Earn Up To 75K Southwest Points On 5 Southwest Cards! The Perfect Time To Earn A Companion Pass!

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Originally posted on 1/9/20:

Limited time card signup bonuses:

For a limited time only, you can earn a higher signup bonus on Southwest cards. Note that you can only have one open Southwest consumer card at a time, but you can have each of the business cards open at the same time.

• The Chase Southwest Consumer Priority card has a signup bonus of 40K Southwest points for spending $1,000 in 3 months plus another 35K bonus points for spending another $4,000 in 6 months.
  • The card offers some amazing benefits for Southwest loyalists including 4 annual A1-A15 boarding upgrade certificates, $75 in annual Southwest travel credit, 7.5K Southwest points upon every card anniversary, 20% off in-flight purchases, and the ability to earn tier points towards A-List status. $149 annual fee.

• The Chase Southwest Consumer Premier card has a signup bonus of 40K Southwest points for spending $1,000 in 3 months plus another 35K bonus points for spending another $4,000 in 6 months.
  • The card offers 6,000 points every card anniversary, and has no foreign transaction fees. $99 annual fee.

• The Chase Southwest Consumer Plus card has a signup bonus of 40K Southwest points for spending $1,000 in 3 months plus another 35K bonus points for spending another $4,000 in 6 months.
  • The card offers 3,000 points every card anniversary. $69 annual fee.

• The Ink Business Cash® Credit Card business card has a signup bonus of 50K Ultimate Rewards points for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
  • You can earn 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent by buying Southwest gift cards on Staples.com or at an office supply store.

• The Chase Southwest Performance Business Credit Card has a signup bonus of 70K Southwest points for spending $5,000 in 3 months.
  • The card offers some amazing benefits for Southwest loyalists including 4 annual A1-A15 boarding upgrade certificates, 9K Southwest points upon every card anniversary, 365 free Wi-Fi passes annually, and the ability to earn tier points towards A-List status. $199 annual fee.

• The Chase Southwest Business Premier card has a signup bonus of 60K Southwest points for spending $3,000 in 3 months.
  • The card offers 6,000 points every card anniversary, and has no foreign transaction fees. $99 annual fee.

Comparison chart:

Welcome bonus terms:

You can only have one active Southwest consumer card, but you can have each of the Southwest business cards.

Consumer cards: You can get the bonus as long as you don’t have an active Southwest consumer card and haven’t received a Southwest consumer card bonus in the past 24 months.

Business cards: You can get the bonus as long as you don’t have the exact same business card active and you haven’t received a bonus on the exact same business card in the past 24 months.

5/24:

All Chase cards appear are subject to 5/24 restrictions, meaning that you are not likely to be approved if you have been approved for 5 or more consumer credit cards in the past 24 months. Note that the Chase system automatically counts cards like authorized user cards and store cards as cards that count towards 5/24, but if you explain to Chase that those cards are merely authorized user cards or store cards they can manually approve you for a new card.

The business cards won’t add to your count of 5/24 counts.

You can check your credit report for free at the federally authorized annualcreditreport.com to check how many accounts are shows as being open in the past 24 months.

Value of Southwest points:

The value of Southwest points is variable based on the paid fare.

If you’ll redeem points for an average of 1.6 cents each, that makes a 75K signup bonus worth $1,200. If you qualify for a companion pass that number can double to a whopping $2,400 signup bonus.

Plus each Southwest cards comes with anniversary bonus points!

For example:

• A one-way Honolulu-Kauai nonstop flight on 2/25 is $28.90 with tax. It can also be bought for 1,379 points plus $5.60 tax. So 1,379 points gets you a value of $23.30 ($28.90 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.69 cents (23.30/1,379) per point.
• A one-way Los Angeles-San Francisco nonstop flight on 3/10 is $38.99 with tax. It can also be bought for 1,784 points plus $5.60 tax. So 1,784 points gets you a value of $33.39 ($38.99 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.87 cents (33.39/1,784) per point.
• A one-way LaGuardia-New Orleans nonstop flight on 2/23 is $58.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 3,235 points plus $5.60 tax. So 3,235 points gets you a value of $53.38 ($58.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.65 cents (53.38/3,235) per point.
• A one-way LaGuardia-Denver nonstop flight on 2/25 is $68.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 3,961 points plus $5.60 tax. So 3,961 points gets you a value of $63.38 ($68.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.6 cents (63.38/3,961) per point.
• A one-way Philadelphia-Orlando nonstop flight on 2/16 is $71.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 4,178 points plus $5.60 tax. So 4,178 points gets you a value of $66.38 ($71.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.59 cents (66.38/4,178) per point.
• A one-way LaGuardia-Chicago nonstop flight on 3/9 is $71.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 4,178 points plus $5.60 tax. So 4,178 points gets you a value of $66.38 ($71.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.59 cents (66.38/4,178) per point.
• A one-way Philadelphia-Fort Lauderdale nonstop flight on 2/23 is $76.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 4,541 points plus $5.60 tax. So 4,541 points gets you a value of $71.38 ($76.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.57 cents (71.38/4,541) per point.
• A one-way LaGuardia-Houston nonstop flight on 2/10 is $98.98 with tax. It can also be bought for 6,138 points plus $5.60 tax. So 6,138 points gets you a value of $93.38 ($98.98 airfare less the $5.60 tax on the points ticket), imputing a value of 1.52 cents (93.38/6,138) per point.

