Airline CC - southwest vs usairways

[itutorfortravel]

I'm going to sign up for an airlines credit card to start saving for flights for our trip next summer. Can't decide between southwest or usairways,and wanted to get some input.

We've never flown on southwest so it's hard for us to compare service...

We live near a usairways hub so lots of direct flights to Orlando tho there are some on southwest as well, but typically only one per day.

With southwest I can get the deal with 50000 points for spending $2000 in the first three months. So that alone gets me 530000 miles. I figure in the next 10 months we could accrue enough for 3 free tickets (we need 4 tix tho), so we would probably have to buy one. So maybe looking at $400 or so between cost of one ticket and annual fee to use southwest...for 4 tix.

With usairways, I might be able to squeeze out one free round trip ticket with the bonus points and spending over the next 10 months. With them I'd get the two companion tickets so I might be looking at $700 with cc fee, cost of one ticket and companion fares for 4 ppl to fly.

Both give me free baggage.

Again usairways has more flight options, but I'm not sure if it's $300 worth...

I think I read that you cannot select seats in advance on southwest? Can someone confirm this and tell me how seats are assigned? I think dd and her friend would want to sit together or if the friend didn't go dd would want to at least want to sit with either me or her dad.

Just looking to hear other DISers ideas on whist option they would choose. Thanks a lot!

 

[MinnieForMe]

Southwest Card all the way. The US Air card is hard to find reward seats. Southwest is super easy. Plus, the US Air card is giving you 30k points = $300 dollars minus the annual fee while the Southwest is giving you 50K. If you purchase your tickets during a Southwest Sale, it is worth even more. In order to use the US air companion tickets, the value of the tickets you purchase have to be above $250. Do you normally spend that much per ticket flying to Florida?

If you have a spouse who could also get a Southwest card, you would more than likely have enough for all of you to fly free. Southwest does have two versions of the card called Premier and Plus (I believe). It's also possible to get both versions of the card and qualify for their companion pass which is string free. Do a search on this as I have not done it.

As far as open seating, as long as you check in exactly at the 24 hour mark you should get at least zone B boarding which would almost guarantee that you sit together.

Personally, I love Southwest!

 

[Marionnette]

I'm going to sign up for an airlines credit card to start saving for flights for our trip next summer. Can't decide between southwest or usairways,and wanted to get some input.

We've never flown on southwest so it's hard for us to compare service...

We live near a usairways hub so lots of direct flights to Orlando tho there are some on southwest as well, but typically only one per day.

With southwest I can get the deal with 50000 points for spending $2000 in the first three months. So that alone gets me 530000 miles. I figure in the next 10 months we could accrue enough for 3 free tickets (we need 4 tix tho), so we would probably have to buy one. So maybe looking at $400 or so between cost of one ticket and annual fee to use southwest...for 4 tix.

With usairways, I might be able to squeeze out one free round trip ticket with the bonus points and spending over the next 10 months. With them I'd get the two companion tickets so I might be looking at $700 with cc fee, cost of one ticket and companion fares for 4 ppl to fly.

Both give me free baggage.

Again usairways has more flight options, but I'm not sure if it's $300 worth...

I think I read that you cannot select seats in advance on southwest? Can someone confirm this and tell me how seats are assigned? I think dd and her friend would want to sit together or if the friend didn't go dd would want to at least want to sit with either me or her dad.

Just looking to hear other DISers ideas on whist option they would choose. Thanks a lot!

Southwest does not assign seats. You receive a boarding number and you line up in that order. You can select any available seat once you enter the plane. The only restriction would be that if you sit in an exit row, you must be capable of and handling the door in the event of an emergency. No children can be in that row.

You are not guaranteed seats together, especially if you are in the "C' boarding group. People who purchase Early Bird Check-in will be assigned their boarding numbers first. All other passengers can check in 24 hours prior to departure. Boarding numbers are assigned in the order that passengers check in. If you do not check in prior to arrival at the airport, you will be assigned a boarding number based on what is left.

Families with children age 4 and under can board between the "A" and "B" boarding groups, but there's a limit as to how many can board within that family. You cannot take a group of 20 passengers traveling with one 4 year-old and have everyone board between A and B groups. In some markets where they get a lot of families with small children (like Orlando), it is up to the gate agent as to whether they extend this courtesy at all.

Passengers with mobility issues and unaccompanied minors will be permitted to pre-board ahead of all other passengers, regardless of their boarding pass number.

 

[MinnieForMe]

Forgot to add, if you have good credit, there is no reason not to sign up for both cards. This would give you the flexibility to check both airlines and see which has the better deal. Save whatever points you don't use for the next trip.

If I remember correctly, the US Air card is 30K after one spend and is issued through Barclays. Buy a coffee, and you have your US air points. Then, work on your $2000 spend for the Southwest card. It's issued through Chase so you shouldn't have an issue getting both at the same time. Just another thought....

