How To Get A Southwest Companion Pass Fast

Southwest is back with another fast track to a Companion Pass 🎉

This time, you only need one Southwest personal credit card. Meet the minimum spend, and you’ll earn a Companion Pass valid through February 28, 2027 — plus a stash of Rapid Rewards points.

The exact bonus and spending requirement depend on which card you choose (details below). But first, a quick refresher.

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the strongest perks in domestic travel. It’s essentially a buy-one-get-one benefit: when you book a paid or award ticket with Southwest Airlines, your companion flies for just the taxes and fees. There are no blackout dates, and you can use it as often as you want. You’re also allowed to change your designated companion up to three times per calendar year.

Normally, you’d need to earn 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a single calendar year to qualify. This offer shortcuts that requirement.

I’ve used the Companion Pass to offset the cost of college visits, family trips, and quick weekend getaways — it adds up quickly. ✈️

Here’s how the current card options compare:

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Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card

• Companion Pass valid through February 28, 2027

• 20,000 bonus points

• $3,000 minimum spend

• $99 annual fee

Key perks:

• First checked bag free

• Complimentary standard seat within 48 hours of departure

• 10% promo code

• 3,000 anniversary points

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Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card

• Companion Pass valid through February 28, 2027

• 30,000 bonus points

• $4,000 minimum spend

• $149 annual fee

Key perks:

• First checked bag free

• Complimentary preferred seat within 48 hours of departure

• 15% promo code

• 6,000 anniversary points

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Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card

• Companion Pass valid through February 28, 2027

• 40,000 bonus points

• $5,000 minimum spend

•  $229 annual fee

Key perks:

• First checked bag free

• Complimentary preferred seat at booking

• Extra legroom seat within 48 hours of departure

• 7,500 anniversary points

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A few important notes before you apply:

• You’re only eligible for a personal card welcome bonus once every 24 months, so double-check your timeline.

• Make sure a Companion Pass valid through early 2027 fits your travel plans. In some cases, it may make more sense to pursue the traditional Companion Pass strategy, which can stretch benefits close to two full years depending on timing.

If you already have trips in mind for 2026 and early 2027, this is a straightforward way to lock in significant savings. 💙

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? I can plan your entire trip using your points and miles or offer a 30 minute consult to answer questions or you can  download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

How to Attend a Destination Wedding in Cancun (Without Blowing Your Budget)

 TRS Coral Costa Mujeres, a Registry Collection Hotel

How to Attend a Destination Wedding in Cancun (Without Blowing Your Budget)

Beautiful Cancun, Mexico 🌊
Destination weddings are more popular than ever. For the bride and groom, they often mean a stunning setting and a more affordable celebration. For guests, though, they can quickly turn into a pricey commitment once you factor in flights, hotel minimums, and resort rates.

So what do you do when you’re invited to a destination wedding—but don’t want to drain your savings? Here’s exactly how I approached a recent invitation and ended up saving thousands.

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The wedding hotel reality check

We were invited to a wedding at the TRS Coral Costa Mujeres—gorgeous, no question. The couple reserved a wedding room block at a “special” rate of $408 per night 😬
But there was a three-night minimum stay.

That’s over $1,200 before flights or transfers.

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Step one: look beyond the wedding block

A quick search showed that TRS Coral Costa Mujeres is an all-inclusive Wyndham property. On the Wyndham website, rooms were priced a bit more than the wedding rate—but with no three-night minimum 👀

Even better:

• Rooms were available for 30,000 Wyndham points per night

I already had 18,000 Wyndham points, so I was part of the way there. But how do I gather enough points?

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Step two: run the math on buying points

Wyndham offered me the option to buy points with a 45% discount. To cover three nights, I’d need an additional 72,000 points, which would cost $514.

For three nights at an all-inclusive? $514 is already a huge improvement over $1,200.

But could I do better? Of course.

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Step three: stack promos and transfers

Wyndham was also running an 80% bonus on purchased points. Buying 72,000 points would cost about $520—roughly the same.

Then I asked the most important question:
Do any flexible points transfer to Wyndham?

✔️ Yes—Capital One and Citi Thank You transfer 1:1.

