Travel: The most expensive airline is about to charge even more..
- Thread starter Xenomorph
- Start date
I travel just about every week for work and I can tell you that AA flights are typically 100-150 bucks cheaper than SWA flights for my travel.
Surprisingly, my most recent rental with Enterprise in Detroit was easy peasy. They had several models in the class I reserved, and were very helpful. Wound up renting a Mazda CX-5, which is basically an SUV version of my Mazda 6, so no learning curve for the infotainment and Apple Maps interface.
I want my bag with me to eliminate the risk of it getting lost and not having to go to baggage claim. I guess if you gate check it, the odds of it being lost are really small.
My wife used to have the same philosophy about not wanting to take the bag through security. A couple years ago about as soon as we made it through security, our flight got cancelled. We ended up having to drive where we were going. Her luggage made it to the airport. Then I guess the airline thought that since we didn’t actually fly to the airport they’d send her luggage back to the original airport. Took several days for her to get the luggage back. I’ve always been a carry on person, mainly cause I’m cheap but also because I never wanted my luggage lost. That situation solidified my whole family as carry on travelers.
Agree. Southwest is my airline of choice. My family and I always fly for free on Southwest and the companion pass is a game changer. Also a big fan of the no baggage fees and the ease of changing a flight. I just wish there were more destinations and they flew internationally.
If anyone is looking for a credit card referral to earn miles for free flights with Southwest, send me a message.
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I fly out Nashville quite a bit and SWA is usually pretty cheap. But I value direct flights way more than the cost. SWA has a mini hub at BNA now. So, they’re flying all over place.
Not a fan of the assigned seating change.
Not a fan of the assigned seating change.
I'm jealous of the Nashville airport. Several times I've used the Contour flight out of Tupelo just to get to BNA. But the little stand off concourse you fly into makes you have to ride the shuttle bus over for the big boy flight... so you can't cut the times too close.
If my family and I flew for free on Southwest, I'd be their most loyal customer.
As I mentioned in another thread, my GF and I fly Southwest on vacations. I have a Southwest Visa and that's all I use it for. Back during covid we were going to Hawaii and she had gotten a Southwest Visa because she got 30,000 miles along with a 1 year companion pass for signing up. She threw the miles on her tickets and the companion pass on me. I ended up paying something like $5.40 for each leg of the flight. When we got back, she cut her card up and we're back on mine.
Southwest must've started charging by the pound.*
Yeah, that's why I quit traveling with your mom. *
...30 years ago when I was a road warrior, I loved SW expressly for open seating. Friday afternoon flight and I would be coming directly from a plant, I could check in, get in boarding group a, and go sit on the floor in the cattle chute. I called it "causing the stampede", people would then worry they wouldn't be able to get their preferred spot. I sat in the front and could be off the plane and up the jet way before the ridiculous folks that insist on taking their sweet time could even exit the plane.
It’s pretty easy to do. Took a group of 7 to Steamboat Springs for a ski trip last December. We all flew round trip for free, saved about $3000.
By free, y’all mean reward miles? Basically 1-2% of what you spend on your credit converted to credit on southwest?
I'm forever hearing folks saying "oooo yeah we flew free, we have a southwest credit card". With Southwest's credit card's top rewards being 3 miles per dollar spent, you'd have to spend 100k to get that 3k in free flights.
What I'm basically saying is I suspect most (not all) folks are full of shitt and sure, they probably had a few miles, but likely the balance of that $3000 went on the card.
Of course, your Pro-Tip is not applicable to Southwest since they don't fly out of DFW.........SPS the helpful board.
Nope, what I said is true, we got $3000 worth of flights for free. Earning the bonus miles from the initial signup is the key…. And you can do this every 24 months. My wife and I both take advantage of the offers so we always have points to fly on. We currently have more than 100,000 points in each of our accounts and are set for the foreseeable future.
Yes, by purchasing flights using Southwest points instead of cash. I earn very little from spending on the credit card, the majority comes from the crazy signup bonuses they offer.
This is what i've always wondered. Who wants to hurry to sit on a warm cat scan?
I could understand when there is no assigned seats.
It ain’t about how quick you can get on. It’s about how quick you can get off.
And on that score I want to be like a 12 year old watching Skinemax.
My experience with Southwest is that their fares to high demand destinations can be sneaky expensive, but they seem to be much better than competitors for use of award miles. I booked an award flight out west a few months back for around 30,000 miles, when the same flight would have been 70,000-90,000 miles on Delta or American.
Also, the pod grouping system for boarding isn’t for everyone. But they also have lower standard boarding times than competitors probably because they have found that method to be more efficient. There’s competitive advantage to that as it can increase their daily flights in and out of any airport and net a lot more profit. So, I understand why they do it.
All that being said, I still prefer Delta.
Also, the pod grouping system for boarding isn’t for everyone. But they also have lower standard boarding times than competitors probably because they have found that method to be more efficient. There’s competitive advantage to that as it can increase their daily flights in and out of any airport and net a lot more profit. So, I understand why they do it.
