SW credit card

[Minniekins]

I received an offer for a southwest credit card. i get two free flights(50,000 bonus pts to use for 2 free rt flights), after a first purchase if i get the card. Has anyone done this? is it valid, totally free after you make a purchase? Can it be any purchase? I already have two chase cards, (one is the disney rewards chase card), don't need another but having 2 free rt flights sounds great, but too good to be true!. I haven't had time to investigate it much, but does anyone know if there is an annual fee at all? That wouldn't be good. If you have the card and got the flights, did everything work normally? Also, wondering, which would be faster, filling out the info or calling, and lets say I'm approved, by phone, can a I get a card# and book right away,(after making, say an online purchase at amazon or disney store, for example), or do i have to wait for it to come in mail?

thanks for any helpful information, i appreciate the help!

 

[DMRick]

On ours there was an annual fee of $69 (although my daughter got one offer where the fee was $99). Once we used it and got the points into our reward account, it was canceled. We actually got two..one in my name and one in my husbands name, and we each got 50,000 points. And we each paid $69. A real bargain. We have done this several times.Once, after my DH canceled, a few months later they sent a letter saying they missed him, and if he resigned up, they would not charge the first years fee, and give us enough for two free round trips. So he got it again, and then canceled. The gal asked him on the phone, if he only did it for the free tickets. He said, you bet.

You cannot book right away. You get the card in the mail, you make a purchase and pay off the card and it could take several weeks for the points to show up in your SW account.

 

[jocin3]

I did this (with the $99 fee) My points are in my account waiting for me to purchase tickets for this fall. Planning to cancel my card, just haven't gotten around to it yet (I use my Disney Rewards Chase card almost exclusively for points).

 

[pbinn310]

I did this (with the $99 fee) My points are in my account waiting for me to purchase tickets for this fall. Planning to cancel my card, just haven't gotten around to it yet (I use my Disney Rewards Chase card almost exclusively for points).

We did this several months ago also and got the 50,000 points..faster then i thought actually. All we did was purchase something at the store for $25 and the points were on our account the following billing cycle. We actually had enough points to get 3 tickets free because it was about 15000 each ticket round trip from phila. We needed 5 tickets, so i just purchased the other 2..was a real great savings for us. Tickets were $275 ea i think at the time.

 

[Disneycouple99]

We got 2 of them as well. We had enough points for 6 round trips flights.

 

[Minniekins]

Thanks for your answers and help! I'm going to apply now, and expect it will go fine. But, I worry if they turn me down, the prices for Dec that just came out will have gone up much higher. I guess if I get approved, it won't matter too much, the time spent waiting to get my card and points, since I won't be paying for the tickets when I'm then able to book. Does make me nervous waiting though, lol! Thanks again!

 

[nikkistevej]

We just did this, have had the card for a while. I applied for one for DH and me seperately. So we each had 50,000 points. I bought 3 tickets to WDW during Thanksgiving week for one way with his, and 3 tickets from WDW to home with mine. We each still have about 20,000 leftover. So I basically paid $15 for 3 roundtrip tickets to Disney for Thanksgiving week, can't beat that.

 

[DebbieB]

I had enough for 3 roundtrips. That reminds me, I have to cancel it because the fee will be coming up again.

 

[MissManda]

I also took the 50,000 points offer from Southwest. I applied online and was approved immediately. My card arrived a few days later. I made one purchase and my points showed up.

I used my 50,000 points to help buy 5 plane tickets (which we will be using this Saturday!!!). I ended up paying some out of pocket, but I fiddled with the numbers enough to get the most use out of my points and pay for less out of pocket (I purchased 1 flight to WDW and 5 flights home with points and paid for 4 flights to WDW. I think I ended up paying $400 OOP, which isn't bad for 5 people!).

For me it was worth the annual fee to save so much on the plane tickets. It was a huge budget saver. Now I'm debating to keep it and keep paying the annual fee (you get points each year as well) or cancel it. I've been really torn on this but I think that I'm going to keep the card. I sort of think of it as prepaying for a plane ticket (which is good if you plan on flying again soon).