Annual travel credit:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority card you’ll get reimbursed for $75 in annual spending on Southwest flights!

Upgraded boarding certificates:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority Card or the Southwest Performance Business Card you’ll get reimbursed for 4 annual purchases of upgraded A1-A15 boarding positions so that you can get some of the best seats on the plane.  Upgraded boardings may be purchased at the departure gate or ticket counter on the day of travel. These cost $30-$50, so this is a benefit worth up to $200 per year.

20% cash back on in-flight purchases:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority Card you’ll get 20% cash back on top of points for purchases of drinks and Wi-Fi on Southwest flights!

Inflight WiFi Credit: 

If you have the Southwest Performance Business Card you’ll receive a statement credit equal to $8 Southwest WiFi charge on up to 365 charges per year! That will let you connect all of your family’s devices when you fly Southwest so that you can save a bundle!

Global Entry/Pre-Check credit:

If you have the Southwest Performance Business Card you’ll get reimbursed for Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership. You can get reimbursed for those fees ($85 for Pre-Check or $100 for Global Entry and Pre-Check) every 4 years. Membership lasts for 5 years, so you will be able to renew before your membership lapses. Global Entry/Pre-Check make flying so much easier and its great to see more cards add this benefit as I can get Global Entry and Pre-Check for free for my entire family that way!

A-List Status:

If you have the Southwest Consumer Priority Card or the Southwest Performance Business Card  you can earn 1,500 tier points towards A-List status for every $10,000 spent. You can earn a maximum of 15,000 tier points annually per card. You can learn more about A-List status here.

Free changes and cancellations. Lock in low fares with no penalty:

While other mileage currencies charge up to $200 to cancel an award ticket, Southwest continues to allow you to cancel an award flight and redeposit the points in your account for future use without any penalties.

Coupled with 2 free carry-ons and 2 free checked bags per person, that’s a lot of added value. A family of 4 needing to cancel award tickets on another airline would set you back $400-$800 versus it being a free change on Southwest. A family of 4 checking 2 bags each would run $560 round-trip on another airline versus paying nothing on Southwest.

Thinking of taking a trip but not 100% sure about it? With Southwest points you can lock in a good rate and just cancel the trip free of charge at any point before the flight if you can’t make it!

You can use the points for yourself or book award tickets for anyone else you want to give a ticket to.

Southwest allows you to redeem points for any seat on any flight. There are no blackout dates or capacity controls.

When Southwest has a fare sale the amount of points go on sale as well as it tracks to the price of the ticket. Best of all Southwest will refund your points if the price of your award ticket falls!  Just rebook your trip online for the same dates or give them a call for the credit.

Southwest points will never expire as long as you earn points every 24 months.

Don’t fly? Redeem for gift cards!

You can also use 60,000 points to get $600 worth of gift cards or 80K points to get $800 worth of gift cards to places like Alamo, Amazon, Avis, Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Bloomingdales, Brooks Brothers, Budget, Carnival Cruises, Express, Fairmont, Gap, Hertz, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, Macy’s, National, Nike, Saks, Sea World, Shutterfly, Staples, Starbucks, Target, The Children’s Place, TJMaxx, Walmart, Zappos and more.

Companion pass:

You can get a free companion pass if you earn 125,000 points in a calendar year from select sources, including earnings from credit card signups and credit card spending!

You can earn the pass just by opening one consumer card and one business card and meeting the spend threshold!

If you earn 125,000 Southwest points in 2020 the pass will be good until 12/31/21. The pass allows you to bring a companion with you for free whenever you fly Southwest, including Hawaii, even if you are flying on a free ticket! That effectively doubles the value of your Southwest points. There is no limit to the number of free companion flights that you can take.

