Southwest CC - 50000 Bonus offer - Would this work?

[seancharles]

Hello. Question for the smart, budget minded people on this board.

We are planning a trip for 7 in May. We already have a room via renting DVC points.

Now I am looking at airfare and park tickets. I see Southwest Airlines has an offer available in that if you get a Southwest credit card and spend $2000 in the first 3 months, you get 50000 bonus points. So...

can I get this card...buy our park tickets on the card (8 day park hopper - easily reaches the $2000 required purchase)...then use the 50000 bonus points to pay for 3.5 of our 7 round-trip flights?

May flights are not available yet on Southwest website but using a Tuesday to Tuesday flight in March to estimate, the tickets are 7000 points per flight or 14000 points per person. Three flights would be 42000 and still have 8000 towards the fourth flight.

Would this work? I would love to find ways to save money on this vacation, but this is a special vacation for us. I (and my wife) don't want to screw something up trying to save.

Please let me know your thoughts and experiences. Thank you very much for your assistance.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I don't think you can partially pay with a flight with points. You can buy them or look for ways to accumulate enough to cover the entire flight. You can pay for four tickets with points and then book the othe three with a credit card.

 

[Shea&Van]

Using SWA points...we try to book one-way tickets whenever possible. So theoretically, if you break up your flights, you could just do one of the ways for your fourth person, then pay cash for the return flight for this person.

Also, you may want to google SWA Companion Pass. You may be able to get this if you do a little reserach and think it may be a match for your family. We earned one early last year and it's been AMAZING!

Good luck!!! Have a wonderful trip!

 

[Dahly]

@seancharles - where are you finding the 50k offer. I can only see the 25k offer on the chase cc page.
thanks!

 

[hsmamato2]

it will absolutely work.... I recommend you do it! once you hit that spend on tickets you will see the points in your rr account- then you can use them as you desire. In your case,with 7 people, I would book as many flights as possible with the points,and then add people on with cash(or even better,that card for more points) to the same flights. example - points are enough for 4 r/t tix on SWA, use them for 4 people- then go ahead and book 3 more flights using a cc for payment. you can even book a one way flight,so say you have enough for 3 1/2 r/t tix, you book that on points, then the rest using money. also book as soon as your dates open up on SWA,and then you can change and get points back later if they run a sale on your flights. it's WONDERFUL.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Yes it will work. As the others said, maximize your points by booking one way. Then watch the flights like a hawk so if they go on sale you get refunded the point difference. We fly free often using points from our SW cc. Also, shop thru their portal for extra points...sort of like ebates.

 

[msmama]

Remember that you not only get the 50k bonus points, but you'll also earn points on whatever you charge to the card.

Southwest has a shopping portal (similar to Ebates) that you can shop through to earn more points. If I'm close to needing more points, I'll use that or you can buy more points. Generally it's not the best use of your money, but sometimes they have deals on buying points, and sometimes I'm willing to spend a bit to be able to use more points (but do the math yourself).

Personally, if it were me, I'd use points for one way (if you could do 3.5 r/t you could do all 7 one way) and then pay "cash" (really using SW card to earn more points for the next trip) for everybody on the other one way. I just think I'd be easier to book that way.

 

[LynnTH]

Another suggestion. IF you have a spouse - have them open a card also. (if you can both spend $2000 in the 3 month period). That will give you 100.000 points. We have done this a couple of times (once with the $69 card and once with the $99 card). Then I book one way with one of our points and the way home with the other points. (you can't combine them but just book one ways for as many as you can). You could have pretty much free airfare.

 

[supersnoop]

Another suggestion. IF you have a spouse - have them open a card also. (if you can both spend $2000 in the 3 month period). That will give you 100.000 points. We have done this a couple of times (once with the $69 card and once with the $99 card). Then I book one way with one of our points and the way home with the other points. (you can't combine them but just book one ways for as many as you can). You could have pretty much free airfare.

I'd advise against this. There's no reason for a spouse to open the card. Instead, open two cards yourself, both with the 50,000 point bonus (the plus, premier, and business cards all offer the bonus), and get 104,000 in your own account after meeting the minimum spend. Earn another 6,000 points and you earn companion status. Which is worth a whole lot.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yes! As others said, just buy a one way if you don't have enough for another RT.
Buy the park tix asap. The points don't become available for use until your billing cycle ends and in a day or 2 after you can view your statement online, the purchases points will be in your sw account. I can't comment on how long it takes to get the bonus points. I've had the card for almost 10 years and there were no bonuses in those days, or none that I recall.

 

[HeatherL1985]

If they are still offering the 50k point rewards, you could do what we did to earn a companion pass:

1) Get two cards, spend $2k on each and get 52,000 in points on each.
2) Do Rapid Reward promotions, spend on the cards or purchase & transfer enough Choice Hotel points to earn 6,000 more.

