We Love Flying FREE

[dakotix]

We have been flying for free, or close to it since 2013. We use the points earned from our Southwest Premier credit card. We got the card and at that time the bonus points they gave you for opening a card (and spending $3000 in the first few months) was 50,000 points. We flew on those points for about 2 or 3 years and then had to depend on points we earned through using the card to earn points. It's been a pretty handy thing to have. Now we don't use credit cards as much as we used to so the points on that card are lingering.

The good news is Southwest offers two different cards that give you bonus points. Just in time for our trip next spring we'll be opening a Southwest Plus credit card. It offers 40,000 bonus points. There's three of us now so the points won't last as long before but we should be able to get a couple trips out it.

I'm curious to see how others beat the airlines at their own game?

 

[ajlsjl]

Southwest loyalist here.

 

[MEM]

I have had the SW Plus and Premier for several years with DH as an authorized user. Then this past Winter we decided to get him his own Plus and Premier cards. With the promotion we earned 110,000 points which also earned us a Companion Pass (CP) that expires December 2019! I learned about this on the "I Love Credit Cards So Much!" thread. Our son travels everywhere with us as he is disabled and our daughter has her own life now. We assigned the CP to our son. 110,000 points sounds like a lot but we have already used 60,000 of them. Still, having the CP means less out of pocket once our points are used up.

 

[tasha99]

We like JetBlue, but it doesn't fly everywhere we like to go, so in addition to their card, we have a Chase Sapphire card that gives points that can be used on many airlines.

 

[gottalovepluto]

PS the same person who holds the Premier cannot open the Plus. Chase changed the rules recently to only 1 personal Southwest card per person.

 

[wendow]

We've been playing the SW credit card game since about 2010 and flying free (or almost) every year since We are a family of six so the points don't quite cover us all. I usually buy one seat and the other five are free!

And @gottalovepluto is right. No more applying for both the Premier and the Plus for the same person. However, you can hold the SW business card and either the premier or the plus. That is the plan for my dh at the end of this year.

 

[leebee]

We've been playing the SW credit card game since about 2010 and flying free (or almost) every year since We are a family of six so the points don't quite cover us all. I usually buy one seat and the other five are free!

And @gottalovepluto is right. No more applying for both the Premier and the Plus for the same person. However, you can hold the SW business card and either the premier or the plus. That is the plan for my dh at the end of this year.

Good to know... well, not really good as we are ready to churn the SW cards for points and a companion pass, but we'll be OK with a regular card and a business card. Just waiting for January...

 

[LYSE]

We fly American but not because it's our favorite, it's because they have the most flights out of PHX and we can transfer points into Avios for American flights

We could transfer some of our Chase UR points to southwest but that always requires more than using Avios (transferred either from Chase UR or Amex MR) we also like redeeming for First when available and southwest is 100 percent cattle class.

 

[hsmamato2]

SWA is the best. And a CP.... unbeatable deal. And I plan to get it for the 4th time(so 8th year running) in January. I too like free flights!

 

[ClapYourHands]

American, but that’s because DH travels quite a bit for business, so we need the reach of a legacy carrier with extensive domestic and international routes. He collects points when he flies on partner airlines. We also go to Europe as a family about once a year.

If we were just looking for the cheapest way to get to vacation destinations in the US, we’s likely try building points with Southwest. But Southwest can’t get DH to Singapore or the family to London.

When I fly with just the kids to Orlando by myself, I go with whichever airline has the best rates coupled with times that work for us. I don’t mind these short basic flights, but getting upgrades and access to the Admirals Club when we’re with DH = a more enjoyable experience.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Good to know... well, not really good as we are ready to churn the SW cards for points and a companion pass, but we'll be OK with a regular card and a business card. Just waiting for January...

Why not get the card in Nov or Dec. We did this and used it for Christmas purchases and qualified for the CP at the end of Jan giving us 23 months to use the CP