FOOD FOR THOUGHT (AND FOR CREDITS, TOO)!

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT (AND FOR CREDITS, TOO)!

Tue, 11/18/2008 - 08:14 — Lizz Zuniga

Today, Southwest Airlines is launching Rapid Rewards Dining™. As a member of the Rapid Rewards Customer Loyalty team, I am excited to announce this new credit earning opportunity for our Rapid Rewards Members. The program offers Rapid Rewards credits for dining/beverage purchases made at more than 9,000 restaurants, bars, and clubs across the United States and Canada. Members will receive a quarter-credit after spending their first $25 as an enrollment bonus, and after that, they will earn a quarter-credit for every $100 spent at participating merchants.

This program is administered by Rewards Network which has launched dining programs with other major airlines. My boss, Eric Woodson, who joined Southwest Airlines in December 2007, told me about this program and was a strong advocate to bring this service to our Members. At the time, we were in the process of trying to add a new category to the Rapid Rewards program outside of hotels and car rentals, and we thought the dining program would be a natural fit for our Members so they can earn credits doing what they normally would do on a daily basis--EAT!!

We also wanted to stay true to our current “No Hidden Fees” ad campaign. Joining Rapid Rewards Dining is easy and is FREE. Just visit rapidrewardsdining.com to learn more. If you aren't already a Member of Southwest's Rapid Rewards frequent flyer program, go here to enroll.

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Comments

Great addition to the Rapid Rewards program. You've made an awful lot of loyal Southwest customers who are "foodies" like myself very happy today. Keep up the good work, and I look forward to more RR loyalty benefits.

Michael Barber — Tue, 11/18/2008 - 16:46

Thank you Southwest! In times like these, you stand out like the shining star that you are. The Rapid Rewards program is FABULOUS! Your employees are always wonderful to deal with, whether on the ground, on the phone or in the air! Your loyalty team has done a wonderful job, I'm not going anywhere else...again thanks :))

mrg — Tue, 11/18/2008 - 17:39

Here's the Rapid Rewards Dining site link

http://www.rapidrewardsdining.com

Question, I'm having some difficulty getting more restaurant search results to display properly. For example Las Vegas is showing 82 participating restaurant but I can't get the list to display, Please help. Thank You.

Scott near SMF — Wed, 11/19/2008 - 15:52

Scott,
I just went to the site, and it displayed all five pages for Las Vegas. You might take a look at all of the boxes on the left of the page to see if they are deleting some categories. Each of those boxes has a drop-down box with search limitations.
Brian

Brian Lusk — Wed, 11/19/2008 - 16:32

I've been getting the "MQA is not defined" error message when attempting to get my results to display. How do I fix my search so that my "MQA is defined".

Scott near SMF — Thu, 11/20/2008 - 11:08

I will ask our experts, Scott.
Brian

Brian Lusk — Thu, 11/20/2008 - 12:13

Food program?

Some of us are just more interested in being able to USE our Rapid Rewards:

I have recently written several letters to Ryan Green, Southwest/Rapid Rewards about my issues with the Rapid Rewards program. This was after being tired of hearing from Southwest agents over and over on the phone or at the airport, "I truly am sorry sir", or "You can write a letter to our home office"...
SO, As I wait for a reply from someone, again I picked up this months issue of Spirit magazine while traveling on Southwest Airlines as I do weekly. I re-read a line in the Star of the Month page that slipped past me the first time I read it and was again annoyed:

[ ..."Best Award Redemption", which recognizes the program that has the most frequent flyer award seats available for Customers to redeem. ]

Really?

Well, this number might be high enough to win an award from Inside Flyer Magazine, BUT, it's not high enough for me to make use of my rewards!
What does a Customer of Southwest (who is also a Rapid Rewards member, Companion Pass holder and "A" lister) have to do to get a seat using his Rapid Rewards?
I have tried countless times, months in advance, to use my Rapid Rewards to book trips to visit family or have them fly to visit me. The number of available Rapid Rewards seats currently available to Customers seems VERY limited. Most times when I do find an available seat with a Reward it's only for half of the trip I'm trying to book. Then I’m forced to pay to get a one way ticket on another airline for the second half of the trip.
What makes this lack-of-seats-inconvenience even sadder is, one time I had to PAY $405 for a second half of an itinerary ON SOUTHWEST because it was the cheapest. Why am I paying for tickets to book what should be, a free roundtrip book able with my large number of saved Rapid Rewards?
I (or any Southwest Customer) should not have to sit at the computer playing a game of chance in order to use their Rewards. It would be nice to see the number of available Rapid Rewards seats raised to a level where myself and others that frequently fly your airline might have a chance at booking one 3-4 months in advance.
Is that too much to ask?

Who cares about food credits?
I can't even get a seat on a plane with my hard earned credits!

Thanks,
Tony Santoro

Tony Santoro — Thu, 11/20/2008 - 15:14

Hi Brian, the browser that I use during the day is IE 7.0.5730.11CO. I don't have "outside" e-mail during the day, so this is my best way to respond. Thanks.

Scott near SMF — Fri, 11/21/2008 - 11:05

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