(I posted this in a thread yesterday but the title wasn’t super relevant so am trying again. Hope that is ok! I feel like there is a lot of CC reward experience here.)
Good morning, I may be a few days late on this, but I had been following the news on chat of the new Southwest RR Priority Card that offers up to 65,000 bonus points plus a number of other features. We currently have a Chase Reserve which has worked extremely well for us, but am really contemplating opening this card as well.
The bonus is obviously substantial, but the companion pass has caught my eye as well. I know many Liners on here have strategized the timing of the companion pass and I’m wondering if you guys can walk me through it. I’m currently pregnant and due this fall so don’t have any current trips in the near future, but want to fly to WDW in Oct of 2019. Do I open the card now and then hope to hit 100,000 points by January in order to get the companion pass for all of 2019? Is that how it works? (I think the offer expires 8/2 but will look further.)
Thanks! I’m happy to use a referral code from the list as well. Also - what is the ballpark number of tickets that 65,000 would buy?
For the 65,000 points you need to spend $15,000 in one calendar year. I would think it would be easier to do if you get the 65,000 plus the 1,000 you need to spend for activation and 15,000 to get that 65,000. That would bring you to 91,000 points. You still need bonus points and additional spending to reach the companion. I would wait until January.
Three one way tickets that were $129 each were under 29,000 points recently for me.
Backside of Magic Podcast has done a few shows about the companion pass. I think the easiest way may be to get this card and a business card?
Thank you! So fortunately/unfortunately I put between $3-5,000 on a credit card each month (daycare…), so can hit the $15,000 without a problem. I think it just needs to be within a year from account opening to get the 65k points (not necessarily the end of 2018). The calendar year seems to be mostly relevant to the companion pass. My thought is if I open ASAP then I would earn the 65k in 2018, plus spending in early 2019 to earn the companion pass for the calendar year of 2019, right? It starts as soon as I hit 100,000 points?
The reason I don’t want to wait is that I did read somewhere that the offer expires 8/2 or 8/22, but I cannot find the details of that. And if I started in Jan, wouldn’t it take me longer to earn the companion pass?
I have not jumped onto the podcast bandwagon quite yet, but I have heard so many good things about BOM that I may have to delve in!
Someone else may be able to weigh in on this but I do not think the 65,000 points towards a companion pass will roll over to 2019. You will have to earn all those points by December?
Aha, gotcha. Thank you for the help! I will wait until January then maybe we can do a 2020 trip too! (If only I wasn’t planning to borrow 2020 DVC points for the 2019 trip…)