New AA shopping portal promotion!

If you are looking to top off an American Airlines account or earn a nice bonus, take a look at Rocketmiles.com. The site is offering first time users a 3,000 mile bonus when you book a hotel. A quick look shows most $100 room per night hotels giving about 4,000 miles per booking. 
Be sure to read the fine print though:

To be eligible for this promotion, the hotel reservation must be booked on www.rocketmiles.com using this promotional link (www.rocketmiles.com/aa-3k-bonus) or using promo code "AADVANTAGE" on the Rocketmiles app by 11:59PM CT on 30 June 2017. Limited to first time customers and subject to investigation post-purchase. Limit one per customer. Limit one per stay. Promotional offer cannot be applied to existing bookings or retroactively applied to bookings not made using the link above. This promotional offer cannot be combined with any other offers, including a sign-up from referral bonus. Rocketmiles reserves the right to retract a bonus at any time if it detects technical errors, cancel/rebooking activity (defined by identical search criteria), or any deceptive behavior attempted to circumvent the limits expressed above, including multiple accounts. Please allow 2 weeks for bonus points to post in a qualifying member's account after hotel stay is completed and the qualifying member has met the stated conditions.

So it must be a new booking and you can't cancel and rebook in order to qualify. But if you are still looking for that perfect hotel room for this summer, this might be a good deal for you. 
I am just 4,000 miles short of a free flight on American so I may take advantage of this deal to put me over the top. 
If you need miles on another airline, Rocketmiles works with American, Southwest, United, Jet Blue, Alaska Airlines and more. 
Great way to earn extra airline miles on your hotel stays. 

Get 1,000 Bonus Southwest Points On Hotels through Dec. 2020

 One way to earn extra Southwest Airlines points is to book hotels through Rocketmiles, a third party reservation platform similar to Expedia. Now every reservation you make on Rocketmiles at select properties will offer a bonus 1,000 Southwest points. 
The best part is these points DO count towards the companion pass. One of the best travel deals out there. The companion pass is a BOGO flights for two years. Amazing! You can read my past post on how to score one of these passes. 
You can actually use Rocketmiles to collect miles/points on a variety of different airlines, but as of right now, Southwest is the only airline running the bonus promotion. 

When you do a search on Rocketmiles, the site will tell you how many points you will earn for your reservation. I searched for Zion National Park hotels and The Comfort Inn is offering 2,000 points per night plus 1,000 bonus points. You will earn the bonus just once per reservation even if you stay multiple nights. The promotion is good on any hotels booked through Dec. 2020. You must use this specific promotional link (www.rocketmiles.com/wanderlust-swa) or on the Rocketmiles app using code “wanderlust-swa”

How To Use Rocketmiles To Earn Extra Southwest Miles

If you are earning your companion pass the regular way by collecting 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year, then you will need to read about this trick. 

Rocketmiles is a hotel booking site that partners with Southwest Airlines. When you book your hotel through the site, you earn a bonus of Southwest points that count towards the companion pass. 

On our recent trip to Panama, we had an overnight layover in Houston and needed a hotel near the airport. I booked two rooms through Rocketmiles and earned 2,000 bonus Southwest points for each room. 

This one stay put me 4,000 points closer to my goal of earning the companion pass. 

I find the hotel prices on Rocketmiles are a bit higher than if you use hotels.com, but this time it made sense to earn the companion pass. 

The bottom line is to leverage your spending to maximize FREE travel. 

That's how we do it over here at almost FREE family travel. 

How To Earn Bonus Southwest Points Fast At Hotels

As you head off on your summer travels, you might want to be very intentional about where you stay and how you book those stays so you can max out on Southwest points. And ultimately collect enough points to earn the companion pass! 

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best travel perks out there. It's a BOGO pass for any flight on Southwest Airlines for two years! That's right. Depending on when you earn it, you could fly a companion FREE for up to two years. 

To earn the pass, you have to collect 125,000 points in a single calendar year. 

Now if you fly, that's a lot of flights. But there are some easier and faster ways to collect those points. 

