When Southwest Airlines drastically revamped Rapid Rewards in early 2025, it caused some analysts to question the wisdom of such a transformation.
More than a year later, the loyalty program continues to grow at a rapid clip. The airline reported 35% year-over-year membership growth in its latest quarter, reaching a record of nearly 100 million members, according to executives on a Q2 2026 earnings call last month.
When Nandika Suri joined Southwest in April as VP of Rapid Rewards, she knew she was stepping into a loyalty program with a solid foundation, the executive said on a DiveLive webinar last week. Her job is to build on the airline’s values to position Rapid Rewards for future growth.
Rapid Rewards is expanding its appeal to a broader audience while making it easier to join and utilize as a way to fuel growth, according to Suri. The program is also improving its balance of transactional and experiential benefits to drive engagement.
Rapid Rewards aims to keep customers engaged by elevating the customer experience throughout their journey, which goes far beyond the time spent in an actual airplane.
“We definitely are an airline, and while our biggest goal is to get customers from point A to point B, you have to always remind yourself that flight is only one aspect of the customer journey,” Suri said. “The journey does not start and end with the flight.”
Expand appeal, eliminate friction
Rapid Rewards’ recent growth is driven by a combination of increased flexibility that appeals to a broader customer base and the elimination of friction across the loyalty experience, according to Suri.
A loyalty program is not a one-size-fits-all operation, according to Suri. One of the drivers of Rapid Rewards’s rapid enrollment growth is the brand’s strategy to appeal to a larger set of travelers, including through options like a debit card that launched last year.
“There are different types of customers within our base,” Suri said. “Those customers have different needs, different expectations. So we've got to figure out different ways to engage with these different groups of customers.”
Southwest’s Rapid Rewards loyalty tiers include a range of rewards, according to Suri. Travelers who fly more often receive additional benefits, but less frequent fliers still have options.
Southwest is also working on ways to reduce friction on the end-to-end customer journey, Suri said. “I think there's a few different factors, but the underlying thing is we are, as we are evolving as an airline, actually being very strategic with how we actually help bring our customers into our system.”
Some perks are universal, according to Suri. Complimentary Wi-Fi is available to all Rapid Rewards members, for example.
“It's a meaningful experience benefit that somebody gets on the aircraft, makes their experience better, and we've connected it to the loyalty program,” Suri said. “And that's another reason why we're seeing really strong growth.”
Combine the emotional with the transactional
Transactional rewards are an important part of Rapid Rewards, but the program builds more experiential benefits on top of them.
“There's no question that for members to meaningfully engage in the program, you've got to provide some transactional — some tangible — benefits, some value to the customer,” Suri said. “But customers are looking for more than just a transaction. They are willing to engage with brands where they have an emotional connection. And that really happens if a customer feels seen, rewarded, recognized throughout their journey.”
This is where Southwest’s emphasis on hospitality and human connection comes to the forefront, according to Suri. Rapid Rewards is designed to complement tangible benefits with personalization, recognition and an improved experience throughout the customer journey.
“I really do believe that magic happens when you kind of get this combination of, call them, transactional, value-oriented benefits, along with the soft touch and the experience, because that's where you really help to build that deeper emotional connection,” Suri said. “And that's what helps customers keep coming back to a brand again and again.”
Southwest plans to examine its end-to-end customer journey and deepen Rapid Rewards’ personalization capabilities in the future, according to Suri. The goal is to understand where the customer is on their journey, how Southwest can become more relevant for them, and how the airline can add more ways to earn and redeem points.
Southwest is looking at new ways to recognize customers as well.
“Simple touches can go a long way in keeping a customer engaged with the brand,” Suri said. “So as we look at our evolution, how we really leverage our strong hospitality as a brand and really help build recognition throughout that end-to-end journey is key.”
Disclosure: DiveLive webinars are run by Informa TechTarget, the publisher behind CX Dive. Informa TechTarget has no influence over CX Dive’s coverage.