I had 14,000 Capital One points. If I transferred those to Wyndham, I’d only need to buy 58,000 points, dropping my cost to about $420 💡

The points sale runs through February 18th, so there’s also time to:

• Shop through the Wyndham Shopping Portal to earn more points

• Keep earning points on my Capital One card

• Reduce the number of points I need to buy

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Step four: consider staying fewer nights

What if I stayed at the wedding hotel for just two nights?

• Two nights = 60,000 points

• With just Wyndham points, I’d need 42,000 additional points
  → Cost: about $300

• With the Capital One points transfer to Wyndham, I would need 28,000 additional points
  → Cost: about $200

But is that the best value for my Capital One points? or does it make more sense to pay the $300 and use Capital One points to erase other travel purchases like the shuttle or flights? 14,000 Capital One points will erase a $140 travel purchase and I will have 90 days to continue erasing. Unfortunately, purchases to buy points do not usually code as travel so they cannot be "erased".

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Step five: mix in another hotel

So where would I stay the remaining nights? Easy.

I checked the Chase Travel Portal and found:

• InterContinental Presidente Cancun Resort by IHG for 18,428 Chase points

• I could use the $250 Sapphire Reserve IHG hotel credit and pay just 6,000 Chase points. 

  
  
  
  
  

I could:

• Stay three nights for 35,000 Chase points + the $250 Sapphire Reserve IHG hotel credit, or

• Use my IHG credit card free night + 8,000 points for one night 🏨and the $250 Sapphire Reserve IHG hotel credit for a the second night. 

• There were also several Edit hotels in the area where I could use my Chase Sapphire Reserve Edit credit and points. 

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The takeaway

With a little flexibility and some points strategy, I turned a $1,200 hotel stay into a much smaller out-of-pocket cost—while still staying at the wedding resort and celebrating with the couple 🥂

Destination weddings don’t have to wreck your travel budget. Celebrate the bride and groom—and keep your savings intact.

Right now, there is a hot 75,000 bonus offer on the Capital One Venture credit card, you can read about it here. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Talk to me about your next trip and I'll figure out the best way to use your points and miles, Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

How To Get A Whoop Device Membership For FREE

Chase is at it again. 😄 Lately, the Sapphire cards have been piling on credits and perks — and if you’re paying attention, it’s getting easier to squeeze real value out of them.

We recently covered how to use the Chase Sapphire Reserve credits (Edit, Dining, StubHub, and the Hotel Credit) for an almost-free trip to Las Vegas 🎰. And we also talked about the $50 promotional travel credit on the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which stacks nicely with the card’s annual hotel credit.

Now there’s a new perk in the mix: Whoop.

New Chase perk: Whoop memberships 🏃‍♀️⌚

Chase Sapphire cards now include offers for Whoop, the health and fitness tracker that monitors things like:

• Sleep

• Stress

• Recovery

• Activity and strain
  …all day, every day.

Here’s what Chase is offering

Chase Sapphire Reserve

• Free one-year “Life” membership

• Listed value: $359

Chase Sapphire Preferred

• $100 off the “One” membership

• Membership price: $149 (before the discount)

Important: activate first ⚠️

You must activate the offer inside Chase Offers in your Chase.com account before you buy.

Quick note from my own experience: the Whoop offer didn’t show up immediately for me. I had to type “Whoop” into the search bar inside Chase Offers to find it.

Hot tip: stack it with the free trial 💡

Whoop offers a one-month free trial, which is a great way to test it out before committing.

If you go this route, make sure you:

• Purchase your membership before the trial ends so you can choose the Life membership, or

• Cancel in time so you don’t get auto-enrolled and charged for the PEAK membership ($239)

Because yes… that part happens fast. 😅

If you’ve been curious about Whoop, this is one of the better ways to try it without paying full price.

If you don't have a Chase Sapphire credit card yet, the Reserve is offering 125,000 bonus right now and the Preferred is offering 75,000 bonus. Talk to me first though to confirm these cards make sense for you. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? I can plan your entire trip using your points and miles or offer a 30 minute consult to answer questions or you can  download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

Have You Used Your Chase Sapphire Preferred $50 Travel Credit Yet?

