How I Fly Everywhere for Free: Companion Passes for the Masses
Man I’m spoiled. I’m writing this article at 40,000 feet, on free flight for 3 people*, using free wifi on my monthly 720 mile, 1 hour and 40 min “commute” to see friends and family in California and no… I don’t work for an airline.
Money was tight in my college days but my explorer instincts helped push me to find ways to get where I wanted to go on my budget (free)! These skills took me all over the world; Europe, Asia, South America and dozens of trips in US. Now that I’m married with a new baby my travel goals have changed a bit but my resolve to travel is still strong.
The word has gotten out and I get asked constantly how I do it. In this post I’ll cover how my wife and I have traveled domestically for free for the past 2 years all thanks to the Southwest Companion Pass. I’ll save international travel for another post.
The Southwest Companion Pass is a good goal because while you work to get there you earn some serious travel points and you basically double the value when you unlock companion status for your travel partner! Just to give you an idea of the big value my most frequent flight (SLC to LAX) only costs 8K points so hitting the Companion Pass gets me 13 round trip tickets (26 if you count my wife’s tickets!)
Now to get a Companion Pass you need To earn 110K points in 12 months. Don’t worry follow the steps below and you’ll be on your way!
Become a Southwest member: Create your username and password and get your rapid rewards number.
Sign Up for the Credit Cards: Every year Southwest offers a promotion for first timers giving 50K points. This promotion also applies to businesses. So that’s an instant $100K points.
Wear The Cards Out: Switch all purchases possible to the cards. Phone, gas, web hosting, If you’re at dinner with the group you pay with the card and have your party pay you back in cash. You want to get as many rewards as possible from your normal purchases and try to find ways to swap cash for points. Each credit card requires you spenk $2K in the first 3 months so use your cards for gas, groceries, phone, internet and all your regular bills. If you hit your spend goal you’ll be at 104K points in the first 3 months putting you at 94% of the way there with 9 more months to get the remaining 6K points. Warning: With great power comes great resonsiblity. Don’t try this if you have a credit card problem. You know who you are. You may fly anywhere you want but you won’t have a home to come back to.
Show Your Loyalty: If you travel in the coming months use your Southwest cards to book travel and rental cars. You get more points for every dollar you spend on Southwest flights you book with the card. Rental cars will also do the same thing for you. If you travel for work offer to buy the tickets for you and your coworkers and take the reimbursement.
Accelerated Earnings: Southwest periodically does promotions where certain types of purchases or trips earn you big bonuses. Check the Southwest website out about every month and sign up! Also for any hotel stays use Rocketmiles. I usually get between 1K-3K points/night. The points bonuses are amazing! Sign up at this link and I’ll get some points too (click here)!
Enjoy: Now that you are well on your way you will watch the perks start rolling in; this will include mileage bonuses for purchased flights, shortcuts at security checks, free wifi and the occasional upgraded in-flight drink!
Quick Links
50K Mile Southwest Credit Card
*My ticket was paid with points, my wife with the companions pass and babies fly for free until 2 years.