 

[MaleficentRN]

Do NOT get the USairways card. Since they have merged with American, in 2015 the benefits will be almost non existent. There will be no companion certificate, no club pass and you will need more points to get flights. I am going to close my account as soon as I get and use my anniversary companion certificate. Not going to be worth it after that.
The amount of points needed for Southwest has increased over the years as well. I used most of my points on our next trip and am going to close that account right before I have to pay the fee. I do think it's your best bet, though.

 

[sydneysmom]

We have been kicking around getting the Southwest card for months now. Southwest just pulled out of our airport, so that was a bit of a letdown. However, we figured out for free tickets, it's still worth us driving to the nearest airport (in our case, Memphis). So, we just applied and got approved for the premier card. I'm just going to keep saving up points until our trip in 2016.

 

[MinnieForMe]

As you can see, I've been thinking about you. If it's easier to fly US Air, then open a Citibank American Airlines Mastercard. The current offer is 50K points with a 3k spend in 3 months, no annual fee for the first year and when you book on AA's site, US Air flights do show up.

 

[hpfan100]

Something else to consider... If you apply and get approved for two SW cards then you would have almost enough for a companion pass. You get free baggage, drinks and small snacks on SW too. I'm a big fan. I would avoid US air at this time since the merge with American May change things for the worse.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

Something else to consider... If you apply and get approved for two SW cards then you would have almost enough for a companion pass. You get free baggage, drinks and small snacks on SW too. I'm a big fan. I would avoid US air at this time since the merge with American May change things for the worse.

Another vote for get 2 cards!

Either the SW personal and business CCs, then spend or fly enough to earn a companion pass.

Or the US Air CC and Southwest personal. This is likely to be the last year you can use the US Air companion pass. So get the card, use the companion pass on US Air and move on to another credit card next year (maybe Chase Sapphire or British Airways if you have nonstop flights from you home airport ot Orlando on US/AA) . After US Air trip, you will have points on Southwest from that CC to use for the next trip.

Of course, none of this applies if you won't pay you CC bill in full each month.

-- Suzanne

 

[itutorfortravel]

Thank you to everyone who provided such thoughful feedback! I really appreciate it. Yes, we pay off our cc bill every month, so we basically just try to find one with a good rewards program.

We've got an Amex that's pretty good - just used a very large travel credit accrued on that one to pay on our trip we just took. We'll still keep that card, but I thought if I could find an airline card with some perks that might get us to Disney at least once it would be worth looking into. We've only ever driven to WDW, but now that we own a DVC, I'm thinking shorter more frequent trips might be nice.

I think I'll probably look into the Southwest card. The non-stop options are limited, but for free transportation we can probably make it work!

 

[aclov]

I have both and definitely rethinking cancelling the US Airways one since so much will change with the AA merger. I got both cards with SW so just received my companion pass which is good until 12/2015 So that right there is a great deal. Just wish we had more vacation time and $ to travel and take frequent trips.

 

[SuzanneSLO]

AA/US just announced today that the lounge pass you receive with the US Air CC is also good at the AAdmirals club starting 7/2/14. -- Suzanne

 

[MaleficentRN]

AA/US just announced today that the lounge pass you receive with the US Air CC is also good at the AAdmirals club starting 7/2/14. -- Suzanne

Thanks, Suzanne. Unfortunately, after this year, we will no longer get those from US Air.
But I will have to investigate who has the better club at my airport and use my last pass there.

 

[misskari]

So with the SW card you get 50,000 points when you spend $2K in the first 3 months. Is this right? I thought people said you get 50,000 points with just opening a cc?

 

[misskari]

In looking at points the "wanna get away" ones are about 20,000 points, which is 30,000 less than regular fare . What are the disadvantages to the Wanna Get Away ticket choice?

 

[UCFGrad01]

Something to think about with those 50k points, they say "2 flights" but if you're a savvy shopper you can get more out of it. If you catch a fare sale, the points needed for the ticket will be lower too. I can usually score a nonstop round trip from Denver to Orlando for around 11,000 miles. If you found a great sale, you could get all 4 tickets for under the 50,000 total

Eta: no disadvantage to "wanna get away". They're not refundable (but if you change or cancel worth points, you get them back) and usually represent a good advance fare price

 

[Burnedout]

Something to think about with those 50k points, they say "2 flights" but if you're a savvy shopper you can get more out of it. If you catch a fare sale, the points needed for the ticket will be lower too. I can usually score a nonstop round trip from Denver to Orlando for around 11,000 miles. If you found a great sale, you could get all 4 tickets for under the 50,000 total Eta: no disadvantage to "wanna get away". They're not refundable (but if you change or cancel worth points, you get them back) and usually represent a good advance fare price

I've been back and forth from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles 3 times by watching for sales. For us it was so worth it.

 

[rdevine10]

We love southwest.

WE got the 50k points and used them for roundtrip for 4 to orlando from hartford. (while not the closest airport to us- white plains is, parking is MUCH cheaper here- $4.50 a day vs the I believe $27 it costs at white plains, so that really factors into the budget!). Then we used the remaining plus some points we already had from previous flights and it paid for one way to the bahamas in August. We just booked a trip today for next week on southwest and will be accruing even more points. They are so easy to use and we have been thrilled!