Have you used your $50 Chase Sapphire Preferred promotion in the Chase Travel Portal yet? ⏳ It expires in June 2026, so it’s worth using sooner rather than later.

Last year, Chase started giving new (and “new-ish”) Sapphire Preferred cardholders a free $50 credit to use on any purchase in the Chase Travel Portal — and now that promo is approaching its expiration date. Don’t let it quietly disappear!

Where to find the Chase Travel Portal 🧳

The Chase Travel Portal lives inside your Chase.com account and includes:

• ✈️ Flights

• 🏨 Hotels

• 🎟️ Activities

• 🚢 Cruises & tours

• 🚗 Rental cars

You can pay with cash or Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and in many cases you’ll still earn bonus points when booking. It’s run through a third-party booking platform, but you still have Chase Travel support if something goes sideways.

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How to use the $50 promotion 💳

1. Log in to your Chase.com account

2. Click Redeem points to enter the travel portal

3. Search for your flight or hotel stay

4. Click the option you want and add it to your cart

5. If you have the promo, you’ll see “Promotion available” under the trip total

6. Click to apply it

7. The total will drop by $50, and you can still use points to cover the rest

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A real example (because numbers make this fun) 😄

A client recently booked a flight for $234 in the portal, applied the $50 promotion, and used 18,672 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (still worth 1.25¢ each in the portal). Older points are worth 1.25 through the end of 2027. New earned points are only worth 1x in the portal. 

So she paid just $0 for the flight. Woohoo. 🎉

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One important note 👀

You usually won’t see the promotion until something is in your cart. But once it shows up, you can toggle it on and off while you’re deciding — it doesn’t lock in until you actually purchase.

So if you’ve got that $50 sitting there, go grab yourself a discounted flight, hotel night, or even an activity. Future-you will be glad you did. 😊

If you don't have a Chase Sapphire credit card yet, the Reserve is offering 125,000 bonus right now and the Preferred is offering 75,000 bonus. Talk to me first though to confirm these cards make sense for you. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? I can plan your entire trip using your points and miles or offer a 30 minute consult to answer questions or you can  download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

Visiting The Last Divided City In The World

Nicosia—also known as Lefkosia—is the last divided capital city in the world. The southern, Greek Cypriot side and the northern, Turkish Cypriot side have been separated since 1974, when the Turkish invasion led to the creation of the UN Buffer Zone, known as the Green Line.

If you’re visiting Cyprus, I highly recommend setting aside a half day (or a full day if you like to wander) to explore Nicosia. It’s an easy and rewarding side trip.

Pedestrian checkpoint in Nicosia/Lefkosia

Crossing between the two sides is straightforward: just bring your passport and use one of the designated pedestrian checkpoints. Once you cross, the shift in atmosphere is immediate—architecture, language, and daily rhythms reflect very different cultural influences.

On the Nicosia side of the city

On the Cypriot side, credit cards are widely accepted. After crossing into the Turkish side, however, cash is much more useful. Bring extra euros with you; there’s no need to exchange money for Turkish lira 💶.

On the Lefkosia side of the city

English and Greek are commonly spoken on the southern side, but once you cross into northern Lefkosia, expect Turkish to be the primary language.

Both sides offer plenty to see, especially within the old city walls. Walk along Ledra Street, which leads directly to the pedestrian-only checkpoint and makes crossing on foot simple 🚶‍♀️.

Inside the Selimiye Mosque

On the northern side, don’t miss the former St. Sophia Cathedral—now the Selimiye Mosque—along with Büyük Han and the Cyprus Museum 🕌. These sites offer helpful context for the area’s layered history.

You’ll find some pricey guided walking tours advertised, but exploring independently is very doable. The city is compact, signage is clear, and getting around on foot is easy. Public buses also run about once an hour from Larnaca and other coastal cities, making Nicosia an accessible addition to your itinerary 🚌.

Cyprus itself is a beautiful Mediterranean island, easily accessible from Athens. It offers miles of sandy beaches, resort hotels, delicious restaurants and historical sites. The Troodos mountains offer wineries, mountain villages and monasteries. 

