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I keep a close eye on a variety of web sites that deal with frequent flier and hotel rewards programs to make sure I am not missing any big news. B
ut a quick scan of any of them and I’m quickly overwhelmed.
The miles and points game can get extremely complicated and time-consuming very quickly if you’re trying to juggle multiple airlines and hotel brands.
You will likely burn out and free travel will have gone by the wayside.
It doesn’t need to be this way… 🙂
My motto: Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS), and that’s why I focus largely on Southwest’s Rapid Rewards program.
5 Reasons It’s Easy to Fly Southwest Airlines
But why Southwest?
Here are 5 reasons…
1) It’s Easy to Earn the Southwest Companion Pass
It really is one of the simplest and least time-consuming ways out there to earn free flights.
Essentially, you just need to sign up for two Southwest credit cards (one personal, one business) when they have bonuses between 40,000 and 70,000 points, use them for everyday spending, pay them in full each month to reach Companion Pass Status (it takes 125,000 qualifying points to earn your pass).
That means a companion can fly free with you anywhere Southwest flies for up to two years, AND you have 125,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points to book everyone else in your family on free flights.
Here are the cards options:
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Premier
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business
But note you can only hold ONE Southwest personal card, but you can hold BOTH Southwest business cards.
2) Southwest Flies to Lots of Great Destinations
If you’re wanting to do lots of overseas travel, then Southwest may not be your solution.
But for my family, with kids in middle and high school, this suits us just fine.
There are so many places in the U.S. and the Caribbean we love to go and have never been that I feel like we could spend their remaining years in school just flying around our great country.
We’ve been to San Diego, Los Angeles, Orlando, Ft. Myers, Denver and New York City all within one year — all for less than $100 per flight for all four of us.
Southwest also flies to Mexico, Cuba, Hawaii and the Caribbean and recently stated they hope to be in Canada soon, so there are options outside the States.
3) It’s Not Time Consuming
I don’t know about you, but as a mom of two, who owns several businesses, writes travel articles and maintains a travel blog, I don’t have much time.
Southwest is easy to keep track of and there are no complicated algorithms, constant search for Rewards Fares or referencing of redemption charts to consider.
Book any flight, any time using your Rapid Rewards points.
Simple as that.
4) Put All Your Focus on One Thing
Rather than diluting your focus and spending on multiple cards, airlines and goals for travel, I like to just focus on one thing.
Per the book, “The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results” by Gary Keller (one of my all time favorite reads!), our efforts are much better spent if we can focus on one or two things rather than diluting them over multiple things, none of which end up with much attention.
Put your time and energy on Southwest, and you can fly around the U.S. with as many people as you want for nearly free.
We managed flights to six destinations for less than $100 PER TRIP for a family of four over ONE year.
That is incredible to me and I think everyone needs to know about it!
It’s also very difficult to try and be meeting the minimum spend on multiple cards, keep track of due dates, remember which frequent flyer account is attached to your Dining program, decide which site to use to start your shopping to earn miles, etc.
It’s so much simpler if the answer is: Southwest.
5) They Are a Great Airline
Even if we could fly free on Southwest, but they had terrible customer service or poor operations, I would not do it.
But thankfully, Southwest is a delight to fly.
We have yet to encounter a serious problem or delay, the staff are always lovely, and we have managed to navigate the no-assigned-seat issue just fine as a family of four.
Plus, I LOVE that two checked bags always fly free with each person, we get access to free entertainment on our devices, and there are NO change fees.
I LOVE Southwest!
Read More:
- Why It’s Easy to Fly Free on Southwest
- 11 Ways to Meet the Minimum Spend on Your Southwest Credit Card
- How to Earn Rapid Rewards Points for Dining
- How to Use the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal
