Southwest Airlines gave away as many as 50 billion airline miles after its holiday travel meltdown

Southwest Airlines gave away as many as 50 billion airline miles after its holiday travel meltdown

Southwest Airlines has had to — with the airline saying Thursday that it's sent out 50 billion airline points to customers who were affected by flight delays and cancellations. The low-cost carrier started sending out . Southwest sent the points to around two million customers, . Personal finance site NerdWallet at 1.5 cents. That means Southwest has sent out around $750 million worth of Rapid Rewards points to customers who suffered through the holiday travel nightmare, which led to more than 16,000 flight cancellations and left thousands of customers stranded in airports across the country. "I can't say it enough," Jordan said about the holiday nightmare. "We messed up." The Dallas-based airline on Thursday, saying its meltdown in December cost the airline about $800 million — a majority of which was due to travel expense reimbursements and the estimated value of the Rapid Rewards points sent to customers. The points, which don't expire or have blackout dates, are on top of any refunds or compensation, and customers have until March 31 to sent to their email. While it appears the 25,000 points are a good chunk of change, the deadline for redeeming the code adds a step the consumer must