The days when Southwest Airlines was the rebel of the US aviation industry are probably over for good. Thus, Southwest also does not resist the general trend in the USA of devaluing frequent flyer programs.

Without any advance notice, the earning rates for non-refundable fares, which most customers use, were drastically reduced in its Rapid Rewards program, from 8 to 6 points for Wanna Get Away Plus fares and from 6 to 2 points for Wanna Get Away fares.

This way, Southwest will at least save enough money in the short term to hire a marketing agency that can come up with a new name for the program. Because the Rewards are certainly no longer “Rapid” like that…