If you are open to staying at a hostal, the Le Mat Hostal, is located in one of the oldest buildings just one block off the beach in Larnaca. It offers dorm style and private rooms all with shared bathrooms. There is no breakfast included, but there is a kitchen available with refrigerator space for guests. There is a lovely common courtyard with social activities offered. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Book a 1:1 consulting call, download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities.

A Change to Capital One Venture X Lounge Access 😕

 

Priority Pass lounge in Las Palmas, Canary Islands

And now for a bit of disappointing news ✈️

As of February 1, Capital One Venture X removed complimentary lounge access for authorized users 😥

Previously, authorized users could access:

• Capital One Lounges in Denver, Las Vegas, Washington DC (Dulles and Reagan), JFK, and Dallas

• Priority Pass lounges worldwide

That perk is now gone for authorized users, and guest access is more limited as well.

Capital One Lounge Denver

Why I’m Still Keeping the Card 💳

Even with this change, I’m holding onto my Venture X. The math still works:

• $395 annual fee

• $300 annual travel credit

• 10,000 anniversary bonus miles (worth about $100)

That essentially offsets the annual fee.

On top of that:

• All purchases earn 2x points

• It pairs well with other cards for everyday spending

• Transfer partners are strong

• The travel eraser makes using points simple and flexible

Still, the loss of lounge access for authorized users—and tighter guest rules—is frustrating. Some cardholders are hoping this leads to shorter lounge lines 🤞, but that remains to be seen.

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So What Are Your Options Now? 🧳

If you travel with authorized users or guests, here’s what you can do:

1. Buy lounge access for authorized users
You can add annual lounge access for authorized users for $125 per person.
I plan to do this for my three kids, but the nice part is you don’t have to activate it right away—so you can wait until they actually need it.
To add this, log into your account and select “Manage Users.”

2. Pay per visit for guests
If someone is traveling with you:

• $45 per adult

• $25 per child

• Kids under 2 are free 👶

3. Have your travel partner apply for their own Venture X
If your partner applies for their own card:

• You can earn 10,000 bonus miles with a referral 🎉

• They’ll get their own lounge access, no guest fees required

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While this change definitely takes away some of the shine, the Venture X can still make sense—especially if you value simple earning, flexible points, and strong travel credits.

If you don't have a Capital One credit card yet, be sure to look at the hot bonus offer on the Venture credit card which can save you at least $1,000 off your next flight or hotel. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? I can plan your entire trip using your points and miles or offer a 30 minute consult to answer questions or you can  download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

Hurry! Earn A Mini Southwest Companion Pass

Wow—Southwest just dropped a new mini Companion Pass offer, and this one comes with a tight deadline ⏰.

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the most valuable perks in travel. It’s essentially a buy-one-get-one flight: you can bring a companion on any Southwest flight for just the cost of taxes and fees. You can use it as many times as you want during the valid period, and you’re even allowed to change your companion up to three times. That flexibility alone makes it a standout perk 👍

Normally, you’d need to earn 135,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points in a single calendar year to earn the Companion Pass, which is then valid for the rest of that year and the following year. But a few times a year, Southwest releases a shorter-term version—often much easier to earn.

That’s exactly what’s happening right now. Here are the details 👇

How this mini Companion Pass works:

• Register here for the promotion

• Purchase a round-trip flight or two one-way flights by Thursday, February 5th 2026

• Complete travel by March 31st

• Earn a Companion Pass valid from August 10th through October 7th

This timing could be especially useful if you’re helping a child move into college this fall or family weekend 🎓. I’ve used the Companion Pass to fly around the country for college visits, and the savings really added up.

A few important things to know:

• If you already have flights booked for February or March, you’ll need to cancel and rebook to qualify—so make sure the math works for you.

• You can pay with cash or a combination of cash and points, and all fare types count.

One strategy is to look for inexpensive flights from your home airport. A few years ago, I booked a quick round-trip to Phoenix just to qualify—my flight was about $100. That single trip unlocked thousands of dollars in value from the Companion Pass 💰

If your plans line up, this is a solid opportunity to grab one of Southwest’s best benefits with minimal effort. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? I can plan your entire trip using your points and miles or offer a 30 minute consult to answer questions or you can  download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities.