I picked up the Southwest Card deal where I got 60,000 points due to a liner posting about it either here or in chat.
I just redeemed all my points for Disney gift cards! I don’t remember seeing Disney gift cards on there when I looked last time so I was excited to see that!
really? Thats awesome! hmm, usually my SW points go to flights but I should run some numbers and see if it’d be better to cash in for gift cards.
Where do you see where you can cash in the rewards? It just seems to keep sending me to the main SW site?
Go to their website and click on REWARDS in the upper right and then click the REDEEM FOR MORE REWARDS link that comes up in the pop up box.
Our family HATES flying and is flying under duress in the fall but it’s still nice for us to collect points towards other things.
Ah HA! thank you! Kept missing that and was looking in my account area.
This is good to know. @Randall1028 if you do some math, could you let me know what you come up with as the better deal.
So far it’s not favorable. It costs 3,000 points to get a $25 gift card.
Meanwhile, $1 equals roughly 62 points for flights. So you’re basically halving it with the gift card. Which is to be expected a bit as SW wants you spend the money with them, not others.
Sheesh, how many points have I wasted in the past because I only fly once a year and let them expire
Points don’t expire. Soooo none. 
oh shoot, guess I better check how many points I have then
*edit: enough for some gift cards, thanks guys!
Yeah, that is not a good deal. Southwest Rapid Rewards points are valued by TPG at 1.5 cents per point, so you are spending $45 worth of points to get a $25 GC.
Woo Hoo!
It is favorable for our family.
It’s important to point out that everyone has different goals.
And whenever I check flights, I am NOT get that 1.5 TPG is saying we should get.
It all depends on where folks are flying to and from and a bunch of other variables.
If I lived somewhere I could get a direct flight with SWA, it would probably be more favorable.
Are you talking about Southwest credit card reward points? Not rapid rewards for flights, right?
it’s also still a “bargain” if you’re like @lochneffmonster and the points are just sitting there.
Same thing. Rapid Rewards can be used to redeem for Gift Cards
But, do the rapid rewards expire within 12 months? Either way, we’ve flown SW for the last 2 trips and will again for the next 2. I should have about 10,000 points total if they carry over.
nope, so long as your account is active, they shouldn’t expire. So you should be good.
This is what I thought, but I had ~8000 points when I checked
this is great to know! I likely will not rack up enough for a free flight but I’d be happy to exchange them for a gift card here and there.
Yes, that is true, but it is also important to point out that people should do the math about their options before jumping at an off-brand points redemption. In general, an off-brand redemption gives a poor value exchange on your points when compared to an on-brand redemption. However, if you are unable to do an on-brand redemption then the points are effectively zero value to you, so getting WDW CGs is a win! However, that opens up the question of why get a credit card that gives you points you can’t directly use, when you could get another card with a similar intro deal that gives you points that you can more easily use?
Yes, this is also true. Sometimes it is difficult to get the comparable value for a given trip, so you have to decide whether it is “worth it”. For example, for a recent trip I got only 0.83 cents per mile for AA miles valued at 1.4 cents, but I had a ton of points and didn’t feel like forking over the cash. However, on the same trip I got 1.88 cents per point for Marriott points valued at 0.8 cents (with the strong likelihood of being upgraded to an even more expensive room), so I figure that overall I’m getting pretty good value!
I always do the math but it is a good reminder.