How To Earn Bonus Southwest Points At Hotels

The easiest way is to open a personal Southwest credit card and a Southwest business card. You are allowed to hold one of each at the same time. Right now, all the personal cards are offering a 75,000 point bonus when you spend $5,000 on the card. We break down the different cards and our recommendation here. 

This is a spectacular offer and one of the highest we have ever seen! If you don't have this card yet, now is the time! 

And if you have a business even a very small business like selling things on Ebay or Etsy or a vacation rental, you can qualify for a business credit card. There are two business cards offered:

• Performance - 80,000 bonus offer right now with a $5,000 minimum spend
• Premier - 60,000 bonus offer with a $3,000 minimum spend 

The quickest way to earn the companion pass is to open a personal credit card and a business credit card and bam, you are done. But if you have earned a bonus in the past 24 months or you don't have a business, one of my favorite ways to earn extra Southwest points is by using Rocketmiles.com and Southwesthotels.com for hotels stays.

Both give you Southwest bonus points for booking through their platform and sometimes those bonuses can be huge! 

How To Earn Bonus Southwest Points At Hotels

I just stayed overnight near the Baltimore Washington International Airport, that's a whole different story I will share with you in another post. So I decided to check Southwesthotels.com and bam, bonus 2,000 points for staying at the Microtel near the airport. 

Within days of my stay, the 2,000 bonus points posted to my Southwest account. Nice! I just checked Rocketmiles.com and the bonus is just 1,000 points for the same hotel. So it's worth checking both sites! By the way, Rocketmiles.com works with lots of different loyalty programs so if you are trying to collect American, Alaska, United or more, check it out!  

Be sure to designate which loyalty program you want to collect points on BEFORE you make any reservations! 

To get the bonus, you must book your reservation through the Rocketmiles.com app or website or Southwesthotels.com app or website. It is considered a third party booking so keep that in mind. 

If you decide to open a personal or business Southwest credit card, please use my referral link to apply for your card so I can earn the companion pass and bring you amazing travel tips! 

And If you want your entire trip to be FREE and/or you want to earn the companion pass, let us help you. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn at Families Fly FREE. She has created a simple system to help families fly free forever. 

If you would like to check it out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) 

 

More Ways To Earn Southwest Points Without Flying

Hotels at Kaanapali, Maui 

Now that Southwest Airlines flies to Hawaii, let's talk about some other ways you can boost your Southwest points balance. 

Here are some awesome ways to earn points without flying:

1. Shopping Portal - Never buy anything online without going through a shopping portal! It's FREE money if you use a cashback site and its FREE points (FREE travel) if you use an airline shopping portal. 

Find the store you want to shop at and get rewarded 1x, 2x, 3x or 4x bonus points per dollar. Charge the purchase to your Southwest credit card and earn 1x points for your purchase. So let's say you spend $100 at 1-800 Pet Meds, you would be rewarded 400 bonus points for using the portal and another 100 points from using your Southwest credit card for a total of 500 bonus points for something you were going to buy anyway. Wow! 

2. Rocketmiles.com  - Same idea, but with hotels. We had a layover in Houston, TX on our way back from Panama. I looked on Rocketmiles.com and found a hotel near the airport that offered free breakfast and 2,000 Southwest bonus points per room. I booked two rooms and got 4,000 bonus points. I used my Southwest credit card and got another 200 points. 

3. Dining Program - You can join Southwest dining program, link your credit or debit card and then when you dine you will earn bonus points. This is not going to rack you up a lot of points, but they will trickle in. 

4. If you live in certain states, you may be eligible to earn more Southwest points by enrolling in NRG, Reliant or buying gas at Marathon. Check out the home and lifestyle offers on Southwest.com. 

5. You can take surveys too to boost your points balance. Again, these are small amounts, but if you just need more points, it might work for you. Check out this page to enroll. 

Easy Ways To Earn The Extra 15,000 For The 2020 Southwest Companion Pass

One of the best emails you can find in your inbox is the one letting you know you earned the Southwest Companion Pass. The BOGO pass is one of the best travel perks around. Valid for two years, you can take a friend along with you on any flight for FREE. The friend must travel the exact same flight and route as you. Plus you can change your "friend" three times each calendar year. 

