Almost FREE travel is the name of the game! And as the year winds down to a close, there are some things you may want to do before Dec. 31st. And if you are working on your Southwest Companion Pass along with me, keep using that card for all your purchases, but watch that minimum spend threshold. 

Here are my top 5 recommendations: 

• The number 1 thing is to use up any benefits that may be ending at the end of the year. 
• At this point, we believe that Chase is ending the pay yourself back program benefit to erase Airbnb purchases, dining and the annual fee with points. You may want to check to see if you have any eligible charges that you can "erase" or make some purchases that you can "erase" before the end of the year. 
• When I went to erase my Airbnb purchases this morning, I saw the grocery purchases were listed again, but at 25% value instead of 50%. So I would recommend erasing those dining and Airbnb purchases immediately to get more value out of your points. 
• Remember to move any points over from your freebie cards like the FREEDOM or INK cards to your higher redemption value cards like the Sapphire Preferred or Reserve. 

Top 5 Things To Do This Week Re: Points And Miles 

• Number 2 - Did you use your travel credits? Check to make sure any credit card travel credits, vouchers, points or miles do not expire at the end of the year. You should be tracking this on a spreadsheet so it's easy to see. 
• Number 3 - I use the end of the year or the beginning of the new year as a time to do a review of all my cards. I decide which ones I would like to keep for another year and which ones I would like to cancel. Remember Southwest allows you to get the bonus once every 24 months and Chase Sapphire once every four years. Capital One is a once in a lifetime bonus. 

Top 5 Things To Do This Week Re: Points And Miles 

• Number 4 - I always use the end of the year or beginning of the new year to set some travel goals for the year and for the following year. Will you travel mostly domestic or international? Do you anticipate some special travel events in the coming year? What are your travel goals for this year and next? What points or miles do you need to accumulate to reach those goals? Now is the time to plan. 

• Number 5 - Before you cancel any cards, be sure to check the benefits. Do you have a Global Entry credit to use before you cancel? How about those Southwest early boarding passes or upgrades? 

The end of the year or January are great times to review strategy and goals. The key to this game is planning early and taking advantage of opportunities. 

Enjoy the holiday season! 

Happy Holidays!

 

Happy Holidays from all of us at almostFREEfamilytravel.com! 

We hope that you enjoy the break and keep working towards earning that Southwest companion pass. 

We have almost reached the minimum spend on both Southwest credit cards, but I will wait until after January 1st to actually hit the minimum. 

The number one mistake people make is hitting that spend too early. Though the close date has passed and we are probably safe, I want to be 100% certain. 

We will chat again in the new year and I can't wait to celebrate with you as we see those Southwest companion passes drop into our account. 

Happy Holidays! 

90,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Bonus on No Fee Ink Cards - Wow!

Small Business Saturday just passed and in honor of that, let's talk about one of the best offers I've ever seen for the Chase Ink Business credit cards. The two FREE cards are offering 90,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points as a bonus and the $95 annual fee card is offering a whopping 100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points as a bonus. Wowza! 

I'll run down the difference between the cards in a minute, but first, I have to share with you why I love Chase Ultimate Reward points and what you can do with all those bonus points. 

This past summer, I took my family to Ireland, you can check out my blog to read all about this amazing country and people. 

But I used Chase Ultimate Reward points to erase the cost of all of our Airbnb stays during the trip, much of our dining and one plane ticket. I love these points because of how flexible they are. You can transfer them to dozens of airlines, Hyatt, Marriott and IHG. You can erase purchases just like a Capital One card. You can buy travel with them in the Chase Travel Portal. Plus if you have a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card, you can combine your Ink CUR points and get even more value. 

So what's this new offer all about? and which card should you choose? 

The Chase Ink Business Unlimited  - No annual fee! 1.5% cash back or 1.5x points on every purchase. 

The Chase Ink Business Cash  - No annual fee! 5% cash back or 5x points at office supply stores, phone, internet, and cable. This is the card I have had for years! 2% or 2x points at gas stations and restaurants and 1% or 1x points at everything else. 

The Chase Ink Business Preferred  - $95 annual fee. 3% cash back or 3x points on shipping, advertising on social media sites, internet, cable and phone services and travel. 1% or 1x points on everything else. 

Look at the types of purchases your business makes to determine which credit card makes sense for you to leverage your spending for maximum points. And remember, your "business" doesn't have to be a Fortune 500 company. A business can easily be selling items on Etsy or Ebay, freelance services, property management, vacation rentals and more. 

You can hold all of these INK cards at the same time, but you can't get the bonus on any of these cards more than once every 24 months. 

And you can transfer your the CUR points from your INK account to your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve card and bam, almostFREEfamilytravel. 

Amazing! 

Please consider using our referral ink if you apply for any of these credit cards. Thank you for your support. 

Last Few Days To Apply for the 75,000 Southwest Bonus

If you haven't applied for the Southwest Airlines credit cards yet, you are running out of time. The 75,000 point bonus offer expires December 5th. If you have been following my posts, you saw that I applied for the Southwest Performance Business credit card AND the Southwest Priority personal credit card. 

The Southwest Performance Business credit card comes with an 80,000 bonus when you spend $5,000 and the Southwest Priority personal credit card comes with a 75,000 bonus when you spend $3,000. I break down the difference between the cards here.

Hefty minimums for sure, but with property taxes, college tuition, holiday shopping and more coming up at the end of the year, it's doable. Plus we don't want to reach the minimum spend until after the December statement closes or January 1st so there's plenty of time. 

We are timing it so that we earn 135,000 Southwest points in the 2023 calendar year and earn the valuable Southwest Companion Pass for 2023 AND 2024. 

The Southwest Companion Pass is a BOGO on ANY Southwest flight as many times as you want for up to two years. And you can change your companion up to 3x per year. 

I applied for the Performance business card because I already have the Premier business card and got the bonus earlier this year. You can hold two business cards at the same time though before the annual fee comes up again, I will cancel the Premier business card. I also need to renew our Global Entry next year and this card comes with a $100 Global Entry credit. If you don't have the Premier yet, I recommend that one because the minimum spend is just $3,000 instead of $5,000. 

I applied for the Priority personal card because it's the best deal. The annual fee is $149, but you get a $75 Southwest credit so that brings the fee down to just $74 and you get 4 upgraded boardings. I will keep this card for two years so it's worth it for all those Southwest flights I plan to take. But all of the personal cards have the same bonus right now so it's really up to you which one you choose. 

Once I reach the minimum spends on these cards, I will earn 80,000+5,000 on the Performance card, 75,000+3,000 on the Priority card plus 10,000 bonus points for having a Southwest credit card. The total will be 173,000 Southwest points which puts me well over the 135,000 points needed for the companion pass. 

Woohoo! That's how we do it here at almostFREEfamilytravel.com. 

Now I just need to figure out where I'm going on my next trip! LOL

If you are playing along and earning your companion pass along with me, please let me know by emailing me at almostfreefamilytravel@gmail.com or posting a comment below. I would love to help you through the process. 

And please consider using my referral link when you apply for your new Southwest cards.