Why The Current Southwest Airlines Credit Card Offer Is The Best One For Families

Some of you who have been long-time readers have commented on how you don’t listen to podcasts.  You’ve commented how sometimes I miss covering the best travel deals on the blog because I already covered them on the podcast.  Well, today we’re going to try to kill two birds with one stone.  For clarity, I receive absolutely nothing if you apply for these cards.  I just think this is an offer every family should be considering.

Southwest Airlines and their co-branded credit card partner, Chase, announced an offer a couple of weeks ago that is probably the best offer I’ve ever seen for a regular family.  I do a fair amount of travel hacking and I’ve got a bunch of work travel and expenses that help me generate miles and points.  Many families don’t have those resources.  Normally, it would take generating 110,000 points to earn a Southwest Companion Pass, what I regard as the single best travel benefit out there, especially for families.  Right now, all you need to do is apply for one credit card, hit the minimum spend and you’ll earn a Companion Pass until the end of 2019.

My go-to expert on Southwest Airlines (and the Companion Pass) is Jen from Deals We Like.  She was my guest this week on my podcast, Miles To Go.  We spent 20 minutes discussing this offer, including strategies on how to get the companion pass through the end of 2020.

For those that don’t like podcasts, here’s the skinny (and, I sure hope you’ll give my podcast a try):

• Once you apply for a Southwest credit card, you’ll need to spend $4,000 points to earn the Companion Pass.
• For the remainder of 2019, you’ll be able to bring someone along with you as a companion, essentially for free.  You’ll need to pay a small security fee and, for some international flights, some taxes.
• Your companion is free whether you pay cash or use points for your ticket.  You can use the 30,000 point sign-up bonus for the Southwest credit card to help pay for a few flights and still get a free companion.
• There are 3 different card offers right now.  Jen does a great job breaking down the differences between the cards so you can pick the right one.

The Final Two Pennies

This credit card offer really hits home for the average family.  Let’s say that you take 3 trips this year, and that each ticket costs $250.  That’s a pretty conservative estimate, in my humble opinion. Getting 3 free companion tickets for a total savings of $750.  You can absolutely do better than that.  But, that’s a pretty good value just for signing up for a credit card.

Families need to take advantage of special offers that come along which don’t require huge amounts of spending. Southwest has pitched the perfect offer to save you a bunch of money in 2019.  And, they should be announcing the start of Hawaii service soon.  So, you might just be able to turn that credit card sign-up into a dream Hawaii vacation.

And, if you do like the podcast…..

Where Can I Find The Podcast?

You can subscribe through the Apple Podcasts App and find it a bunch of other places as well:

Google Play

Stitcher

Miles to Go Website

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And, I hope you’ll check out my podcast, Miles To Go.  We cover the latest travel news, tips and tricks every week so you can save money while you travel better.  From Disney to Dubai, San Francisco to Sydney, American Airlines to WestJet, we’ve got you covered!