Flying for Cheap

I have had several people ask me about my recent credit card activity that has earned Kasey and I 8 Southwest flights ($3,332 value) and also 2 Companion Passes which means that when we fly, two of our kids can fly for free.  So here is how to get the “free” flights and Companion Passes.

When we first started getting our Southwest credit cards, the deal was that you get the 50,000 bonus points after the first purchase.  Then they changed it to you have to spend $1,000 in 3 months to get the points.  Now the deal has changed to where you have to spend $2,000 in 3 months on the card which is obviously not as good a deal but still worth it.  There are currently 4 cards available that have the 50,000 point sign-up bonus. The Southwest Plus Card (Personal and Business) and the Southwest Premier Card (Personal and Business) are the 4 cards available.  The bonus offer usually goes down to 25,000 points after a period of time, but usually comes back up to 50,000 points in a month or two so be sure that the 50,000 point offer is in effect since you can only get the bonus once. We got the Southwest Plus cards (Personal and Business) because they only have a $69 annual fee compared to the $99 annual fee for the Premier Cards.  We plan on canceling the cards before the renewal period is up.  So for $276 in annual fee charges we obtained $3,332 in Southwest points to use on Southwest flights. 

Also, an awesome perk that came out of this for us is that we each earned a Companion Pass with Southwest.  Currently, the Southwest points earned from a sign-up bonus count toward the Companion Pass. The Southwest Companion Pass is a great airline perk because it lets a companion travel with you for free whenever you travel on Southwest.  It doesn’t matter if your flight is booked with points or paid for with cash – your companion flies free as long as Southwest is selling seats on that flight (even if they are business select seats). The best way to get the Companion Pass is to apply for 1 Southwest personal card and 1 Southwest business card and then get the extra 6,000 points needed — after accounting for the $2,000 in minimum spending which earns points — to get the 110,000 points for the Southwest Companion Pass.

One easy way to meet these spending requirements is to get a free Bluebird card from American Express and load it using Vanilla Reloads.  Below is the link to learn more about these Vanilla Reloads.  I used this method for a lot of the spending for my Companion Pass by paying my mortgage, credit cards, and student loan.

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/10/31/vanilla-reload-cards/

Another method is by using Chargesmart.com to pay Mortgage, Student Loan, Car Payments, or Utility that might not otherwise be able to be paid with a credit card.  There is usually a fee associated with this (about 2-3%).  You would just need to calculate whether or not the fee paid is worth it for the benefit you will receive.  We used this method as well to meet some of our spending requirements.

Most of the information I have learned about using credit cards to earn miles has been from www.millionmilesecrets.com. This is a blog that teaches people about earning miles and lets you know about different deals and methods out there.

Here is a post specifically about the Companion Pass and these credit cards. It includes answers to commonly asked questions.  There is no guarantee that the bonus miles earned from credit card will continue to count toward the companion pass in 2013, but let’s hope they still do.

http://millionmilesecrets.com/2012/11/14/southwest-companion-pass-2/

If you are new to using credit cards to get airline or hotel points, he has a short introduction here which includes the cautions below.

http://millionmilesecrets.com/new-to-miles-points-start-here/

Cautions:

1)      If you are applying for a big loan in the next 2 years, then I would recommend very few or no credit card applications so as to ensure that you’re doing everything possible to get your loan.

2)      If you do decide to churn credit cards, make sure to pay your bills off when they are due and to not pay interest.  Paying interest on credit cards is a losing proposition  – even if you manage to earn miles and points.

If you have questions about any of this, just let me know.  I have learned a lot in the months that I have been doing this.  This Thanksgiving, I flew my family of 5 to Texas by using points to purchase 2 tickets (1 free Companion and 2 lap children).  And I will fly my family of 5 to Texas again next year by using points to purchase to 2 tickets (2 free Companions and 1 lap child).  That’s a total of $2,916 of flights!! And we will still have 120,000 points left to use after that ($2,000 in flights).  My goal is to never have to purchase airfare again by continuously accumulating miles through credit cards.  There are also other credit card offers that waive the first annual fee so you really can get the miles for free. Though it is not for everyone, it has definitely helped us not to worry about airfare!