yet that it won’t be.
Cash and points bookings will not earn Rapid Rewards points, tier qualifying points for A-List or A-List Preferred status, or Companion Pass qualifying points. However, these bookings will qualify toward flight segment tallies required for A-List, A-List Preferred, or Companion Pass status.
Southwest’s two elite statuses, A-List and A-List Preferred, will become easier to achieve starting January 1, 2024. Currently, reaching A-List status requires 25 one-way qualifying flights or earning 35,000 Tier Qualifying Points (TQP), which are earned based on the price and fare type purchased. In the new year, the number of one-way qualifying flights to achieve A-list will be lowered to 20. Similarly, top-tier A-List Preferred will require 40 one-way qualifying flights, down from a current 50 flights. (Members can still achieve A-List Preferred by accruing 70,000 TQP, the same requirement as 2023.)
The principal perks of A-List and A-List Preferred Status are listed below.
One way of achieving elite status is by amassing flight segments. The other way is by earning Tier Qualifying Points (TQP). These are always earned from flying, with one
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