Southwest's new award pricing

Good morning, and welcome back to Daily Drop! I’ve got some good news and some bad news today… Which one do you want first? (Obviously, the bad news.)

Here ya go:

• ✈️ Southwest updates its pricing model on award flights

• 🏨 Earn triple Hyatt points on vacation rentals

• 💳 Current Transfer Bonuses

✈️ Southwest updates its pricing model on award flights

Southwest, you naughty, naughty airline…

As if it wasn’t already enough to remove free checked bags, introduce basic economy, and change their entire boarding model, Southwest has dealt us one final blow.

As of today, Southwest award flights are now priced dynamically based on peak vs. off-peak seasons.

This means that unlike their previous award pricing (which was basically fixed at 1.3 cents per point), prices will now fluctuate more.

In theory, this could mean getting more value per point. But in reality, that’s not really the case. 😬

So, let’s look at some examples:

These two flights from Baltimore (BWI) to Chicago (MDW) cost $115 and $209 when paying cash or 8,000 and 16,500 Southwest points, respectively.

In this situation, the cheaper flight is yielding 1.4 cents per point, which is right around where it was before.

Meanwhile, the more expensive flight is getting you 1.2 cents per point, which is less than the previous value.

Let’s look at some of the cheaper off-peak flights, though.

This flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Los Angeles (LAX) costs $89 cash or 5,500 Southwest points.

After subtracting the mandatory $5.60 fee, this cheap flight is getting us 1.5 cents per point.

Of course, that’s an improvement over the previous value, but we’re talking about an $89 flight. It’s not exactly a game-changer redemption.

So, can we get this amazing value from the really expensive flights?

This flight on Thanksgiving weekend from New York (LGA) to Dallas (DAL) costs a whopping $464…

When we look at the same flight with points, it’s currently running an upsetting 41,500 Southwest points, which is painful for a domestic flight on an airline like Southwest.

In this case, you’re getting just 1.1 cents per point in value. And I’m sorry to say, my friends, that 1.1 cents seems to be the norm for peak-season, expensive flights like this.

I’m not sure what Southwest is thinking here, to be honest.

Increasing prices while taking away the things that made us love them so much feels like shooting themselves in the foot a little bit.

This is why it’s important to rack up transferrable points like Membership Rewards points, Ultimate Rewards points, and Capital One miles.

For example, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card still has its CRAZY welcome offer of 75,000 miles and a $250 of travel credit after spending $4,000 in the first three months.

Having a travel credit and miles you can transfer to other programs will help you avoid having to shell out crazy amounts of points when programs like Southwest drop bombs on us like this.

For example, here are some Southwest routings (during the off-peak season in October) from Boston (BOS) to Honolulu (HNL):

Instead of shelling out 30,000-50,000 points, you could just transfer 10,000 Capital One miles to Turkish Airlines and book the same route on United for 10,000 points:

Anyway, here is the bottom line:

If you want to get good value for your Southwest points, it is possible to do so - but you’ll have to work a little harder, and your flight experience will come with fewer perks than it used to.

Instead, I recommend getting a solid credit card welcome offer and holding some transferrable points to use whichever program has the best rates.

🏨 Earn triple Hyatt points on vacation rentals

I think most people generally agree that Hyatt is the best hotel program out there.

They have super valuable perks for elites and amazing redemption values.

I’m currently halfway through my 20-night, all-Hyatt stay in Mexico City and have enjoyed suite upgrades, free breakfast, and lounge access every day.

It’s awesome.

But the one challenge with Hyatt is that it’s tough to rack up a LOT of points quickly.

Of course, you can always transfer Ultimate Rewards points or Bilt Rewards over at a 1:1 ratio, but paid stays at Hyatt are less rewarding.

Right now, however, you can get triple points when staying at Hyatt Homes & Hideaways, which is like Airbnb… but you earn Hyatt points.

Here’s how this works:

Generally, you earn five points per dollar when staying at Hyatt properties (including Homes & Hideaways).

With this promo, you’ll earn 15 points per dollar, plus any elite bonuses and credit card points.

Make no mistake, folks, that’s a LOT of Hyatt points…

For example, check out this lakeside property near Austin, Texas:

It’s quite expensive at $485 per night, but it also sleeps ten people - so homes like this could be great for families or large groups.

Anyway, two nights here will run you $970 total, but it would earn you 14,550 Hyatt points.

If you use The World of Hyatt Credit Card to pay for it, you’ll earn an additional 3,880 points for a total of 18,430 Hyatt points.

That’s enough to book a five-night stay at this hotel in Cape Town, South Africa:

And if you don’t think it’s reasonable to find nights at that price, trust me - it is. Most nights at that property are priced at 3,500 points per night.

In fact, I have a five-night stay booked there myself next month, and shelled out exactly 17,500 points for it:

At a cash cost of over $200 per night, a stay like this would get you a return of $1,000 on your $970 purchase… so… yeah.

Here’s the bottom line:

Hyatt Homes & Hideaways can be great accommodation options for large groups, families, and people looking for something more home-ish than a hotel.

Right now, you can leverage those stays for a ton of bonus points to go toward your next stay somewhere else.

This promotion doesn’t require any registration and is good for stays between now and July 6th.

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…or you can just buy these prizes from our website if you want to keep us all to yourself. 😉

That’s all for today, folks! I hope you enjoyed today’s analysis of Southwest’s new points pricing and a good way to rack up Hyatt points on the cheap.

I also hope you all have the best weekend ever, and I’ll see you bright and early on Monday morning for another week of travel tips.

Take care,

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