{"id":6263,"date":"2015-04-20T07:05:51","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T13:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=6263"},"modified":"2015-07-23T17:04:55","modified_gmt":"2015-07-23T23:04:55","slug":"50k-miles-southwest-get-getting-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/?p=6263","title":{"rendered":"50k Miles on Southwest: Get While the Getting is Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

“The only constant is change.”\u00a0<\/em>It can certainly be said of credit card travel rewards. \u00a0Over the past four years we’ve seen mergers like Continental and United, AirTran and Southwest, and US Airways and American. We’ve seen discontinuations and devaluations, but we’ve also seen big promotions and exciting new offerings.<\/p>\n

One good rule of thumb is that you always get while the getting is good – it’s exactly why we went on a binge, telling everyone to take advantage of the US Airways card before it disappeared. \u00a0When offers are on the verge of discontinuation, it just makes sense to make it a priority to act on those before acting on others.<\/p>\n

That’s exactly why right now we’ve got to tell you to pick up the Chase\u00a0Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards\u00ae<\/sup> Premier Card<\/a>\u00a0while it’s still offering 50k Rapid Rewards points and before it’s no longer a Chase card.<\/p>\n

How is it changing?<\/h2>\n

This story<\/a> indicates that Southwest is considering replacing Chase as their partner in offering a travel rewards credit card. \u00a0While it’s a little early to say that it’s absolutely happening, even the fact that it’s being considered is reason to act sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n

While I’m no expert, I believe that Southwest’s partnership with a travel rewards program is too lucrative to be discontinued or changed to a significant degree. \u00a0The best thing is that wherever it lands, there’ll be more opportunities to earn more points to travel even more almost-freely on SWA.<\/p>\n

The Southwest Companion Pass<\/h2>\n

We’ve written before about the Southwest Companion Pass – a great perk which I’ve been enjoying for a year and a half now. It allows me to bring a companion along for free on any flight I book – whether I pay with points or cash. \u00a0It’s a huge benefit and probably the major reason why many people decide to allocate a majority of their spending to the Southwest cards.<\/p>\n

In early March, I brought my son to Washington DC to spend some one-on-one time and tour the nation’s capitol. \u00a0I booked our flights for 23k points – into Dulles and out of Norfolk. We stayed 5 nights in free hotels and did a variation of the Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia tour<\/a> that I blogged about a few months ago.<\/p>\n

Here’s a sampling of our activities:<\/p>\n

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Why Southwest is the Best Airline for Domestic Award Booking<\/h2>\n

Of all the domestic flight programs, I see Southwest as easily the best – so long as they service your hometown airport. \u00a0One key reason is that you can always ensure that you get maximum point-effciency by booking and re-booking flights when they are offered at a lower rate.<\/p>\n

Whenever I book a SW flight with points, I check back in periodically to see if I can get the same flight or a better flight for a lower rate. \u00a0Because Southwest bookings are always change-fee-free, I can constantly be looking for the best value. \u00a0More than once I’ve shaved 3000+ points off a flight, and when you have more than one ticket booked, you’re talking about some serious point-saving.<\/p>\n

The Offer as it Stands<\/h2>\n

Apply for the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards\u00ae<\/sup> Premier Card<\/a>1<\/sup> and get ready to get away. You’ll earn\u00a050,000 bonus points after you spend $2,000 on purchases in your first 3 months your account is open.<\/strong><\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This bonus offer is available to you as long as you have not received a new cardmember bonus for this product in the past 24 months.<\/p>\n

$99 annual fee will be applied to your first billing statement.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Other Posts About Southwest<\/h2>\n

Over the years we have written much about the SW Rapid Rewards program. \u00a0Most of it is still applicable today. \u00a0As with any topic you’re interested in researching on our blog, you can find all the posts on a specific topic through the categories dropdown in the right sidebar.<\/p>\n

For ease, though, here are some of our best posts about the Southwest Rapid Rewards program:<\/p>\n

How I just booked tickets for 4 to Orlando for $30<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n
A Trip Every Month for Two Years with the Southwest Companion Pass<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n
5 Ways to Maximize your Business Travel Rewards<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n
LDS Church History Tour: Free Flights and Free Hotels<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n
Southwest 50,000 Rapid Rewards Points: Your Ticket to a Multi-Destination Tour<\/a><\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The only constant is change.”\u00a0It can certainly be said of credit card travel rewards. \u00a0Over the past four years we’ve seen mergers like Continental and United, AirTran and Southwest, and US Airways and American. We’ve seen discontinuations and devaluations, but … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6266,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22],"tags":[1835,1834,336,1536,687,1833,1258],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_1214-e1429502308825.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1DhXV-1D1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldwanderlusting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}