I totally love flying Southwest Airlines. They changed the airline game at least a decade ago with their low prices, unassigned seating format, and excellent customer service. I’ve been flying with them FOR FREE since 2012 and to be honest I thought this was something everyone was doing! So if you’re not doing the same, here’s a little bit on how I got into it and how you can get on it!
In 2012, I was walking thru Baltimore/Washington International (BWI) on my way to my gate and noticed a Southwest guy yelling out “free round-trip flight! Sign up today and get a free round-trip flight!”. I immediately thought to myself, that sounds awesome!
As I got closer to the kiosk, I realized he was talking about signing up for a credit card. At that stage in my life, early 20s, I had a couple of credit cards but they were only in my wallet for emergency purposes, so I said to myself, all I need to do is sign up for another card and I’m getting a free flight?!
I listened to the guy’s pitch and was signed up for the credit card in a matter of minutes. The pitch included my first lesson on Southwest points and how they can be used to purchase Southwest flights. My mind was blown!
Looking back on it now, I realize that deal was pretty incredible. No minimum spend requirement and enough points to book a round-trip flight to anywhere in the continental U.S. just for signing up! Boom!
The initial free trip was just the tip of the iceberg! Once I understood that I could continue to earn points for future flights and other travel arrangements like hotels and car rentals, the flood gates were open!
Since then, I use this credit card to make the purchases I’m going to be making anyway, like gas, groceries, Lowe’s, etc., and earn points. Sometimes I even earn double or triple points on things like restaurants! Typically the way the credit card point accumulation works is, you earn one point for every dollar you spend, except for the bonus 2X, 3X points on certain categories.
Nowadays, Southwest is still offering pretty sweet sign-up bonuses, like their current offer found here, which includes what they call a Companion Pass plus 30k Southwest points. There is a minimum spend requirement of $4k in the first 3 months of signing up for the card, but that’s it! Once you meet the spend requirement you will earn 30,000 points and with the Companion Pass you get to choose one person to fly with you for FREE on any Southwest flight thru 12/31/2019! This deal in absolutely UNREAL!
Couple things to note – if you don’t meet the minimum spend requirement, you don’t get the sign-up bonus. Also, if you’re not good with credit cards, ignore everything you just read. The credit card rewards scene now that promotes things like cash back or travel points/miles only work if you pay your card off EACH MONTH IN FULL. The credit card company wins if you carry a balance and unfortunately, most people carry a balance, and the credit card companies know that, so that’s why they are will to make offers like ONE PERSON TRAVELS WITH YOU FOR FREE ALL YEAR (if you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months). What-the-what?!