Once you get to 110k in points, you will earn a companion pass through December 2016 that allows one person to fly for free with you. For us, I chose my husband. We ended up with enough points to fly to Disney twice, Vegas once and New York once. We did this by using the cards to book our vacation, pay our normal bills for two months and then buying $100 worth of points through Choice hotels so all but the $100 was money we were going to spend anyway. Just make sure that the points you earn apply to the companion pass (i.e. - points bought directly through Southwest do not count).

Happy traveling!!

 

[seancharles]

Wow. Great advice guys. Thank you very much.

On top of this, our Giant Eagle (local grocery store) offers gas discounts for buying gift cards. I can buy Disney gift cards on the Southwest CC to pay for our tickets ($3000) and get $360 of free gas.

Dahly...I received the offer in an e-mail.

 

[Dahly]

Wow. Great advice guys. Thank you very much.

On top of this, our Giant Eagle (local grocery store) offers gas discounts for buying gift cards. I can buy Disney gift cards on the Southwest CC to pay for our tickets ($3000) and get $360 of free gas.

Dahly...I received the offer in an e-mail.

thanks for the info! i will keep looking to them to put out another offer soon!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

I would do what the other PP said get 2 cards. One being the Plus card the other the Premier card and earn companion pass status. I did this in Jan and earned Companion Pass Status in March. From March of this year till Dec on 2016 my hubby flies for free with me and only pays $5.60 in taxes each way. I use my points and pay $5.60 each way LUV it. The offer came in Jan just in time for DVC dues to come do and car insurance plus we bought a freezer and then had to fill it. So spending the $4000 came easily. And I bought items through the SWA RR shopping portal to get extra points. There were offers for a 12 week subscription to the Wall Street Journal for a mere $5 and it netted me 1000 SWA points. Sent cookies to the hubby via Pro Flowers and SWA gave me 1k in extra points for using the portal to shop. Earning the 110K points to reach companion pass status is easy. But it is best to try to do it at the beginning of the year so that you get almost 2 years of having a companion flying for free!

Yes to your question about the Giant Eagle purchase.

 

[a742246]

thanks for the info! i will keep looking to them to put out another offer soon!

Try www.southwest.com/inflight for that 50,000 point offer

I believe its available all the time!

 

[Alexle2007]

If they are still offering the 50k point rewards, you could do what we did to earn a companion pass:

1) Get two cards, spend $2k on each and get 52,000 in points on each.
2) Do Rapid Reward promotions, spend on the cards or purchase & transfer enough Choice Hotel points to earn 6,000 more.

Happy traveling!!

How do you transfer your Choice Hotel points? Do I do that through the Southwest site or Choice site? We frequently stay at Comfort Suites so I have points I could easily move. Does one Choice point equal one Southwest point?

 

[hsmamato2]

warning..... to those of you looking at the great companion pass deals..... do your homework before you attempt it....it isn't as simple as other pp's make it out to be (not too hard either,but you have to do it right) you have to get 110k points in the SAME rr account within one calendar year to get a companion pass- so both cc's have to be in one persons name. the 2 cards opening is the easiest way to get there, and the addition of 'choice hotel' points is another way to get to 110k,if you can't on your own.(google which transfers of points count toward this pass,not all do) Also be aware that you have to spend 2-3k on EACH cc you open to get the 50k points. And be aware that this deal isn't so great unless you can do that and hit enough spending to get to 110k without paying finance charges.(in other words,pay it as you go,the full balance)
there are blogs devoted to explaining these details,and it works nicely,if you are paying attention to the details. Including how to get that cp...... have fun!

 

[Happy_2_B]

I agree that the Companion Pass is the way to go. It isn't that difficult- there are plenty of newsgroups that are 'travel hackers' as hobbyists- and many of the major ones already have posts that will walk you through it. Just google 'companion pass hack' and some of the major players in the hobby will be on the first page. Pay it off as you go as a PP mentioned- though- or interest will eat you up. There are also timing issues that will enable you to get a CP and keep it for almost 2 years- and the aforementioned websites will walk you through the timing as well. Save your wife's two cards until your pass is about to expire, then rinse and repeat and get another CP for the next trip.

 

[emilyalexis]

I did this and it was awesome! Applied and received the card in early June. Immediately paid for our Disney vacation and hit the $2,000 amount. They gave me the bonus points on June 30...so fast! Then I waited until Southwest had a sale. I got all three of our nonstop, round trip tickets from Dallas to Orlando for under 15,000 points! They have great sales if you are patient and wait for the right opportunity.

 

[hsmamato2]

if you book airfare using points,and the fares drop later, you can get them credited back to your rr account...very easy. so you don't always even need to wait for sales, just watch for them.