UPDATE: The BoardingArea.com site was having some issues over the weekend and today, so I am extending the giveaway until tomorrow night, Tuesday January 21 at 11:59pm EST. If you haven’t entered yet, go ahead and enter!
As you are all probably aware, the Southwest Airlines 50,000 point credit card offer after meeting the minimum spend requirement is back – THIS OFFER HAS EXPIRED. By now, you are also probably well aware that the 50,000 points earned counts towards the 110,000 points needed to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. I personally went the credit card route to get the companion pass for 2012 and 2013, but a more non-conventional method for 2014 and 2015 (which I describe here).
Last week I listed some ways to earn the companion pass in addition to the credit card route. While I listed out a bunch of ways, I thought it would be fun to see how my readers have gone about earning the Southwest Companion Pass. This will also help other readers who are thinking about their strategy for getting the companion pass.
How to enter the giveaway:
Comment on THIS BLOG POST by end of day Sunday, January 19 at 11:59pm EST with the most creative way you earned the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass. I will give away two $100 Southwest Airlines gift cards to a randomly selected winner to use on a future flight.
Comment away!
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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.
All 110k in spend
I applied for the Personal Southwest card for myself, and the Business as well. The total Rapid Rewards points provided were 100,000. Additional spending provided all I needed to get the companion pass. While not that creative, it was very effective and easy. Thanks to your blog for the instructions!
Awesome! Love the sw card and cp!
I just earned the companion pass last week and now I can use it for the rest of of 2014 and all of 2015. 23.5 months. How’s that for timing?
50k to start and flying for the rest.
I got both of personal SW cards. I was able to hit the 10k spend on work travel and an unexpected hip replacement for my dog. Now I’m just waiting on my miles to post so I can collect my companion pass. Thanks for the advice! I’m looking forward to some weekend trips with my wife.
Sorry – I’m boring. Just using it with the business and personal credit cards and spend…
Cards, hotel point transfers and spend spend spend.
I will officially earn my pass next week and I did so by sending $4000 in Amazon Payments ($2000 end of Dec, $2000 beg of Jan), $2500 in Vanilla Reloads, 1800 by Transfering Choice Hotel Points, and the remaining by paying all of my families and my own Monthly Bills.
Got a personal and a business card. Finished off by transferring ultimate rewards points to Hyatt and then to SWA.
My husband earned his by applying for 2 cc and then buying marriott rewards points and transferring them. Since we have a family of four that almost always travels together, we would pay for my husbands ticket, book myself as the companion, and put both boys on award tickets. My husband continued to earn points and this allowed us to stretch our points out to cover the two years worth of flights. Paying for one ticket to fly four people was great!
After applying for two Southwest credit cards in 2012 and received 100,000 points, I needed the extra 10,000 points for the companion pass.
I bought Wyndham points through the US Travel Association Daily Getaway deal that year and then transferred them to Southwest. Ended up getting the pass for around $250.
Haven’t earned one yet, but 2014 may be my year!
The sign up bonus for one card, regular spending, and Vanilla Reloads!
I’m close to 110k this year. My first SW CC! I’m using a mix of a 50K sign-up, transferring some hotel points and a bit of wash-rinse-repeat with the SW shopping portal.
Signed up for 2 credit cards (1 biz, 1 personal). Bought lots almost 3k worth of gift cards and the rest was from regular spending just put on the card.
Took 2 months and got 110k points.
Good for almost 2 years! Wish they would expand to Hawaii!
I signed my wife up for 2x 50k offer credit cards, spent a lot of money on them, and got to fly for free everywhere afterwards for 2 years!
One personal card, one business card, a little spend and the rest a transfer from Club Carlson which I got most of my points through their huge promos a couple years ago.
I prepaid as much as I could for the new year, like camps & after school classes, as well as health insurance premiums. Made up the rest with a combination of Vanilla Reloads & Amazon Payments.
I purchased 2 cars on the Southwest card to meet minimum spend!
1 personal cc + 1 business cc + marriott transfers for the rest
I got one personal and one business card for 106k after spending then transferred some Marriott points in to get me the last bit.
Personal and business cards with a combination of flying, ms, spending, and getting points for hotels and car rentals.
used the CC to buy a house
Did something similar, WN Chase cards x 2, then covered everything for a bachelor party weekend in Vegas to put me over!
Just spending money
Paid for expenses related to our wedding, and then used the earned Companion Pass to save on our travel costs for the honeymoon!
Working for a company that books all of our flights on Southwest days in advance – all Business Select fares!
Flying back and forth between Reno and Vegas WAY too much!
I applied for both versions of the card, then elected to have Southwest as my airline of choice for my Amex Platinum card for more free flying and mileage accrual!
Nothing fancy here. I just fly SWA tons and spend some on the credit card. I’ve had a companion pass every year for years. Now for a companion!
I got one personal and one business card for 106k after spending to meet minimums then some more spending. Easy!
This is my first travel hack! I got the personal and biz SW cards; got another 5k by upgrading a computer, signing up for e-rewards, and going wild at a grocery store closing, everything 50% off sale; applied for the Marriott rewards card to get a bonus to transfer over to SW which will put me over the top! *Mic Drop*
Using the card
SWA for Vanilla at CVS…Vanilla for Bluebird…Bluebird for nearly everything.
To get both SW personal and business cards, and then buy “ice cream” for the rest. Thanks.
Mostly spend, with a few work flights. Should have tried for more work flights, less spend, right?
To round out my 110k (I had ~104k from 2 cards + spending), I transferred some UR to Hyatt and then on to Southwest. Plus some eMiles and eRewards and now me and my gf are flying super cheap all over the US.
Bought Marriott GC during a promo when it gave SW miles.
My wife got the 50K personal and business card combo. For the last 6K or so (after required spend), I saved up redemptions from both of us in e-miles, e-rewards, The Whiteboard, etc., and managed to get all of those posted by about January 15th to give us two full years of the CP.
I used the personal and business cards plus to MS to top me off at 110. Best investment ever.
A very boring approach but Personal + Business cards + Spend = Companion Pass
Bonus + spend from two personal cards, plus some flying… though I did get a merchant to refund a (large) prior purchase and then charge it onto a SW card to ensure that I made the minimum spend in time for miles to post in 2013.
Applied for both personal cards in November, hit the $2k mark on Jan 4 🙂 Finished off the remaining 6000 pts with a transfer from Choice Hotels, and now my wife and I will be American Travelers for the next 2 years!
I took the easy way out and got the two credit cards, and hit the threshold with $10k in spending. Nothing too creative, but it got the job done 🙂
Just spending money on my personnel card
Bought choice hotel points at daily deals and transferred to SouthWest RR for top up to 110K.
I don’t have one yet, but flying 100 segments will get me there!
I got the 2 credit cards, hit the spending threshold plus a little extra. For the remaining ~5000, I transfered in 8750 Hyatt points (which become 4200 RR credits) and have a business trip planned at the end of the month for the remaining 1000ish points
I have to wait util my credit score go up
2x Southwest credit cards (50000 bonus + 1000 required spend + 50000 bonus + 2000 required spend) + Southwest shopping mall when they offered 12x points at Sears: bought $500 in gift cards = 6000 points + 1000 Amazon Payment spend/points = 110000 points = companion pass!