Jaunted

· Reward travel can now be on one of their longer, international flights
· If there's a seat available on a flight and you want to redeem points to grab it, you can
· No blackout dates for reward travel (use your points for pricey pre-holiday flights!)
· No expiration to your points so long as you have some earning activity within two years
· Points are determined by the price of your fare and the level thereof. At the cheapest, Wanna Get Away level, you get 6 points per dollar. So a $100 trip equals 600 points. Make that a Business Select trip and, with 12 points per dollar, you'll earn 2,640 points.
· Awards are no longer automatically generated. You can use your Rapid Rewards points now on more than just SWA travel, like a cruise or gift cards or spa treatments instead.
· Points are now purchasable, which is great if you just need to top-off for an award

What happens with your old Rapid Rewards points:
If you've still got some old Rapid Rewards miles kicking around and don't want them to go to waste, it's cool; Southwest has created a custom conversion plan for you, displayed once you log in. It'll look something like this and although you'll now earn points in the new program, you'll be able to pair them up with your old points toward the free flight goal.

Upgrades for A-List:
This is probably one of the coolest new additions to the program, in the opinion of loyal Southwest flyers. It'll now be easier than before to earn A-List status, as it only requires 25 one-way flights in a calendar year now instead of the 32 of the past program. A-Listers still get priority boarding and security, but now can also enjoy priority for stand-by, a dedicated customer service phone number, and a 25% bonus when purchasing flights with points. More info on the status levels is here.

The New A-List Preferred status
Southwest went a step further with their frequent flyer love and added a whole new highest tier: A-List Preferred. You can earn this level by flying 50 one-way flights in a calendar year. Here, you'll get all the stuff that the regular A-Listers do, but a 100% bonus when purchasing flights with points and free WiFi in the skies. Nice.

The Companion Pass
If there's really unique thing Southwest frequent frequent flyers love, it's the Companion Pass. This allows the most loyal customers to be able to fly a companion with them, for free, for a whole year. With the new program it's not going anywhere, and you'll need 100 one-way flights in a calendar year, or 110,000 points to get one.

Okay, that's just about enough loyalty program technical talk. If you've like to read anything more in depth or have a website explain it all to you in layman's terms, visit Southwest's new Rapid Rewards site. And don't freak out about the changes—they are only for the better and they don't go totally into effect until March 1 anyway.

Now good luck earning that coveted Companion Pass!

[Photo: gTarded; Photoshop work: Jaunted, of course]