Pretty sweet! 

Up until Dec. 31, 2019, you needed 110,000 points to earn the companion pass, but starting Jan. 1, 2020 you will need to earn 125,000 points. So the question is what is the quickest and easiest way to earn those extra 15,000 points?

Here are a couple of ways to do it:

1. Fly and earn miles, duh

2. Open a Southwest credit card (see this post to help you decide which one)

3. Open a Southwest business credit card (see this post to decide which one)

3. Charge everything to the Southwest credit card 

4. Use the Southwest shopping portal 

5. Use Rocketmiles to book hotels 

6. Use Southwesthotels.com to book hotels 

7. Rapid Rewards Dining 

8. Hotel and Car rental partners

9. Refer a friend to open a Southwest Chase credit card 

Unless you are flying or charging to the Southwest credit card, be sure to check the fine print to confirm that the points will count towards the companion pass. From Southwest.com the fine print says you can actually start purchasing from partners now and the points won't post until 2020 so they will be counted in the next calendar year. 

Partner	Points count toward 2020 Companion Pass if…	When do points post to your account?
Laithwaite's Wine®	Purchase date in 2019	6-8 weeks after purchase date
Rapid Rewards Shopping®	Purchase date in 2019	6-8 weeks after purchase date
Rocketmiles	Stay completed in 2019	4-6 weeks after purchase date
Rapid Rewards Dining®	Dining completed in 2019	4-6 weeks after dining
1-800-Flowers.com®	Purchase of flowers completed in 2019	6-8 weeks after delivery completed
Reliant Energy	Points must be posted to account in 2019	Points post within 8-12 weeks
NRG Home	Points must be posted to account in 2019	First month’s points after 8 weeks
MakeItCount™ - Marathon	Points must be posted to account in 2019.	Points will post within 72 hours of the purchase or action that qualified for the earn offer
PlacePass	Experience completed in 2019	6-8 weeks after experience completed
Harry and David	Purchase completed in 2019	6-8 weeks after delivery completed
Rewards for Opinions	Points must be posted to account in 2019	Points will post within 6 weeks of completed activity

Note that miles transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards and Marriott DO NOT count towards the companion pass. Buying points and transfers or gifts of points also DO NOT count. Good luck and happy flying! And if you decide to open a Southwest credit card, please consider using my referral link. Thank you for your support. 

Why You Can't Earn American Miles With Hotel Stays Anymore

It's getting harder and harder to earn award miles and convert points without flying. The latest announcement comes from American Airlines. The company is breaking off its partnerships with Hilton, Best Western, and Choice Hotels. The change goes into effect March 31, 2020. 

According to the email from the airline: 

Thank you for being a member of the AAdvantage® program. We know you value the ability to earn AAdvantage miles through many of our partnerships, and we want to let you know about changes with some partners. Effective April 1st, AAdvantage members will no longer be able to earn miles or convert points to miles with Best Western® Hotels and Resorts, Choice Hotels® or Hilton. Members can still earn miles or convert points to miles through March 31, 2020.

But never fear, there are workarounds. Here are a couple of ideas:

1. Use a credit card with lots of transfer partners like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve. Then you can collect points and transfer them to dozens of airlines and hotels OR use the travel portal. 

2. Use Rocketmiles when you book a hotel and get miles on whichever airline you select.

Even though this partnership is ending, there are still ways to earn and convert points so we can enjoy almost FREE family travel. 

Another Secret Way To Earn Points/Miles While At Home

Don't give up on collecting points and miles while you are stuck at home. It's time to develop the new habit of using portals when shopping online to rack up the points/miles. Online shopping portals which I covered in my last post are a great way to get bonuses on the shopping you are doing anyway. But there are more ways to do earn points/miles without flying. 

Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Use Rocketmiles.com to book hotels and earn miles/points on a variety of airlines. Look for hotels with bonuses of up to 10,000 points. A quick search shows hotels in New Orleans, LA in November with bonuses of up to 15,000 points for 2 nights. The points will take about two weeks to post. 

