Southwest A-List Status Guide: Status Levels, Benefits, How To Earn and Requirements

• Written by Sarah Hostetler
  

  Sarah Hostetler

  Credit card rewards, family travel, premium travel

  Sarah Hostetler is a freelance writer focusing on credit cards and travel rewards. For five years, she has written and edited for travel websites such as The Points Guy, Million Mile Secrets, and Dollar Flight Club. She has also frequently contributed to prominent sites such as AP News and TIME. Sarah has redeemed millions of miles and points to book her family on trips to luxury resorts in lie-flat plane seats. She routinely gets tens of thousands of dollars in travel each year from her credit card rewards. Still, her favorite rewards trips are for simple domestic travel to see family.

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• Edited by Jasmin Baron, CCC™
  

  Jasmin Baron, CCC™

  Credit Cards, Travel Rewards, Loyalty Programs, Family Travel, Credit Building, Credit Scores

  Jasmin Baron is a NACCC Certified Credit Counselor™ and CardCritics’ senior editor, responsible for editing and writing credit cards, travel rewards, loyalty program, and other credit-related content. She is passionate about personal finance education and enjoys sharing tips and tricks for making the most of credit card points and miles with her readers. Her expertise in maximizing credit card travel rewards originated from over two decades of aviation industry experience, including 18 years working as a pilot and college professor/flight instructor in her native Canada. Her work has appeared on sites such as CNN Underscored Money, Business Insider, The Points Guy, and point.me. When she’s not planning her next trip with credit card rewards, you’ll probably find her tinkering around in the kitchen, hanging out with her three kids, or playing with her dog, Benji.

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• Last Updated Feb 26, 2026

Are you a frequent flyer whose travels are primarily domestic hops? If you typically commute to and from airports served by Southwest (over 100), you may want to consider pursuing Southwest A-List elite status. It’s easier to earn than many other statuses, and it’s super rewarding.

Here’s what you need to know about earning elite status with one of the best airline loyalty programs in the U.S.

What Is Southwest’s Loyalty Program?

Southwest’s loyalty program is called Rapid Rewards. It’s a great program that’s notably less complicated than other popular loyalty programs.

That’s because the value you get for your Rapid Rewards points is directly tied to the cash price of your ticket. When the cash price goes down, the points price goes down — and vice versa.

This means that the value of your rewards is more quantifiable than that of, say, United Airlines or American Airlines. You can expect a value of around 1.3 cents per point when using them for flights.

If you’d prefer to skip the hassle of “maximizing” your travel rewards, Southwest is an easy and straightforward program that you’ll love.

How Does the Southwest Loyalty Program Work?

Southwest uses two “currencies” to track your airline loyalty progress: Tier Qualifying Flights (TQFs) and Tier Qualifying Points (TQPs).

You’ll earn both of these loyalty metrics when you complete a paid flight with Southwest (you won’t earn either on award flights). You can also earn TQPs by spending on certain Southwest credit cards, earning 1,500 TQPs for every $5,000 you spend.

When you reach Southwest’s elite status tiers, you’ll begin enjoying benefits that others do not. And depending on how often you fly, you could rack up hundreds and even thousands of dollars in value from them. Earned status lasts for the calendar year in which you earned it, as well as the following calendar year.

Southwest A-List Status Levels and Tiers

There are two true Southwest A-List tiers, as well as a third “status” that is surprisingly easy to achieve — and the most valuable.

Southwest A-List

Requirements:

• 20 Qualifying Flights, or
• 35,000 Tier Qualifying Points

Key benefits:

• Select a Preferred or Standard seat (when available) at the time of booking for free
• Free Extra Legroom seat within 48 hours of departure (when available)
• Preferred boarding (no later than Group 5)
• One checked bag free (second checked bag for $35)
• 25% bonus on paid qualifying Southwest flights
• Same-day standby (Basic fares included)
• Dedicated check-in counter and airport security lines

Southwest A-List Preferred

Requirements:

• 40 Qualifying Flights, or
• 70,000 Tier Qualifying Points

Key benefits:

• Select up to an Extra Legroom seat (when available) at the time of booking for free
• Preferred boarding (no later than Group 2)
• Two free checked bags
• 100% bonus on paid qualifying Southwest flights
• Same-day standby (Basic fares included)
• Dedicated check-in counter and airport security lines

If you peruse the Southwest website, you may also spot another status on the page called “Companion Pass.” This isn’t an elite status per se; it’s more of a perk that you can unlock after reaching 135,000 qualifying points or completing 100 qualifying one-way flights.

