Southwest Airlines has launched a double points promotion that could be one of the more generous earning opportunities of the year for anyone with flights to book. Register between September 17 and September 21, 2026, book your flights between September 18 and 21, and you'll earn double Rapid Rewards points on travel completed between September 18 and December 16, 2026.
The maths is where it gets interesting. Southwest's earning rates, once doubled, work out to 28x points per dollar on Choice Extra fares, 20x on Choice Preferred, 12x on Choice, and 4x on Basic. There's no cap on how many bonus points you can rack up, and the bonus points land in your account within 72 hours of flying.
One catch: bonus points don't count toward A-List, A-List Preferred, or Companion Pass qualification, so this is about redeemable points rather than status progress. Also note that flights booked before the promotion window don't qualify — but here's the workaround worth knowing. Southwest doesn't charge change fees on most fare types, so if you've already booked and the fare hasn't shifted, you can cancel and rebook the same flight to grab the bonus.
The value stacks up further depending on who you are. Since Rapid Rewards is revenue-based, points are worth roughly what you'd pay for a cash fare — one common valuation puts them at around 1.2 cents each. On that basis, the doubled earning translates to an extra 2.4% to 16.8% back on your spending, depending on fare class. Add elite status and it climbs: A-List Preferred members earn a 100% bonus on base points, pushing the potential haul to 42x points per dollar. Pay with a rewards credit card on top, and a Choice Extra fare booked by an A-List Preferred member could theoretically net 47x per dollar before you count the bonus promo points themselves.
Why it matters for travellers: if you have any Southwest trips in mind for late 2026 — a long weekend, a holiday visit, a repositioning flight — this four-day booking window is the moment to lock them in. Even budget Basic fares double from a stingy 2x to 4x, though the real value clearly sits with the higher fare tiers. The rebooking trick also means existing bookings aren't a lost cause. Just remember the sequence: register first (from September 17), then book, and finish flying by December 16, 2026. Miss any of those dates and the bonus doesn't apply.
This one comes via One Mile at a Time.