2. You can book a rental car and earn miles on a number of airlines

3. You can dine at restaurants or take food out and earn miles on Southwest, Jet Blue, United, Alaska, Delta or American. Remember to dine within 30 days of opening your dining account and post a review to get a new member bonus. Plus opt into email communication to get more points. 

4. You can even earn points for taking surveys at some airlines but this is pretty slow. 

Look for the points/miles to post in about 4-6 weeks. 

How To Earn Southwest Miles Without Flying....Fast

Once you get your new Southwest Peformance Business credit card and make $5,000 in purchases to reach your minimum spend and get the bonus of 80,000 points, the question is how to earn the companion pass quickly. 
You are awarded the companion pass when you earn 110,000 in a single calendar year. The pass is good for the year you earn it and the following year. So the earlier you earn it in the calendar year, the more value you can get out of it. 
For example, I earned the companion pass in February 2019. It is good through December 31, 2020. 
You can use it as many times as you want and change your companion three times each calendar year. 

So how can you earn 25,000 Southwest points quickly to reach the magic number of 110,000 without flying?

Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Use Rocketmiles.com to book hotels. Look for hotels with bonuses of up to 10,000 points. A quick search shows hotels in New Orleans, LA in November with bonuses of up to 15,000 points for 2 nights. The points will take about two weeks to post. 

2. You can book a rental car and earn miles on Southwest

3. You can dine at restaurants and earn miles on Southwest. Remember to dine within 30 days of opening your Southwest dining account and post a review to get a new member bonus. Plus opt in to email communication to get 3x points. 

4. And my favorite, the Southwest shopping portal. Earn thousands of points by doing your online shopping through the Southwest portal. 

5. You can even earn points for taking surveys, but this is pretty slow. 

Let us know in the comments below how you earn those extra points! Good luck! 

I Got My Southwest Companion Pass! Woohoo!

Southwest Airlines got final approval to start flying to Hawaii and I'm ready. Look what showed up in my inbox this morning. Woohoo! 
Now we just need Southwest Airlines to start selling tickets. 
This is my third Southwest companion pass in the last 6 years. For those of you who don't know what this is. It is one of the best perks ever. 
The pass is a buy one get one FREE pass for two years on Southwest Airlines. Wherever I fly, I can take a companion for FREE. The companion must fly with me on the same itinerary and I can change my companion three times in a calendar year. 
So how did I earn the pass again?

This time, I opened two credit cards: 
1. The Southwest Business Credit Card - Minimum spend $3,000 and a $99 annual fee with a 60,000 point bonus. You also get 6,000 points on your anniversary. 
2. The Southwest Priority Credit Card - Minimum spend $1,000 and a $149 annual fee, but you get a $75 airline credit that can be used for tickets and a 40,000 point bonus. You also get 7,500 points on your anniversary and 4 upgraded boarding passes. 

Then I stayed at a hotel with two rooms on a layover back from South America and one night at another hotel and used the Rocketmiles website to book them so I earned another 5,000 bonus Southwest points. 

And bam, that was enough to earn 110,000 points by end of February. The pass is good through 12/31/2020. I already have two trips booked to the East Coast so I have saved over $2,000. That's how we do it at almostfreefamilytravel.com 

Got the Southwest Credit Card with the 75,000 point bonus? Great job. Now you need to work on earning the companion pass and you are almost there! 

Got The Southwest Credit Card, Now Get The Companion Pass 

What's the Southwest Companion Pass? It's the best travel perk in the business. You get to take a friend on all your trips for FREE for two years. Do you need to read that again?

Yep, it's the best travel deal out there! 

And I'm going to help you earn it. Right now is the best time to earn it since Southwest just announced a 75,000 bonus offer on all of their personal credit cards. 

How You Can Earn A BOGO Pass On Southwest Airlines....Fast! 

I have had the Southwest Companion Pass for the past 8 years. I have used it to take family members to the East Coast many, many times for college trips, family events, vacation and more. 

