New Chase Sapphire Offers Are Announced And They Are Big!

 

Wow! Chase just announced three whopper deals on its Sapphire line of credit cards. We will detail these for you and help you decide if you should jump on any of these offers. We knew the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card was undergoing a refresh and you can check the details here to see how you will be affected if you already hold the card. It's good! 

 

Now if you don't have a Chase Sapphire Credit Card yet or if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card, there are some awesome new benefits on this card too plus a 75,000 bonus offer. Not as good as the 100,000 bonus offer that ended in May, but better than the regular 60,000 point offer. 

The new Reserve business credit card has a crazy high minimum spend of $30,000, but if you can swing it, the 200,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points bonus is outstanding. 

You can read here about why we love Chase Ultimate Reward points and their flexibility. 

Let's break down the offer on each card:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred - Bonus offer 75,000 points (valued at $750) with a $5,000 minimum spend in three months. This is our all time favorite travel credit card. Annual fee of $95 and it comes with a $50 hotel credit when you book through the travel portal. You earn 3x points on dining, 3x on online grocery, 2x on travel, 5x on travel booked in the Chase Travel Portal and 1x on everything else. It also comes with a $120 DoorDash credit and points boost when you book in the Chase Travel Portal. 
• Chase Sapphire Reserve - Bonus offer 100,000 points (valued at $1,000) with a $5,000 minimum spend in three months. This was our all time favorite premium travel credit card, but it now has an increased annual fee of $795. We still think it's a great deal, but you need to make certain that you will use the credits to make the high annual fee worth it. We detailed the credits and benefits of the new refreshed card here. 
• Chase Sapphire Reserve Business - Bonus offer 200,000 points with a $30,000 minimum spend in six months. This is a brand new card and if your business can swing the spend, it's a great deal for you. You can squeeze as much as $4,000 value out of those 200,000 points. Plus annual credits on the Chase Travel Portal, DoorDash, Zip Recruiter, Edit Hotels, Google Workspace, Lyft and more. 

Another big change is the 48 month rule. You now are only eligible for a bonus on a Chase Sapphire card once in a lifetime. Chase will alert you when you apply if you are eligible or not. Even though you can technically hold two Sapphire cards at the same time now, you will not be eligible for a bonus if you already hold one. If you have had a Sapphire credit card before, but no longer hold the card, you can apply for one you have never held before and get the bonus. It's similar to the Southwest credit card strategy with personal cards. Another option is to downgrade your Sapphire card to a non Sapphire and then apply for a Sapphire card you have never had before. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? 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 program. Or book a 1:1 consulting call.  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. 

Should You Hang Onto Your Chase Sapphire Reserve?

 

The Chase Sapphire Reserve has been my favorite credit card for quite awhile. Even when the annual fee increased to a whopping $550 a few years ago, I held onto it. But today Chase announced that the annual fee is going up again, this time to $795. So now the question is should you hold onto it? I'll tell you right now, the answer is yes!

Should You Hang Onto Your Chase Sapphire Reserve?

But let's break down the benefits and dig deeper. 

Now worth and value are very personal. What's treasure for me, maybe trash for you. But let's see if we can investigate the changes and benefits and see if it's worth it for me and that might help you decide if it's worth it for you. 

How do I use this card right now? 

• I charge all of my travel and dining to this credit card. Why? 
• Currently, it earns 3x points on dining and travel. It also has amazing travel cancellation, rental and interruption insurance. I made a claim a few months ago and though it took several times uploading the same documents, they eventually reimbursed me. I always charge rental cars to this card because it earns 3x points and has awesome car rental insurance so I can pass on the insurance offered by the rental agency. 
• Moving forward, it will continue to earn 3x points on dining and 4x points on travel booked directly with airlines and hotels. But other travel like car rentals, Airbnbs, and tours will only earn 1x points so that's disappointing. 
•  I combine all of my Chase points onto this card to use them in the Chase Travel Portal. Why?