 

[DISNEYNY]

I just did this promo too. Was accepted immediately & points showed up on my account very quickly - $69 annual fee. Does anyone know if you can get tickets for other people with these points or are the only for the card holder? With the old program I was able to get tickets for my kids with my points.

 

[MartyM]

I was just able to purchase both my flight (CC Holder and RR account holder) and the flight for my DBF with the points that were associated with my account. Seems to be no problem with purchasing flights for another person with these points.

 

[MissManda]

I just did this promo too. Was accepted immediately & points showed up on my account very quickly - $69 annual fee. Does anyone know if you can get tickets for other people with these points or are the only for the card holder? With the old program I was able to get tickets for my kids with my points.

I purchased 5 one way tickets (me, DH, niece and 2 nephews) with my points. I didn't have any problems at all doing so. We are all flying together. Whether or not you can use points to buy tickets for someone that you are not flying with, I'm not sure about that.

 

[DISNEYNY]

Thanks for the info - just what I wanted to hear!

 

[Minniekins]

wow, well maybe mine will go through quickly. i tried asking her if it's possible to get immediate acceptance and she said no, takes 10 to 15 days, several time she said, like reading from a script the way she said it which i'm sure she was. but maybe even though it wasn't immediate it will go quickly. six to eight weeks is way too long to wait to get approved, then buy something, then wait for points to be on card. i would think they'd lose people having to wait so long to be able to book flights! not sure where i got the six to eight time frame, i think i read it in the small print from the ad for the card on the website. i don't know if that is the same rules for being accepted as the one that you get a special email invite for - whats the point for a special invite with a specific invite number, that they verify when applying, if you can apply with the sames odds of acceptance on the sw site? I was thinking maybe the special invite to apply was closer to being approved or had been preapproved. oh, and this one is a $69 yearly fee. anyone know if they refund this if you cancel later?

Anyway, thanks for more answers! i'm just getting anxious, hate waiting to be accepted, worried the flights will all be booked if it takes too long, or if i get declined and have to buy outright and the prices will have skyrocketed. so far, since monday release, the flights from chicago to orlando that last week, 10 days before Xmas have stayed the same price.

 

[Minniekins]

also, anyone know if you can pay for a flight with points and with cash, or does it have to be all of one - either all points or all cash? thx!

 

[DebbieB]

also, anyone know if you can pay for a flight with points and with cash, or does it have to be all of one - either all points or all cash? thx!

Yes, it has to be one or the other for one ticket. I'm not sure if SW has a way to purchase points, I know the legacy airlines do.

 

[Disneycouple99]

Yes, it has to be one or the other for one ticket. I'm not sure if SW has a way to purchase points, I know the legacy airlines do.

They do. Starts at 2000 points for 50 dollars and goes up 25 dollars for every extra 1000 points.

 

[beatlesblonde]

I'm glad I saw this thread, DH and I are needing flights for both November and December and while we budgeted for them getting them for close to free is better. I just applied for a SW card and was immediately approved. So once I get the card I'll make a purchase and then we'll use the points to help offset the cost of our tickets. I also transfered the balance of an old card I don't use (the rewards for it were terrible) so I'll get points for the balance transfer as well. We only fly SW so this card makes way more sense to have even if we only use it for travel.

 

[mommy4]

My DH and I each got the card, so we had 100,000 points. I was able to book tickets for the 5 of us going and we still had points left over! I paid $24 total for 9/11 fees and then I paid the EBCI. A really great deal!!!

 

[ayoung526]

also, anyone know if you can pay for a flight with points and with cash, or does it have to be all of one - either all points or all cash? thx!

I think it has to be all points or all cash. However, I saw on the Southwest site that you can purchase extra points for a really reasonable amount. So, if you need a few more points you migh tlook at purchasing additional points and compare that cost with just purchasing the ticket. Good luck!

I was able to get 4 roundtrip tickets for our family for our Thanksgiving week trip and have points left over using my DH's and my points.