Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Offers Members The Ability To Buy, Gift, And Transfer Rapid Reward Points

DALLAS, June 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines is bringing even more benefits to Members of its award-winning Rapid Rewards program! Partnering with Points International Ltd., Southwest announced today Members can now buy, gift, and transfer Rapid Rewards Points to friends and family through the Rapid Rewards Points Center. It's another way the airline is spreading the LUV!

To celebrate the new partnership, Southwest Airlines is offering Rapid Rewards Members a 25 percent bonus for all Rapid Rewards Points purchased through July 16, 2013—a new and unique offer for Southwest! For example, if a Member purchases 10,000 points between now and July 16, they will receive an additional 2,500 points for free!

"We continue to enhance the Rapid Rewards program for our Members," said Ryan Green, Senior Director Loyalty Marketing & Partnerships at Southwest Airlines. "With this partnership, we are giving our Members more flexibility in how they can use their Rapid Rewards Points. The new ability to gift and transfer points gives our loyalty Members the ability to share what they already love: Rapid Rewards Points that can be redeemed for reward seats on every Southwest flight with no blackout dates!"

In addition, Rapid Rewards Members now can make purchases of points while in the process of booking a flight, either online or through the carrier's reservations number, to redeem a Reward at the exact moment they need it. 

"Southwest Airlines is renowned for its outstanding Customer Service and growing the Rapid Rewards program is a big part of that," says Rob MacLean, Chief Executive Officer of Points International Ltd. "This launch is the first stage in our partnership towards adding more flexibility and opportunity for Rapid Rewards members, and we look forward to helping the team at Southwest continue to enhance this great program."

Southwest's Rapid Rewards Program, with unlimited reward seats, no blackout dates, and points that don't expire*, makes it fast and easy for Members to earn reward flights!  That's why Rapid Rewards was recently ranked as having the best reward seat availability of any U.S. carrier** for the fourth year in a row. Points International Ltd. brings more than 13 years of experience and loyalty industry best practices to Southwest Airlines' Rapid Rewards program.

* Applies to point transactions.  Points don't expire as long as Member has flight or Partner earning activity every 24 months. All Rapid Rewards rules and regulations apply.

**As reported in the 2013 Idea Works Company's Worldwide Report of Rewards Availability.

ABOUT SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO.

In its 42^nd year of service, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) continues to differentiate itself from other carriers with exemplary Customer Service delivered by nearly 46,000 Employees to more than 100 million Customers annually.  Southwest is the nation's largest carrier in terms of originating passengers boarded, and including wholly-owned subsidiary, AirTran Airways, operates the largest fleet of Boeing aircraft in the world to serve 97 destinations in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and six near-international countries. Southwest is one of the most honored airlines in the world, known for its commitment to the triple bottom line of Performance, People and Planet.  To read about how Southwest is doing its part to be a good corporate citizen, visit southwest.com/citizenship to read the Southwest Airlines One Report™.

Southwest Airlines
From its first flights on June 18, 1971, Southwest Airlines launched an era of unprecedented affordability in air travel quantified by the U.S. Department of Transportation as "The Southwest Effect," a lowering of fares and increase in passenger traffic wherever the carrier serves.  On every flight, Southwest offers Customers the first two pieces of checked luggage (weight and size limitations apply) and all ticket changes without additional fees. Southwest's all Boeing fleet consistently offers leather seating and the comfort of full-size cabins, many of which are equipped with satellite-based WiFi connectivity and a new, sustainable cabin interior.  With 40 consecutive years of profitability, the People of Southwest operate more than 3,200 flights a day and serve communities around 78 airports in Southwest's network of domestic destinations.  Southwest Airlines' frequent flights and low fares are available only at southwest.com.

AirTran Airways
AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co., offers coast-to-coast and near-international service with close to 600 flights a day to 54 destinations.  The carrier's high-quality product includes assigned seating and Business Class. As Southwest continues to integrate AirTran's People, places, and planes into Southwest Airlines, Customers of both carriers may book flights at airtran.com and exchange earned loyalty points between both AirTran's A+ Rewards® and Southwest's Rapid Rewards® for reward travel on either airline.

ABOUT POINTS
Points, publicly traded as Points International Ltd. (TSX: PTS; NASDAQ: PCOM), is the global leader in loyalty currency management. Via a state-of-the-art loyalty commerce platform, Points provides loyalty eCommerce and technology solutions to the world's top brands to enhance their consumer offerings and streamline their back-end operations.

Points' solutions enhance the management and monetization of loyalty currencies ranging from frequent flyer miles and hotel points to retailer and credit card rewards, for more than 45 partners worldwide. In addition to these services, Points' unique SaaS products allow eCommerce merchants to add loyalty solutions directly to their online stores, rewarding customers for purchases at the point-of-sale.

For more information on Points, please visit www.Points.com, follow us @PointsBiz on Twitter or read the Points Loyalty News blog. 

www.southwest.com

SOURCE Southwest Airlines

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