Southwest is giving 50,000 points again

[bjscheel]

Originally Posted by rcepek

New to this...so is it better to do 1 card or 2? Looking at end of Sept through beginning of Oct for 4 but SW dates not out yet? How do I calculate how many points we'll need & what is better option? how many seats will 50k points get us & what is the difference between wanna get away seats and normal seats?

Wanna get away seats are way cheaper than regular. For instance, for our days and destinations, the WGA seats are about 8000 points and the regular are about 48,000 points.

Try looking at some closer dates for your destination and that might give you an idea of how many points you'll need. They will vary of course. We are doing Des Moines or Omaha to San Diego, and then Santa Ana to DM or Omaha, in June. When I first started looking, it was about 8000 points each way. At the moment they range from 7400 to 10000 or so. May tickets are cheaper, so summer is probably higher cost. Let's say I average 9000 points each ticket. We'll have about 52,000 points on each card. I can buy 5 one-way tickets with the rewards on one card, and 3 one-way tickets with the other rewards account. We'll have 7000 points left on one and 25,000 left on the other.

I'll cancel the card with only 7000 points, and concentrate on building up points on the other so we can save on at least part of our flights to Florida next year.

[2littleprincesses]

How many times a year does this promotion come out? Or is it just once a year? Thanks!

[rszdtrvl]

Just checked my account, and my points posted!! YAY!!

Now we just need to get our p's and q's in order so DH and I can book our VEGAS trip for July!

[mm1971]

Originally Posted by rszdtrvl

Just checked my account, and my points posted!! YAY!!

Now we just need to get our p's and q's in order so DH and I can book our VEGAS trip for July!

Waiting for our new bonus points to post. Already booked flights for August with the older ones. Good luck in Vegas.

[sethschroeder]

Originally Posted by ajlsjl

Hmmm. Wonder if we can get the card, book the free flights, then cancel the card? What's the fine print on this?

Fine print is that your credit score takes a hit for stuff like that.

[JDUCKY]

Originally Posted by sethschroeder

Fine print is that your credit score takes a hit for stuff like that.

Not necessarily. It still counts as a potential hit against average age of accounts but that depends upon how many accounts a person has and what their age is. May not be a hit at all.

Also, might see a temporary increase if the overall credit utilization drops due to the new higher total credit line the new card adds. But that would go away once the card was canceled. It will then remain on a credit report for ten years as a closed account.

[elaine amj]

Look up some blogs on credit card churning. We churn and DH has excellent credit. We even refinanced our mortgage in a year where we churnes abnumber of cards...with no problems at all.

Right now we're churning a little less because Dh had a fraud alert. So all applications require a follow up call.

[DisneyDreamer0610]

Sorry what is cc churning? I got the sw cc offer for 50,000 points but the fine print says I have to purchase like 1,000-5,000$$$ before points are awarded within the first 3 months and u can't do a balance transfer to get the point it HAS to be all new purchases ... Sorry a little dumb w money and credit cards but very interested! Thanks for explaining!

[ICF]

Originally Posted by sethschroeder

Fine print is that your credit score takes a hit for stuff like that.

that would fall under, much ado about nothing....

[elaine amj]

CC churning means applying for multiple credit cards for their bonuses, cancel them and then start over again. We started churning a few years ago and are still pretty new about it. We don't do it systematically like the big guys, but we probably apply for about 6-8 credit cards a year. Typically the bonus has to be worth $200 or more for us to apply. Anything under that is not worth "wasting" an application. As recommended by the experts. We keep the cards at least 11months before cancelling. most of our cards have annual fees that are waived the first year so we cancel before the first year is up.

I prioritize hotel nights and flights. This year southwest is saving us a bundle.

I am watchful for things like minimum spend. There's a card I want now but it has a $10K minimum spend and I can't meet that. I just applied for the chase ink bold with a $5k min spend. I have been putting that off because that's a bit too much for me. But then I decided to buy 10 day no expiring passes for all of us and that will be abt $2700. Then I only have $2300 to spend in the next 3 months, and I should be able to manage that. I also applied for a 3rd Southwest CC and that one has a $2k min spend. I'm still trying to juggle that one...but I think I will just use Amazon payments for that (google it to find out how to use it).

It does take time and effort to juggle but its worth it to us. 2 families I'm close to...I have spent some time explaining what we do, but its too much work for them so neither have done it. This year, we have about 10-12 hotel nights, 14 round trip flights, and other odds and ends. So it has worked out beautifully for us. Ppl ask how we can afford to travel so much. Well, this is the only way.

[bjscheel]

So, I want my points NOW. I found decent airfare on days I want. They will probably hit my account on the 15th or 16th because my next closing date is March 14. My due date for that statement is April 11. Last night I tried moving my payment due date up by 2 days to 4/9 and that didn't have an effect on my closing date apparently. If I move it up farther, do you think it will change my closing date of 3/14 or will it only change the due date.

I'm just impatient now that I've decided on my dates!!!

[kristenrice]

Originally Posted by bjscheel

So, I want my points NOW. I found decent airfare on days I want. They will probably hit my account on the 15th or 16th because my next closing date is March 14. My due date for that statement is April 11. Last night I tried moving my payment due date up by 2 days to 4/9 and that didn't have an effect on my closing date apparently. If I move it up farther, do you think it will change my closing date of 3/14 or will it only change the due date.

I'm just impatient now that I've decided on my dates!!!

Our dates won't be released until the first week of May so I still have time. Unfortunately, based on the last flights in October (we travel the first week of November), it looks like I won't want to use our points for our return flight anyway. The non-stop option departs at 9:30am and there is no way I am getting up at 5am on our last day. Our only later option will be arriving back at our airport at 10pm which is way too late. The only way we can swing it is if the grandparents can watch the kids for one more night. Otherwise, I will book the return on Delta which currently has a flight that departs at 1pm and lands at 5:30pm with only one layover. Those times are perfect so that's probably what will end up happening.

It's no big deal, though, since we are planning a trip next October. We'll have 4 tickets to buy for that trip so I will just save the points for later.

[2binak]

If we get this card (along with the 50,000 points) and I'm the only one in the family with a Rapid Rewards account, can I book Dh & DD's tickets using the points 50,000 points in my Rewards account?

[RachelTori]

Originally Posted by 2binak

If we get this card (along with the 50,000 points) and I'm the only one in the family with a Rapid Rewards account, can I book Dh & DD's tickets using the points 50,000 points in my Rewards account?

Yes.

[elgerber]

Originally Posted by 2binak

If we get this card (along with the 50,000 points) and I'm the only one in the family with a Rapid Rewards account, can I book Dh & DD's tickets using the points 50,000 points in my Rewards account?

Yes, you can book whomever you want, with your points.
Or you can get one card, and your dh can get his own card, and his own account, and you can get twice as many