From May to October we will go on 5 trips with Southwest. This is due to being able to get a great deal using the Companion Pass. You may have heard of this before and I wrote about it previously as a powerful combo. Back then it was 110,000 points, but it has since been raised to 125,000. However, due to COVID they reduced it to 100,000 this year which made me think I could do it and since it is valid for the year earned plus the following I figured I would be traveling again.
Earning
I needed 100,000 miles, so of course a credit card was involved. I got the Southwest Priority card with the 60,000 bonus on $2k spend and an additional 20,000 on $10k total. After completing that spend I had 90,000 miles, so I needed 10,000 more within 15 days as I had already booked a trip and figured if I could get the points in time I could cancel one ticket and save the money.
So I went to the Rapid Rewards shopping portal and found things offering lots of points. Normally it is 1 to 4 points per dollar spent, so that would involve spending $2500+ which wouldn’t be a great deal. However, there are several subscriptions that offer over 1,000 points when you sign up. One was Motley Fool which offered 10,700, however that one often takes a month to post. I signed up for several food delivery boxes, a magazine subscription, and a wine club. Those all put me within 50 miles of getting the pass, so then I also signed up for the survey platform and did one survey which put me over the top! Then I canceled my flight and saved $200 and added myself as a companion to my wife. It was actually her that earned it.
Booking
Booking is straightforward. Go to the website, buy a ticket. Then once you have it you can add your companion. Our deal is even better since we have a child under 2 which means a lap infant, so buy one get two free! Since Southwest doesn’t have assigned seating, our child often gets a seat as well.
I made this deal even better by using Southwest free change policy. Yes, regularly you can change your flight and just pay the difference in price. This along with 2 free bags makes Southwest one of the most generous airlines. However, during various periods this year they were even allowing free flight changes within 30 days of your original one for NO FEE. It was even crazier because they would allow any airport in the zone. So what we did was find a cheap ticket within 30 days and then use the free change to the flight we wanted. For instance, you could book LAX to BWI for $99 and then change it to LGB to DCA for free even if that would have cost $300.
As a result, we’ve probably received $1500 in flights for 40,000 points, then received $1500 free via the companion pass. Over $3,000 in sign up bonus is phenomenal, and we still have points to spare.