Plus my husband and I went to Cuba with Southwest. 

You can go to the Caribbean, Belize and Costa Rica too. 

Anywhere Southwest flies, you can bring a friend for FREE. 

Amazing, right?

And with sky high airline prices right now, this is a huge deal! 

Okay, so what do you need to do to get the pass? All you need to do is collect 125,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year and bam!

But you are probably saying, wow, that's a lot of travel. 

But here's the rub, you don't need to travel to collect points. There are lots of ways to collect points without ever stepping on a plane. 

The easiest way is to apply for the Southwest personal credit card and earn that 75,000 bonus offer. To earn the offer, you need to spend $5,000 on the credit card within 3 months. If you have any big purchases coming up, property taxes, tuition payments etc., put them on that card. You MUST pay off your credit card though otherwise this doesn't make any sense. We do NOT build up debt here! 

You are eligible to apply for this card IF you do not currently hold a Southwest personal card and have not earned a bonus in the past 24 months. If you do currently have a card, then there is a work around. Cancel your personal card, I know it's tough, wait, 30 days and apply for a new card. Easy!

Not sure which Southwest personal card to apply for, I review all the cards here and give you my choice!

Once you reach the minimum on the personal card, there are lots of ways to earn the rest of the points. FYI, you cannot buy points to earn the companion pass. 

Here are the ways:

1. The easiest and quickest way is to open a Southwest Business card. You must spend $4,000 in the first 3 months to earn the bonus 60,000 or 80,000 points. 

2. Fly on Southwest

3. Use the Southwest Shopping Portal - Look for bonus offers at the stores you shop at anyway. Read more to find out how I navigate these portals! 

4. Refer a friend to the Southwest Credit Card 75,000 Bonus Offer = 20,000 points 

5. Answer a survey

6. Use Southwest hotels or Rocketmiles to earn bonus points on hotel stays 

7. Book a rental car through Southwest 

With all of these ways though, be sure you are not overspending just to earn points. Keep in mind with any travel bonus points, the points won't post to your account until you take the trip. 

There you go, FREE BOGO on Southwest for the rest of this year and next year! 

You must start with the 75,000 bonus offer though and that offer ends July 11th so don't wait. 

Please use my referral link to apply for your card so I can earn the companion pass and bring you amazing travel tips! 

Other Than Flying, How You Can Earn Airline Points

 

This photo is from a cooking class my family and I enjoyed in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I didn't earn points or miles for this class, but there are some great ways to earn points when you dine out. 

Last night, I went out with a group of friends, but the waiter wouldn't accept more than 4 credit cards and there were 15 of us! Argh. 

A few people had cash, amazing! A few people offered to use Venmo. I volunteered super quickly and asked everyone to give me their cash. Then I charged the dinner to my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card that earns 3x points on dining. 

That's just one way you rack up points without flying. 

Here are some more: 

1. Online shopping through portals - I love shopping portals! You can read all about how to maximize shopping portals here. 

2. Hotel booking sites like Rocketmiles 

3. Dining programs - many of the airlines and hotels offer opportunities to link a credit card to their dining program and earn extra points or miles. 

4. Surveys like this one from Avios - many of the airlines and hotels will offer points in exchange for your opinions.

5. Car rentals - many times you can earn bonus points if you link your car rental to your airline mile account. 

6. Airbnb and Delta or Avios - there is a portal that earns Delta or Avios miles when you book an Airbnb. 

If you use the Southwest Shopping Portal, those points count towards the Southwest Companion Pass too if you are trying to earn the pass. 

Remember, every time you spend money, it should be helping you get your next vacation for FREE. 

That's how we do it here at almostfreefamilytravel.com 

Why I'm Waiting To Apply For The Increased Southwest Credit Card Bonus

 

Yes, the Chase Southwest Airlines credit card is offering the best points offer yet. No, don't take the bait and apply quite yet. Here's why. The offer is to spend $2,000 in the first three months and get 50,000 bonus points then spend $12,000 by the end of the year and get another 50,000 bonus points. Pretty sweet! 