The Southwest Companion Pass lets you bring a friend or family member on paid and award flights for just the cost of taxes and fees. Even if you fly 10 times per week on Southwest, your companion can tag along for (nearly) free. The pass is valid for the remainder of the year in which you earn it, as well as the entire following calendar year.

My husband and I used my Southwest Companion Pass to travel to Mexico on our honeymoon and saved several hundred dollars on a single round-trip. Those who board Southwest frequently could easily save many thousands of dollars.

Again, this isn’t a status — but it’s so good, how could I not mention it? You can read more about the Southwest Companion Pass in our Southwest Rapid Rewards guide (and see how easy it is to earn).

How To Earn Points With Southwest Rapid Rewards 

Fly on Southwest

When you book a paid flight with Southwest, you’ll earn points based on two things:

1. The fare you booked (between 2 and 14 base points per dollar, depending on the fare class)
2. Your elite status (between 25% and 100% bonus on base points)

That means when booking a $100 flight, you could earn between 200 and 2,800 points.

Also, for niche routes, it’s worth noting that you’ll earn Southwest points when booking an Icelandair itinerary that includes a leg on a Southwest flight. You won’t earn Southwest points for the Icelandair segment, but the point is that such a booking made through Icelandair can yield you Southwest rewards.

Open and Use Southwest Credit Cards

Opening a co-branded Southwest credit card is perhaps the fastest way to rack up Southwest points quickly. These are some of the best airline credit cards, often coming with generous welcome bonuses (the points of which count toward earning the super valuable Companion Pass). Cards include:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

The cards also aren’t bad for everyday spending. For example, the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Card Card earns 4 points per dollar on Southwest purchases (such as flights, in-flight purchases and Southwest gift cards), 2 points per dollar at gas stations and restaurants, and 1 point per dollar for all other eligible purchases.

You can only hold one personal Southwest credit card at a time. However, you can hold both a personal and a small business card at once, meaning you can earn multiple bonuses and optimize your spending by strategically choosing cards with unique bonus categories.

Transfer Flexible Rewards to Southwest 

Southwest partners with both Chase Ultimate Rewards® and Bilt Rewards, allowing you to convert either of these currencies into Southwest points at a 1:1 ratio. If you collect rewards in either program, you effectively have a stash of Southwest points should you decide to transfer them over.

The best travel credit cards for earning points that transfer to Southwest include the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.

Rapid Rewards Dining and Shopping

Southwest offers programs that let you earn bonus rewards on your everyday purchases. These include:

• Rapid Rewards Dining, which earns up to 3 bonus points per dollar spent at participating restaurants when you pay with your linked card (it doesn’t have to be a Southwest card)
• Rapid Rewards Shopping, offering bonus points at more than 1,100 online stores

Other Travel

Southwest gives you the option to earn Rapid Rewards points when staying at popular hotel chains like Marriott, Hyatt, Best Western and more. You can also earn when booking with rental companies such as Avis, Hertz and National.

And when you book Southwest Vacations to bundle multiple aspects of your trip, you’ll earn bonus Southwest points.

How To Redeem Points with Southwest Rapid Rewards

You can redeem Southwest points in several ways, including:

• Reserving hotel rooms
• Merchandise
• Event tickets
• Issuing yourself a statement credit for select purchases
• Booking travel on other airlines

The best way to use your points for maximum value is generally for flights on Southwest. You can use your points to travel anywhere from Hawaii to Costa Rica and everywhere in between. But it’s worth mentioning that Southwest doesn’t currently fly to far-flung destinations like Europe, Asia or Australia.

Is Southwest A-List Status Worth It?

Southwest A-List status can be worth it for frequent Southwest travelers. 

The lower-tier A-List is less fancy and doesn’t offer much that you can’t get from the best Southwest credit cards — such as preferred boarding, a free checked bag or free seat assignment. But A-List Preferred comes with some serious perks, specifically its complimentary Extra Legroom seats, 100% bonus points for eligible Southwest purchases, and two free checked bags (something that was, until recently, available to all customers, by the way).

The information related to the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card and Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card was collected by CardCritics™ and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this product/card. Product details may vary. Please see issuer website for current information. CardCritics™ does not receive a commission for this product.