Wondering “Can you transfer Southwest points to someone else”? I wondered that very same question and realized pretty quickly it’s NOT a good idea. Here is my personal advice from working with Southwest points for years when it comes to transferring and combining Southwest points.
Do different members of your family have separate Southwest Rapid Rewards accounts where they’ve earned their own points? Curious about how you can group them all together and how to transfer Rapid Rewards points?
You don’t need to on Southwest! Transfer points on other airlines, but not Southwest. Why? It’s not cheap!
But, good news, there’s also a trick you can use to avoid transferring points. First, let’s talk about transferring points…
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Can You Transfer Southwest Points to Someone Else?
Can you transfer Southwest points? Yes, you CAN transfer Southwest points to someone else, but we don’t recommend it, as it’s expensive and not necessary.
You can also gift Southwest points without the transfer fee, but you’ll have to buy Southwest points in order to gift them to someone.
If you want to avoid the nasty fee (more on that later) to transfer Southwest points, you first need to do one thing: Collect most of your points in ONE family member’s account.
For my family, I collect most of our points in MY account. Why?
Southwest lets you book ANYONE with your points, so it’s much simpler (and I’m all about keeping it simple) to pool points in one account and book everyone from there.
Plus, if you book from one account, you’ll have one confirmation number, which means you’ll only have to check in once. Very handy as opposed to checking multiple confirmation numbers at exactly the 24-hour mark before your flight departs!
While I try to collect most points in my account, there are times when my family earns their own points. For example, sometimes we pay in dollars for a super cheap flight instead of using our points. Or we might all take advantage of great Rapid Rewards Shopping deals in the Rapid Rewards Shopping portal to earn those points in our own Rapid Rewards accounts, like subscribing to the Wall Street Journal for $1 to earn 700 points.
In those cases, my family members each end up with points in their own accounts, which we, of course, would like to use for free flights, because Southwest points never expire.
How to Transfer Southwest Points: The Cost
At first, I thought it was no big deal that they accumulated some points in their own accounts, because I assumed we could just transfer those points over to me. But when I went to make the transfer, I discovered it costs… A lot!
In fact, it costs $10 for every 1,000 Southwest points you want to transfer to someone else!
While this is much less than buying Southwest points, it still seems a very high price to pay just to transfer points.
With the value of a Southwest point sitting around 1.5 cents, that means it costs $10 to transfer $15 worth of points. That’s crazy, so you want to avoid this if you can.
2 Tricks to Avoid Transferring Southwest Points
If you want to avoid that unpleasant fee for the Southwest transfer points, you can do 1 of 2 things:
1. Collect enough points in 1 account to book at least a one-way fare or one round-trip fare
This is what we try to do with my husband’s account: Get enough points in there, so he can book at least 1 of the 4 of us on a one-way or one round-trip fare. He is often my companion for the Southwest Companion Pass, so sometimes we use his points to book one of our kids’ flights.
2. Book a ticket for YOU and then add THEM as the Companion
Let’s say it’s just the 2 of us flying, instead of bringing our kids with us, but my husband is my companion, so we don’t need to use his points to book a flight for him, since he flies FREE.
Instead, HE could book MY flight with HIS points and then I can still go into my account and add HIM as MY companion for that flight. Nifty trick, huh?
But there may be a time where you really want to transfer points to someone. If that’s the case, beware the fee and here’s how to do it…
How to Transfer Southwest Points to Another Account
1. Log in to the Southwest Rapid Rewards account of the person whose points you want to transfer at Southwest.com
2. Select Rapid Rewards and under Manage, choose Buy or Transfer Points
3. Choose Transfer Points
4. Select the number of points you’d like to transfer (minimum 2,000 points required)
5. Enter the name, Rapid Rewards account number and email address of the person you are transferring the points to
6. Enter payment information
7. Confirm the purchase
8. Click to transfer Southwest points
Note: Transferred Southwest points DO NOT qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass (which lets you fly one person free for up to two years after earning 135,000 Rapid Rewards points), but you CAN use them to book flights for FREE travel.
Need more Southwest points? Here are my top tips for earning more points for FREE flights…
How to Earn Southwest Points
If you are like us and fly on points (ie nearly FREE!) most of the time, then you rarely collect Southwest points by paying for flights.
Instead, we earn most of our points in the following ways…
- Everyday spending on our Southwest credit cards
- Purchases and subscriptions in the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal
- Everyday spending on the card_name
- Rapid Rewards Dining
- Earning credit card referral points
Want more ideas? Check out my post below.
[101 Ways to Earn Southwest Points]
Earning Southwest Points With Travel Credit Cards
Did you know you can earn hundreds of thousands of points by applying for Southwest credit cards and another 60,000 points, which can be instantly transferred to Southwest by applying for my favorite travel credit card, the card_name (read my full review of this card)?
You can also earn the Southwest Companion Pass by accumulating 135,000 qualifying Southwest points (including points earned from Southwest credit card bonuses).
The pass lets one person fly free with you for up to two years and is one of the ways my family flies free nearly everywhere in the U.S. on Southwest.
To Sum It Up
If you DO decide to pay for a flight and earn points in an account that doesn’t usually collect points, be aware of this constraint: IT COSTS to transfer Southwest points.
You can either pay the fee and consider it part of the cost of flying free or wait until that person has enough points in their account to book a flight on their own.
Have you had to transfer points between Southwest accounts? Did you pay the fee?
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Want More Points for Free Flights on Southwest?
Check out the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Cards, which let you earn tens of thousands of points that you can use to book free flights on Southwest!
These points also qualify for the 135,000 you need to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, so one person can fly free with you for up to 2 years.
These include...
Keep in mind you can only hold ONE personal Southwest card at a time, though you can hold 2 Southwest business cards.
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- Flexible points transfer to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio instantly and are worth DOUBLE if you have a Southwest Companion Pass
- 3X points on dining
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- Primary car rental insurance
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Please note, this card’s points DO NOT qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass but CAN be used to book FREE flights on Southwest.
Read More:
- Southwest Check-in Simplified: Everything You Need to Know
- Do Southwest Points Expire?
- How to Buy Southwest Points
- What Is Southwest Business Select and Is It Worth Buying?
- Your Rights If Southwest Cancels Your Flight
