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As reported by my buddy MaxMilesPoints on Instagram…Southwest has sent emails to passengers affected by the meltdown of their service over the holidays that include a 25k mile voucher worth roughly $300 in future flights. If your flight was canceled or delayed more than 3 hours between 12/24/22 and 1/2/23 keep an eye on your clutter or junk folder you should have received an email.
It will look like this and be titled: “A message from CEO Bob Jordan”
This from Zach Griff at The Points Guy:
Wow, @SouthwestAir is really paying up for the meltdown.
Just received an apology email signed by CEO Bob Jordan with 25,000 Rapid Rewards points (per person), worth $300+
This is in addition to the $39 refund, $149 reimbursement and $250 travel voucher I already received. pic.twitter.com/0dbjCxoM0M
— Zach Griff (@_ZachGriff) January 3, 2023
It’s estimated that about 1 million passengers were affected and Southwest points are redeemable at about 1.4 cents per point on average = $350 million worth of miles that Southwest just created and issued toward future flights. You can see below that prices tend to range in valuation but are in the 1.3 to 1.6 range.
The cost doesn’t stop there since DOT secretary Pete Buttigieg is also requesting Southwest pay the following expenses as well:
• Providing or reimbursing passengers for meals, hotels, and ground transportation to or from hotels.
• Promptly refunding affected passengers for their cancelled tickets should the passenger not accept alternative offered such as rebooking.
Overall
It’s undeniable that Southwest had an epic meltdown that will leave a bad taste in many customers mouths. But, it seems that Southwest is doing quite a bit to quickly process claims and incentive people to dip their toe in the water of Southwest trust in the future by sending out solid cache of miles to a million people. It’s left to be seen whether they are taking the proper steps to avoid it happening again. Only time will tell.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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