New 60,000 limited-time offer, 80,000 point business card bonus. Southwest Airlines offers a unique feature called the , which lets you pick one person to fly with free when you book either paid or award flights (including to Hawaii!). If you either fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 110,000 qualifying points in a calendar year, and you’ll earn the Companion Pass for the remainder of that year plus the following full calendar year. For example, if you earned it in September 2019, you would have the benefit for the rest of 2019 and all of 2020. You can change your designated companion up to three times each calendar year.
Points earned from credit cards count toward that 110,000 point requirement, including sign-up bonuses. You can often get very close to that magic number when you add up the potential miles from these Southwest credit cards:
- Up to 60,000 Rapid Rewards points. Earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, earn an additional 20,000 points after you spend $12,000 total on purchases within the first year.
- 3,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
- 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $69 annual fee.
- Up to 60,000 Rapid Rewards points. Earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, earn an additional 20,000 points after you spend $12,000 total on purchases within the first year.
- 6,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
- 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $99 annual fee.
- Up to 60,000 Rapid Rewards points. Earn 40,000 points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus, earn an additional 20,000 points after you spend $12,000 total on purchases within the first year.
- 7,500 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
- $75 Southwest annual travel credit.
- Four Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- 20% back on inflight drinks, WiFi, messaging, and movies.
- Earn tier qualifying points towards A-list status.
- 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $149 annual fee.
- 60,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 6,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
- 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $99 annual fee.
- 60,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 6,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
- 2 points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- $99 annual fee.
- 80,000 Rapid Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
- 9,000 bonus points after each Cardmember anniversary.
- 3 points per $1 spent on Southwest Airlines® purchases.
- 2 points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services and 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- Inflight WiFi Credits of up to 365 x $8 credits.
- Global Entry or TSA Pre?® Fee credit in the form of a statement credit of up to $100 every four years.
- $199 annual fee.
Value of Rapid Rewards points. Redeeming Southwest points for flights varies in a narrow range, but a very reasonable approximation from my experience is 1.5 cents in Wanna Get Away airfare in per point. That works out to $600+ in Wanna Get Away airfare from 40,000 points or $900+ in Wanna Get Away airfare for 60,000 points or $1,200+ in Wanna Get Away airfare from 80,000 points (you are still liable for taxes and fees from $5.60 one-way). Importantly, Southwest does NOT have blackout dates or seat restrictions when you redeem with points. This means that Southwest points are much easier to use than a “saver award” on traditional airlines.
Now, if you manage to qualify for the the Companion Pass on every trip that you book with those points, that doubles the potential value of each award redemption. In other words, 110,000 Rapid Rewards, would usually get you $1,700 in Wanna Get Away airfare, but with the Companion Pass you’d get an extra companion ticket for every flight booked.
A backup option is gift card redemptions. You can still redeem 5,000 points for a $50 a Amazon.com or Wal-Mart gift certificate. That makes 60,000 points still worth $600 in Amazon or Walmart gift cards.
Southwest still includes two free checked bags per person. The fees on the other airlines have crept up to $30 per bag, each-way. That adds up.
Our family policy is to not try out a new credit card unless it offers us $500 in total value. Just the free award flights from the points are enough to satisfy that rule, and then you can add on the potential value of the companion tickets.
Card restrictions. All of these Southwest credit cards are subject to “5/24” restrictions, which means that your application will be automatically denied if you have opened 5 or more credit cards in the last 24 months (check your credit reports). Our household strategy is to have one person only apply for Chase 5/24 cards, and the other person applies for everything else. There is also this language on the consumer card:
The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card and Employee Credit Card products.
Basically, you can get one sign-up bonus from a Southwest consumer card once every 24 months. You can also get one sign-up bonus from a Southwest business card once every 24 months.
Extending your Companion Pass with Chase Ultimate Rewards points. If you have the or , you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Southwest points on a 1:1 basis. The idea is is to book an award flight with those Southwest points while you have the Companion Pass, thus doubling the value of your Ultimate Rewards points as well.
Bottom line. Right now, you can earn up to 80,000 Southwest points from qualifying for a single credit card sign-up, which in itself can be redeemed for a lot of free Southwest flights (including to Hawaii!). However, if you can qualify for two (one personal and one business), you can surpass the 110,000 points needed for the Southwest Companion pass, which provides a free companion ticket on every flight bought with cash or points for the rest of 2019 and all of 2020. Finally, Southwest still includes two free checked bags per person on every flight.
Also see: and also the .
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