All that being said, I still prefer Delta.
Agree that Southwest has the best award points program. I’ve tried Delta but never could seem to find a flight to use my points for and ended up losing them. If Southwest has available seats on any flight, you can use your points to book a ticket.
They currently have 5 credit card offers (personal or business) offering anywhere from 50,000 to 120,000 bonus points. The highest bonus point offer could score you up to 5 or 6 free round trip tickets depending on the flight you choose and how early you book. If interested, use the link below to go to the current offers:
Only time in my life I flew Frontier, they cancelled my return flight from Denver due to snow. That was Thursday morning. Next flight they could get me on was the following TUESDAY
I used the SW card for a few years and it was a solid deal. I run every cent possible through our cards and pay it off at least every month. It was enough to get an arse load of points but the money maker was the companion pass. Any time I bought a ticket with dollars or points I got a free ticket to go along with it.
However, SW pissed me off in December 22 when they ruined a family Christmas trip and I got burned on some sunk costs due to their system fail. So I bailed on the SW card and now use the Chase Sapphire card. Pretty pleased with it so far. More flexible than being captive to SW as I can use the pts on multiple hotels and airlines. Fees are pretty steep but it pays for itself pretty quickly with our spending habits.
So let me make sure I follow. So you find a good offer for the SW card, take it. Cancel said card 24 month later and then turn around and sign up again a few months later to stockpile points?
what’s a typical reward round trip flight cost in points on SW these days?
eta - found this. Looks like business cards are the way to go and if you can make it so you and the wife both get cards you can pretty easily have two companion tickets so you’d only pay two tickets for a family of 4 pretty consistently.
if you could find a way to get a good deal on a hotel card as well then you could really save on vacations
what’s a typical reward round trip flight cost in points on SW these days?
eta - found this. Looks like business cards are the way to go and if you can make it so you and the wife both get cards you can pretty easily have two companion tickets so you’d only pay two tickets for a family of 4 pretty consistently.
if you could find a way to get a good deal on a hotel card as well then you could really save on vacations
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I usually cancel the card a month or so after I get the bonus points. Then reapply at least 24 months later. The cost in points depends on the route. Typically the longer the route the more points required.
The Southwest companion pass is a huge deal. Earn it and you can use points for one ticket and get the second ticket with no additional points required.
I also use hotel cards (mainly Marriott, IHG and Hyatt) and do the same thing with them. Never pay for hotel rooms either.
Wish GTR could connect with other close regional hubs like Memphis. Birmingham, and maybe New Orleans. Years ago there used to be several puddle hopper flights per day between GTR & MEM. Heck, I flew on one Northwest flight from MEM that stopped in Tupelo and let a few people off, then went on to GTR to end the night. On that flight, a couple of our football coaches sat across from me.....they were coming back from a recruiting trip.
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Do you get separate cards for you and the spouse? So that you have two companion passes for the rest of the family? Thinking hard about doing this in Oct/Nov of this year so I can hit the companion pass 1Q 2024 and have it for almost two years. Too good to pass up.
My wife and I get separate accounts (for the bonuses) for all of our reward programs… Southwest, Marriott, IHG, etc. I don’t think we’ve ever earned 2 companion passes at the same time though. But with all the bonus points, we have always been able to get all of the airline tickets our family has needed for free.
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They're not. Especially if you choose their "wanna get away" option. Even more so when you consider they don't have bag fees. You want to upgrade to their higher tiers? Or avoid their hub airports? They can get expensive. 9 times out of 10, Spirit and Frontier will beat them on price, but they will be much cheaper than Delta, United, or American. Not sure where that "most expensive" BS came from. Go to Google flights and use any two major airports in the US that SW goes to, and you'll see what I'm saying.
He's flying out of Memphis. That's why. If you are tied to those smaller airports, SW typically doesn't have great rates.
Jackson is our “home” airport but many times we have driven to New Orleans to catch a Southwest flight because the deals are much better.
Literally just got back from doing this. I went to Portland to visit @Oregon Tiger and I couldn't even book a flight from Jackson to Portland. I had to book 2 different flights (i.e. Jackson to Houston then book another flight of Houston to Portland). I even called southwest because it told me I was unable to get a flight for the days I was wanting and they told me the same thing.
So we flew from New Orleans to Portland. 2.5 hour drive which kind of sucked but that was my first time to fly out of New Orleans. I had $800 in vouchers I had to use within a year so that's why we chose Southwest. The drive was an inconvenience but it did save a lot of money over Delta, United or AA even without the vouchers.
I just signed up for the Chase Ink business preferred card with a 120,000 point bonus. That could be worth 24 free hotel nights if transferred to the Hyatt rewards program. But i still believe the Southwest card to be best for earning free flights.
How do you get around this, from Southwest's Website-
50,000 Bonus Points After You Spend $1,000 On Purchases In The First 3 Months From Account Opening:
The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card and Employee Credit Card products.
To qualify for your bonus points, you must make Purchases totaling $1,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. Please allow up to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your Rapid Rewards® account. (“Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) To be eligible for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.
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