Earning the pass in the beginning of a calendar maximizes its validity as it’s good through the end of the following calendar year.

You can designate a companion and change that companion up to 3 times in a calendar year, so you can name up to 4 companions over the course of a year.

You can have one consumer Southwest card and both business Southwest cards.

Transfer Chase Points To Southwest to maximize the value of your Companion Pass:

You can transfer points from the following Chase cards to Southwest at a 1:1 ratio. You can redeem those Southwest points and bring a companion with you for free, doubling the value of your points!

Chase premium cards with transferable points:

• Chase Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card® Card
  • $95 annual fee, 60K points signup bonus, earn 2 points per dollar on dining/travel, 25% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions.
• Chase Ink Business Preferred
  • $95 annual fee, 80K points signup bonus, earn 3 points per dollar on select business spending and travel, 25% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions.

• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
  • $450 annual fee (going up to $550 for applications as of 1/12), $300 in annual travel credit, 50K points signup bonus, $60 annual Doordash credit, Doordash Dashpass membership, Lyft Pink membership, earn 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, 10 points per dollar on Lyft, 50% bonus value on using points for paid travel redemptions, Global Entry/Pre-check, Priority Pass lounge access.

Chase no annual fee cards with transferable points if you, a spouse, or an additional user have one of the premium cards above:

• Chase Freedom Card
  • No annual fee, 15K points signup bonus, earn 5 points per dollar in rotating categories.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited® Card
  • No annual fee, earn 3 points per dollar everywhere on up to $20K in spending during your first year, then earn 1.5 points per dollar everywhere.
• Chase Ink Business Unlimited Card
  • No annual fee, 50K points signup bonus, earn 1.5 points per dollar everywhere.
• Chase Ink Business Cash Card
  • No annual fee, 50K points signup bonus, earn up to 5 points per dollar.

Cash back on top of points

Chase business cards in the chart above are eligible for additional cash back via Visa Savings Edge. That means you can get points plus 2% cash back at Chevron, Sheetz, AutoZone, or Texaco. You’ll earn points plus 3% cash back at Boost Mobile. You’ll earn points plus 4% cash back at Alamo, National, and MGM hotels. You’ll earn points plus 5% cash back at Lenovo and Wyndham hotels.

Business card information, benefits, and 5/24

3 of the cards in the chart above are business cards, but you may already have a business that needs a card to keep track of expenses. For example if your name is Joe Smith and you sell items online, or if you have any other side business and want a credit card to better keep track of business expenditures you can open a business credit card for “Joe Smith” as the business. You don’t need to file any messy government paperwork to be allowed to do that. Just be sure to select “Sole Proprietorship” as the business type and just use your social security number in the Tax Identification Number field.

It’s important to just write your own name as the business name if you are just applying for your own small business as a Sole Proprietorship that doesn’t have any business paperwork.

All of the cards in this post are subject to 5/24 restrictions. However, it’s important to note that business cards from most banks, including Chase business cards, do not get added to your 5/24 count of recently opened cards. That’s because business cards from most banks don’t show up on your personal credit report and the 5/24 count is based off of your personal credit report.

Another benefit of business cards not reporting on your personal credit report is that your credit score won’t be hurt when you spend money on your cards. When you spend money on personal cards your score will be hurt even if you pay your bill on time. That’s because a whopping 30% of your credit score is based on credit utilization, so you lose lots of points even if you pay your bills before the statement due date. You can pay off your credit card bill before your statement close date to avoid that, but that takes effort and laying out money well before you have to. Additionally it’s good to have the statement close with a couple dollars to show the card is active and being paid every month. On business cards from banks like AMEX and Chase the spending is not reported on your personal credit report, so you can wait until the money is due without it having a negative effect on your score. That also means if you close the card, it won’t have an effect on your credit score.

As always, Southwest benefits include:

• 2 free checked bags per passenger.
• Free in-flight messaging.
• Free in-flight streaming entertainment, including movies, live TV, on-demand TV, music, destination guides, and games.
• No change fees to switch your flight. Whether you are on a paid or an award flight you can change without penalty!
• No cancellation fee to cancel your flight (you will get Southwest credit for the full amount paid, even on non-refundable wanna get away fares) or to cancel and redeposit your award flight.
• A refund of the fare or point difference if the price of your flight goes downafter you buy it, just call to get the credit at any time before your flight!

Will you signup for any Southwest cards?