Why You Shouldn't Care About Southwest Travel Credits Expiring

Southwest has announced yet another change to the beloved airline and customers are hopping mad. But here's why we don't care about this change either. 

A few weeks ago, I told you why we didn't care about the change Southwest made to how many points you earn when you fly. And now they are changing the expiration date policy for travel credits. 

But we don't care about this one either because we never have any travel credits. I'll tell you why in a minute. 

Why You Shouldn't Care About Southwest Travel Credits Expiring

First, the new policy will go into effect with tickets purchased or changed starting on May 28, 2025.  

• After that date, travel credits will expire 12 months from the date of the original ticket purchase. 
• Travel credits from the new basic economy fares will expire just 6 months from date of original ticket purchase. 

Here's where it gets tricky, if you buy a Basic Economy fare ticket 6 months in advance and cancel, you will get no credit at all. The ticket basically becomes non refundable. Ouch. 

Gone is the Southwest Airlines that we knew and loved. 

Why You Shouldn't Care About Southwest Travel Credits Expiring

So what should you do? 

The hack is to always use points to buy your Southwest flights. This way, you never get stuck with a travel credit. If you cancel, your points are just returned to your Southwest account. No problem! 

The easiest way right now to get a ton of Southwest points is to apply for my favorite travel credit card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred. The new offer is a whopping 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points for $5,000 minimum spend in the first three months. 

• This card carries only a $95 annual fee
• You get a $50 hotel credit in the Chase Travel Portal
• 25% more value in the Chase Travel Portal 
• 5x points on hotels booked in the Chase Travel Portal
• 2x points on travel purchases
• 3x points on dining purchases

And you can transfer the Chase Ultimate Reward points to a dozen different airlines and several hotel chains including Southwest. 

What can you do with 100,000 Southwest points? How about flying from Washington DC to San Diego ten times?

That's pretty crazy, right? And if you are part of our travel coaching program and monthly live zoom sessions, you know how to book the lowest point flight and then change to a better flight without spending any more points. 

So now you can see that there are still work arounds so all the LUV is not gone from Southwest Airlines. 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. 

Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost. 

How You Can Squeeze More Value Out Of 100,00 Chase Points

 

One of the questions I get all the time is about the value of points and miles. Since the value changes for each type of points and miles, it's hard to figure out their worth. 

But with the new whopping 100,000 bonus offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, let's take a look at the value of those points specifically to figure out what they are worth.  

I love Chase Ultimate Reward points because they are what I like to call flexible points. Flexible because you can use them in many different ways depending on where you want to travel. Chase advertises that 100,000 points are worth $1,250 of travel. 

But they actually could be worth much more. 

Let's take a look at the different ways you can use the points. 

You can: 

• transfer them to dozens of hotels and airlines
• you can use them in the Chase Travel Portal
• you can use them for statement credit or cash back 

If you choose to use the points for a statement credit or cash back, they are worth $1,000. Pretty good, right? 

But if you choose to use the points to purchase flights, hotels, car rentals, cruises and tours then your points are worth $1,250 because Chase gives you 25% more value when you use your points to book travel in the portal. The portal is similar to using Expedia. That's a pretty good deal. 

But the best deal could be transferring your points to one of a dozen different airlines or Hyatt, Marriott or IHG. You can read about how I used them to take my family to Ireland. 

• The sweet spot is transferring these points to FlyingBlue.com which is the loyalty program for Air France and KLM. You can see a one way flight is priced for just 20,000 points from Washington DC to Amsterdam. Recently, I was able to snag a flight from Athens to LAX for just 15,000 points and $90. This flight was being sold for more than $700. 
• Or transfer the points to Hyatt to snag a hotel room for as low as 3,500 points per night. 
• Or transfer the points to Jet Blue and fly from California to New York for just 13,500 points each way. Wow! 

Now you are squeezing thousands of dollars out of those 100,000 points. Plus the Chase Sapphire Preferred comes with an annual $50 hotel credit when you reserve through the portal. The annual fee on this card is only $95 so it's really a no brainer. 

The fine print, you can only get this bonus once every four years and you can only hold one Sapphire branded credit card at a time. This 100,000 bonus offer requires you to spend $4,000 in the first three months so if you have any big purchases coming up soon, you might want to think about applying. 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost. 

 

Huge Bonus Offer On My Favorite Travel Card

 

Dreaming about where you are going to travel for summer vacation? Well, you might want to jump on the huge bonus offer just announced by my favorite travel card Chase Sapphire Preferred.

The new offer is a whopping 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points for $5,000 minimum spend in the first three months. 

• This card carries only a $95 annual fee
• You get a $50 hotel credit in the Chase Travel Portal
• 25% more value in the Chase Travel Portal 
• 5x points on hotels booked in the Chase Travel Portal
• 2x points on travel purchases
• 3x points on dining purchases

What can you do with 100,000 CUR points? First, these points can be worth up to $1,250 if you spend them in the Chase Travel Portal. If you transfer them to an airline or hotel, they could be worth even more. Read about how I used CUR points for a family trip to Ireland. 

The Sapphire Reserve vs the Preferred is usually a choice you have to make, but this offer is only for the Preferred and it's a great card. Even better, if your partner has the Reserve, you can combine points to squeeze out even more value. 

You can only apply for this card once every 4 years and you can only hold one Chase Sapphire card at a time. This card also follows the rules of 5/24, you will only be approved for 5 cards in 24 months. 

So if you have a big purchase coming up or tuition for a school or summer camp, this may be your chance to also score some FREE travel! 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost.