In January I wrote about the best domestic airline promo – the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass. Once achieved, your designated companion gets to fly with you anytime, anywhere, for free. This is not a one-time use coupon. You can utilize the pass as many times as you want for the duration of time that the pass is valid. You earn companion pass status once you earn 110,000 points in a calendar year, and the pass will be available for the rest of that year and the entire year after!
To take full advantage of this, you would earn the pass in January/February and have this pass valid for a full 23-24 months. Points earned from credit card sign-up bonuses and from certain partners (i.e. Hyatt) count toward this. Given that Chase has a personal and business card, it is possible to earn 100k points with just these two cards!
After about six months, here is how I’ve utilized my companion pass:
- Used an old award certificate for a round-trip flight to New Orleans during Mardi Gras. NSPfiance flew for $5. The cheapest comparable flight was $335
- NSPfiance and I flew from CLE > BWI to visit her family. NSPfiance flew for $5. The cheapest comparable flight was $190.
- NSPfiance and I flew back from a friend`s wedding, BWI > CLE. NSPfiance flew for $2.50. The cheapest comparable flight was $90.
- NSPfiance and I flew from CLE > SEA to position for a flight to Juneau. NSPfiance flew for $2.50. The cheapest comparable flight was $220.
That equals $820.
Now, here’s the added-on kicker: The flights to BWI and SEA were booked with the points I earned from the sign-up bonus. They easily puts me at over $1,200 in value from the 2 credit cards I signed up for in January. I still have over 80k points in my account and 15 months left on my companion pass status. Right now I’m on track to receive about $4,000 of value for just a few hours of my time.
Not bad.
My Southwest Companion Pass (expires 12/2014)
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