Southwest is not discounting Rapid Rewards points this week. Its own promotions page lists buying points with no bonus and no discount attached; the entry reads simply "Buy the points you need."

The sale that ran through August closed on August 31. If you were sent here by a roundup still describing a live discount, that is a stale page. What follows is what Southwest actually publishes right now, and how to judge the next sale when it arrives.

What Southwest Lists Today

Southwest's Rapid Rewards promotions page carries sixteen entries. Buying points is one of them, with no promotional rate stated.

The offers that do carry dates are almost all partner earning rather than point purchases:

  • Avis: earn up to 2,400 points and save up to 35%, through January 31, 2027
  • Budget: earn up to 3,000 points plus up to 30% off, through January 31, 2027
  • Hertz: earn up to 2,400 points, through December 31, 2026
  • Dollar: up to 15% off plus 1,200 points, through December 31, 2026
  • Payless: 1,200 points and 10% off, through January 31, 2027
  • Southwest Hotels: earn up to 10,000 points per night
  • Rapid Rewards Dining: up to 500 bonus points on joining

None of those is a discount on buying points. If your plan was to top up a balance cheaply this week, the answer today is that Southwest is not selling points cheaply this week.

The Mechanics, Which Do Not Change

Worth knowing before the next sale, because these rules govern every purchase whether or not there is a bonus running. Southwest states them on its buy, gift and transfer page.

Points sell in blocks of 1,000 during promotional periods and 500 off promotion. That is a small but real detail: off-promotion you can buy in finer increments.

The minimum purchase is 2,000 points. The daily combined maximum is 60,000 points across personal and gift purchases.

Purchased points do not count toward status. Southwest is explicit: purchased points "do not count toward A-List, A-List Preferred, or Companion Pass, but they are redeemable." That single sentence rules out the most common reason people consider buying miles in the first place.

That last point deserves emphasis on a Southwest article specifically. Companion Pass is the reason most people care about Southwest points at all, and you cannot buy your way toward it.

How to Judge the Next Sale

Southwest runs these periodically, and the arithmetic is the same every time.

Work out the cents per point you are paying, then compare it to a fare. Rapid Rewards redemptions are priced off the cash fare rather than an award chart, so the value of a point is roughly fixed and knowable. Buying points is worth doing only when the purchase price per point lands below what a point is reliably worth against the fares you actually book.

Buy for a specific booking, not for a balance. A sale is a discount on a currency, and a currency you have no plan for is a discount on nothing. Our guide to when buying miles is a good idea sets out the narrow cases where it works.

Check whether the fare has moved. Because Southwest prices awards against cash, a fare increase between your purchase and your booking erodes the discount you just bought. The gap between buying and redeeming is risk, and the shorter it is the better.

Do not buy to reach a Companion Pass. Repeating it because it is the mistake that costs the most. Our wider guide to buying miles and points covers how the same trap works at other programs.

The Better Route to Southwest Points This Month

If the goal is a bigger Rapid Rewards balance rather than a cheap one, the earning side is where the live offers are.

The car rental partners above pay points on rentals you may already be booking, with end dates months out rather than a closing window. Southwest Hotels pays up to 10,000 points a night. Rapid Rewards Dining pays a joining bonus. None of these costs anything beyond spending you were doing anyway.

And the structural route is the co-brand, because unlike purchased points, card spending does earn toward Companion Pass. That is the actual difference between buying points and earning them, and it is worth more than any percentage discount on a purchase. Our Southwest card lineup covers the five cards and which one suits which flyer, and the Southwest Rapid Rewards cards are where the current offers sit.

The Short Version

There is no Southwest points sale running today. Southwest's own promotions page lists point purchases with no bonus attached, and the August sale closed on the 31st.

When the next one comes, buy against a booking you have already priced, and remember that whatever you buy will not move you a single point closer to Companion Pass.

This article contains affiliate links. If you apply through our links, we may earn a commission at no cost to you, which helps us continue sharing points and miles strategies with the community.

Sources

  1. Southwest Airlines — Rapid Rewards promotions page, read 2026-09-03, listing buying points with no promotional rate alongside the dated Avis, Budget, Hertz, Dollar and Payless partner offers
  2. Southwest Airlines — Buy, Gift and Transfer Points page, stating blocks of 1,000 during promotional periods and 500 off promotion, the 2,000-point minimum, the 60,000-point daily combined maximum, and that purchased points do not count toward A-List, A-List Preferred or Companion Pass but are redeemable

Some of the links in this article are affiliate links. We may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you apply through these links. This helps us keep the site running and continue creating free content.