Southwest is giving 50,000 points again

[ICF]

I'm curious to learn if people keep these cards long term or cancel shortly after receiving points? I'm assuming this doesn't jeopordize your points if you do cancel say 6 months after opening the card.

Your annual fee covers 12 months, so you might as well leave it open for at least a year.

My wife and I each got one last fall. We will probably cancel one and keep one open. I dont like paying an annual fee on a CC, but might do it just to keep one of the accounts earning some points. After we use our two cards for 4 flights next year...we should have points left over for us to each be able to get one extra flight (at least) out of the remaining pts.

My reward card of choice is the Hilton Honors AMEX card. We don't fly often on vacation, but are always in need of a hotel room to stay in.

 

[IDoDis]

Your annual fee covers 12 months, so you might as well leave it open for at least a year.

My wife and I each got one last fall. We will probably cancel one and keep one open. I dont like paying an annual fee on a CC, but might do it just to keep one of the accounts earning some points. After we use our two cards for 4 flights next year...we should have points left over for us to each be able to get one extra flight (at least) out of the remaining pts.

My reward card of choice is the Hilton Honors AMEX card. We don't fly often on vacation, but are always in need of a hotel room to stay in.

You also get points at renewal time which are equal to the yearly fee, so those points wipe out the fee. Just think of it as putting the fee money in the bank to save for future airfare.

 

[ICF]

You also get points at renewal time which are equal to the yearly fee, so those points wipe out the fee. Just think of it as putting the fee money in the bank to save for future airfare.

It's close but not quite...the $69 annual fee gets you 3000 pts. The 3000 pts equals $50 in airfare, so you still have a net cost of $19.

You would think they would have just made it 4000 pts so it virtually would have been "free" to have the card.

 

[minnieluvzmickey]

do I get 3000 points when I first get the card and they charge me the 1st annual fee?

 

[fiestamomma]

do I get 3000 points when I first get the card and they charge me the 1st annual fee?

No on your anniversary date of opening the card

 

[IDoDis]

It's close but not quite...the $69 annual fee gets you 3000 pts. The 3000 pts equals $50 in airfare, so you still have a net cost of $19.

You would think they would have just made it 4000 pts so it virtually would have been "free" to have the card.

I get 6000 points at renewal which equals $100 and my card is $99 per yea,r so it's really a no-brainer to keep the card because it doesn't cost me anything extra since we fly every year anyway, not to mention the ding on your credit for canceling. It's kind of like pre-paying. The SW Visa with the $99 fee seems to be a better deal than the $69 card in that sense. My card is also a "signature" card which has extra perks like B1G1F movie tickets on Friday nights.

 

[luckygirl539]

Just got our cards! We applied Sunday evening and they arrived today. It included a welcome letter explaining the 50000 bonus points as well.

 

[constanze]

Just got our cards! We applied Sunday evening and they arrived today. It included a welcome letter explaining the 50000 bonus points as well.

Is this the program, where you get the 50,000 points after charging $1000 to your card? That's the only one i can find...

 

[luckygirl539]

Yes that's the one. We went with the 99$ annual feel because you get 6000 bonus points annually which equally about $100 in wanna get away fares.

 

[elfbo]

Two questions. Has anyone purchased gift cards with this card and gotten rewards points for them?

Also, for the 1000$ purchase does it need to be a single 1000$ transaction, or just 1000$ over 3 months. Also, do you have to wait for the billing cycle to close to pay that 1000$ to get the credit, or can you pay it off a few days after it shows up in the account?

I guess thats 3 questions. Sorry!

 

[RachelTori]

Two questions. Has anyone purchased gift cards with this card and gotten rewards points for them?

Also, for the 1000$ purchase does it need to be a single 1000$ transaction, or just 1000$ over 3 months. Also, do you have to wait for the billing cycle to close to pay that 1000$ to get the credit, or can you pay it off a few days after it shows up in the account?

I guess thats 3 questions. Sorry!

I know the answer to questions 2 & 3! The $1,000 is accumulated "eligible" purchases, so as soon as they add up to $1,000 (within 3 months of course), you have earned the 50,000 points! "Eligible" simply means vendors who are authorized to do business with Visa, so if a business takes your Visa card for payment, they're authorized!

You can make payments at any time without it affecting your total charged to date. In other words, your payment doesn't cancel out your purchase as it shows as a "payment" and not a "credit" (hope that makes sense!)

 

[ADisneyQueen]

I don't think I had a letter explaining the point offer, either. I called before I activated my card and they said I had the deal but I wish I had something in writing. Anyone else not get the letter?

 

[elfbo]

I know the answer to questions 2 & 3! The $1,000 is accumulated "eligible" purchases, so as soon as they add up to $1,000 (within 3 months of course), you have earned the 50,000 points! "Eligible" simply means vendors who are authorized to do business with Visa, so if a business takes your Visa card for payment, they're authorized!

You can make payments at any time without it affecting your total charged to date. In other words, your payment doesn't cancel out your purchase as it shows as a "payment" and not a "credit" (hope that makes sense!)

Good deal. We had made a 1000$ payment on our trip (just in case lol) and are eager to pay it off.

Anyone know about buying gift cards? (We are trying to maximize our spending so we can get airfare for the whole party.)

 

[elfbo]

I don't think I had a letter explaining the point offer, either. I called before I activated my card and they said I had the deal but I wish I had something in writing. Anyone else not get the letter?

We did not get a letter either.

 

[fiestamomma]

If you buy gift cards at the store you will get the usual points per dollar.

If you want to buy gift cards online through the Southwest Shopping Portal then it depends on each store.

I know Disney store offers 2pts per dollar, but not on gift cards. However, Brookstone is usually 4pts per dollar and around Fathers day was offering 16 per dollar and it counted toward gift card purchases.

It should tell you, as you browse the portal, under each stores title.

I bought a gift card for Disney a few months back thru ebates at 6% cash back. So i got points on my card and the cash back

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[elfbo]

Thank You! Thats what I wanted to hear.

 

[WhitGB]

I applied a couple of days ago and was approved. We have the disney chase and it just used that information to approve us. The screen came up okaying the approval but I have no other correspondence.

I know it is too soon to see the cards, but should we have recieved an email or anything else. And no, I did not print the approval screen, I just assumed I would get something else as confirmation. Stupid yes...

TIA

 

[ADisneyQueen]

No, you will not get an email. In about 4-7 days you should get mail from them. I think mine did not say it was from SWA. It was just a plain white envelope.

 

[RachelTori]

I applied a couple of days ago and was approved. We have the disney chase and it just used that information to approve us. The screen came up okaying the approval but I have no other correspondence.

I know it is too soon to see the cards, but should we have recieved an email or anything else. And no, I did not print the approval screen, I just assumed I would get something else as confirmation. Stupid yes...

TIA

Do you access your Disney Chase Visa online? If so, you can log in to that account and if your SWA approval has gone through, you should see that account listed also! You will see the last 4 digits of your new account, but won't know the whole number until your card arrives in the mail. (at least you'll know everything has gone through though! )

 

[elfbo]

I applied a couple of days ago and was approved. We have the disney chase and it just used that information to approve us. The screen came up okaying the approval but I have no other correspondence.

I know it is too soon to see the cards, but should we have recieved an email or anything else. And no, I did not print the approval screen, I just assumed I would get something else as confirmation. Stupid yes...

TIA

And be sure not to throw your card away on arrival. It comes in a plain envelope and the card is rather thin, so when i bent it checking for a card, it flexed easily so I did not think it was there.