Their is currently a “limited time” 50,000 point bonus for the Southwest and 32 bonus credits for the AirTran credit cards, however, I do not know the exact end date of these two promotions.
Since I’ve posted on both these cards in the past few weeks, I will not go into too much detail, but to quickly recap:
AirTran:
- 32 AirTran credit bonus (which equals 2 roundtrip flights or 4 one-ways) when signing up for their credit card after spending $2,000 in the first 3 months; $69 annual fee
- AirTran credits transfer to Southwest at a 1:1 rate, so this can also be used for 2 free Southwest flights (or 4 one-ways) and can also use your companion ticket for these reservations (although transfered credits DO NOT count towards earning the companion ticket)
- Prior blog post detailing out this offer
Southwest:
- 50,000 Southwest bonus points after you spend $2,000 in the first 3 months; $69 or $99 annual fee depending on card
- You can apply for one personal card and one business card and earn a total of 100,000 bonus points, which is only 10,000 points shy of the amount needed to earn an unlimited companion pass (if you earn the points the beginning of 2013, the companion pass will be good until the end of 2014!)
- There are two different cards that give pretty much the same benefits, just have different annual fees and different yearly renew bonuses: 1) Plus card personal and business is a $69 annual fee and gives 3,000 bonus points after your first anniversary and thereafter (worth $50 of Southwest travel); 2) Premier card personal and business is a $99 annual fee and gives 6,000 bonus points after your first anniversary and thereafter (worth $100 of Southwest travel)
- Prior blog post detailing out this offer
I personally have both the Southwest personal and business credit card. I applied for them a year ago and strategically didn’t have the points post until January 2012. I then quickly got another 10,000 points posted to my account by spending $10k on my card and re-qualified for my companion pass until December 2013. I have used it MANY times to fly Mr. Deals with me for FREE. Additionally, I received $1,666 worth of points by applying for both of these cards and am able to use my companion pass even with free point tickets. I have had the Southwest companion pass for about 4 years now and have saved thousands of dollars with it! Remember, it has UNLIMITED usage and you can change your companion 3 times per year. If you didn’t realize by now, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my companion pass!
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
My wife applied for the Southwest personal card and used my frquent flyer number to associte with the card. I applied for the business card. Will Southwest attempt to give her a frquent flyer number to associate with the card? If so, I would have to change the business card frquent flyer number to her number.
Do you mean that just the bonuses for now are going away or the cards are going to be gone completely?
@Ryan K – Just the bonuses are going away, the cards will absolutely still be around. My guess is that the offers will be cut in half (25,000 points for Southwest and 16 credits for AirTran)
I’m wondering – should you not even START charging anything to meet the spend requirement until January 1? So that every dollar you spend goes toward the companion pass? Thanks
@jo – It depends on when you want to start using your companion pass or when you can put the spend on the card. If you can do it all January 1 then that is absolutely the best strategy.
@Jo – absolutely! That is what I did last year. I waited until January 1st to even activate my card (although you don’t need to wait) and then put the minimum spend on my card at the beginning of january so the dollars spent counted towards the companion pass starting that year. So if you wait until January 1st, put $2,000 on your card, you’ll get 2,000 points towards earning the 2013 companion pass which is good until December 31, 2014.
dealswelike, I was also wonder what Jo asked. Put another way, if I spend $1900 on each card before 12/31, and $100 on each card on 1/1/13, I get that I’d get the 50K bonuses x2 in early 2013. But will the points from the $1900 x2 spend also apply toward the companion pass? Or are those points “earned” in 2012 still?
@Dave – The 50k points will hit once you fulfill the entire minimum spend. So according to your example, if you spend $1900 in December, those points (1900 points –> 1 point per dollar spent) will hit a few days after your December statement closes. If you then spend $100 on 1/1/13, those points (100 points) will hit a few days after that statement along with the entire 50k bonus points.
For the $1,900 spent, it depends on when your statement closes. If it closes 12/15, for example, they will post a few days afterwards, so will count towards 2012 companion pass. If it closes 1/2, for example, they will post a few days after that, so will count towards 2013 companion pass.
Does that help?
I believe it depends on your statement closing date, but I will wait for response from dealswelike as well.
@angel – That is correct. It all depends on the statement closing date. Chase will typically allow you to change this closing date as well, but might take a few billing cycles.
I just applied for the business card & the personal card w/ Chase Southwest. The ones with the 3,000 anniversary bonus (the plus not premier). However, I didn’t realize until after I had been approved for both that the personal card was just a bonus of 25,000 points! What should I do? I never sign up for cards with just a bonus of 25,000 points! I wish I had been more careful. You think I could call and get it the 50,000 bonus? The number I’m planning on calling is: 1-800-792-0001. I won’t be able to make this phone call until later today. I hope it won’t be too late. Also I felt a little shady signing up for a business card and not technically being a business owner. I had never done that before. Is this ok with Chase?
@Daniel – When did you apply for the cards? On December 6th, the bonuses should have been 50k points. Did you call, any success? You need to do what you feel comfortable with in regards to signing up for a business card and not being a business owner, but from personal experience and the experience of many others, yes you can sign up. You will probably need to call the reconsideration line however and they will ask you some questions about your business.
Which combo of the southwest cards do you have? I have the personal Plus right now. If I sign up for the business Plus, will I also get the bonus on that card? Or does it have to be personal Plus and business Premier?
@Al – I have the personal plus and business plus. You can get the sign up bonus for both. However, keep in mind that the offer went down to 25k points.
Seems like this link still works: https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/southwest/radio
Hi- i applied for the personal and got the 50k offer last week. I just went back to apply for the business and the offer code is gone:( Does anyone know how to get the 50K or when it will come back?
@leyla – The plus card still has an active 50k offer. I’ll update the links in the next day. Sorry about that.
Also – if my fiancée applies but puts my RR# down instead of his will i get the points?
really – that’s amazing? I googled it and cannot find it anywhere – i called and they told me if ended march 28th:( Do you know if my fiancée opened one with my RR# – will i get the points?
@leyla – Alright, seems like those 50k offer links have been taken down as well. They stayed around for a few days after the promotion ended, but is currently dead. If I find anything else, I’ll be sure to post. I am not sure about putting your RR # on another credit card account. Hmm….
Thanks so much for all of your help. So sad:( Do you know if that offer normally comes around a couple of a year or just annually?
@leyla – in the past it has come around a couple times during the year.