The deadline to apply is December 7th. 

Now here's why you should wait until closer to December 7th to apply.....two words, the companion pass. 

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best travel perks around. You earn the pass when you collect 125,000 Southwest points in a calendar year. Then you get the pass for the rest of the year PLUS the following year. 

So if you earn the pass in December 2021, then it's valid for December 2021 and 2022, BUT if you earn the pass in January 2022, it's valid for all of 2022 and 2023. 

So yes, this is a good offer, and yes, I know Southwest gave members in good standing a bonus of 25,000 points, but the best plan is to wait until close to December 7th to apply for the card. Then plan to hit the minimum spend of $2,000 in January and then try to hit the $12,000 as soon as you can. 

To earn the companion pass, you will still need an additional 11,000 points, but you can earn those by flying Southwest, using the shopping portal, using Rocketmiles to book hotels 

There are three personal Southwest Credit Cards, the Plus, Premier, and Priority. You can read here why I think the Priority is actually the best deal even though it carries the highest annual fee. 

If you decide to apply for any of the Southwest credit cards, please use my referral link. 

How You Can Earn A BOGO Pass On Southwest Airlines....Fast!

 

Is Yosemite National Park on your bucket travel list? Beautiful, right? You might want to take a friend, right? With the Southwest Companion Pass, you get to take a friend on all your trips for FREE for two years. Do you need to read that again?

Yep, it's the best travel deal out there! 

And I'm going to help you earn it. Right now is the best time to earn it since Southwest just announced a 75,000 bonus offer on all of their personal credit cards. 

How You Can Earn A BOGO Pass On Southwest Airlines....Fast! 

I have had the Southwest Companion Pass for the past 8 years. I have used it to take family members to the East Coast many, many times for college trips, family events, vacation and more. 

Plus my husband and I went to Cuba with Southwest. 

You can go to the Caribbean, Belize and Costa Rica too. 

Anywhere Southwest flies, you can bring a friend for FREE. 

Amazing, right?

And with sky high airline prices right now, this is a huge deal! 

Okay, so what do you need to do to get the pass? All you need to do is collect 125,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year and bam!

But you are probably saying, wow, that's a lot of travel. 

But here's the rub, you don't need to travel to collect points. There are lots of ways to collect points without ever stepping on a plane. 

The easiest way is to apply for the Southwest personal credit card and earn that 75,000 bonus offer. To earn the offer, you need to spend $5,000 on the credit card within 3 months. If you have any big purchases coming up, property taxes, tuition payments etc., put them on that card. You MUST pay off your credit card though otherwise this doesn't make any sense. We do NOT build up debt here! 

You are eligible to apply for this card IF you do not currently hold a Southwest personal card and have not earned a bonus in the past 24 months. If you do currently have a card, then there is a work around. Cancel your personal card, I know it's tough, wait, 30 days and apply for a new card. Easy!

Not sure which Southwest personal card to apply for, I review all the cards here and give you my choice!

Once you reach the minimum on the personal card, there are lots of ways to earn the rest of the points. FYI, you cannot buy points to earn the companion pass. 

Here are the ways:

1. The easiest and quickest way is to open a Southwest Business card. You must spend $4,000 in the first 3 months to earn the bonus 60,000 or 80,000 points. 

2. Fly on Southwest

3. Use the Southwest Shopping Portal - Look for bonus offers at the stores you shop at anyway. Read more to find out how I navigate these portals! 

4. Refer a friend to the Southwest Credit Card 75,000 Bonus Offer = 20,000 points 

5. Answer a survey

6. Use Southwest hotels or Rocketmiles to earn bonus points on hotel stays 

7. Book a rental car through Southwest 

With all of these ways though, be sure you are not overspending just to earn points. Keep in mind with any travel bonus points, the points won't post to your account until you take the trip. 

There you go, FREE BOGO on Southwest for the rest of this year and next year! 

You must start with the 75,000 bonus offer though and that offer ends July 11th so don't wait. 

Please use my referral link to apply for your card so I can earn the companion pass and bring you amazing travel tips!