• Currently, when you book in the portal, you earn 5x points on airlines and 10x points on hotels. When you use your points to purchase, the points are worth 1.5 in the portal. 
• Moving forward, when you book in the portal, you will earn 8x points on all travel purchases booked through the portal. Current cardholders will still be able to get 1.5 value for points in the portal for a two year grace period. But the card is moving towards a "points boost" up to 2x points on certain travel purchases marked with a rocket ship. We are unsure right now how much travel will be eligible for a boost. 
• $300 Travel Credit - I use this credit every year since it is automatically applied to travel purchases. Though it's not really a benefit, it does bring down the annual fee by $300. 
• Moving forward, this credit will remain so it brings the annual fee down to $495. 
• Global Entry credit - you can use this once every four years so it's valued at $30 per year as a benefit. 
• Moving forward, this benefit remains. 
• Priority Pass Lounge and Sapphire Lounge Access - remains a benefit on the Sapphire Reserve. 
• Moving forward, there's no change 
  
• Earns 5x points on Lyft and 10x points on Peloton. 
• Moving forward, there's no change. 

Should You Hang Onto Your Chase Sapphire Reserve?

Other changes: 

• Authorized users - price is going up from $75 to $195 per user. I don't recommend adding authorized users to any cards, but if you want to, Capital One Venture X allows you to add authorized users for free and let's them use the lounge access, but we hear this benefit may be ending. 
• You could only hold one Sapphire card at a time. 
• Moving forward, you can hold both cards at the same time. This could be huge! The Sapphire Preferred has an annual fee of $95 and is one of my favorite cards. I usually advise my couple clients for one person to hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the other to hold the Reserve. Now one person could hold both. Instead of downgrading, you can just apply for the other Sapphire card and get the welcome bonus again. 

• Other new credits:
• $500 credit to use on Edit Hotels (Chase curated list).(split in two $250 credits) A quick search showed most properties were 5 star and came with perks like breakfast and $100 property credit. 
• $300 credit on StubHub or Viagogo
• $300 in monthly Doordash promotions 
• $300 credit at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables (split in two $150 credits)
• $250 annual credit for Apple TV and Music 
• $120 Doordash membership 
• $120 Peloton Membership 
• $120 Lyft in app credits 

If you spend more than $75,000 on the Reserve card annually, then you will earn some added benefits  like status at IHG and Southwest, $500 Southwest travel credit, and $250 credit at The Shops at Chase. 

Chase says the refreshed Chase Sapphire Reserve will offer $2,700 value of benefits, but the question is how many of these benefits will you actually benefit from? 

It's enough to make your head spin, but rest assured, if you already have this card, the new benefits will kick in June 23rd and you won't get charged the increased annual fee until after October 26th 2025 when your annual fee is due.  

So if your annual fee is due July 1st like mine, you will end up in the sweet spot. You will get to enjoy the new benefits until July 2026 and the old benefits until October 26th 2025, but only pay the old annual fee of $550. Then you can decide if you want to pay the increased annual fee next year. 

If you don't have this card yet, you could apply before June 23rd to lock in the $550 annual fee. Right now, it offers 60,000 bonus points for a $5,000 minimum spend. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? 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 program. Or book a 1:1 consulting call.  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. 

#1 Way To Prepare For Southwest Changes Coming Wednesday

 

The day is finally arriving this Wednesday, May 28th. The end of Southwest as we know and love it. Starting this Wednesday, the FREE bag policy is ending. We anticipate that the bag charge will be approximately $35 per bag in line with other airlines. 

Starting soon, you will also be choosing your seat when you book your flight. Though assigned seats do not officially start until early 2026. Travel credits will start to expire as well, but since we always fly on points, we are not worried about that. 

You are probably already seeing some strange pricing happening on the Southwest website and app. 

Hopefully you are taking advantage of some of the strange low fares. I snagged a 6,000 point flight from San Diego to Seattle and pair that with my companion pass and wow! 

If you buy a Business Select ticket or have A List Preferred, you will still get two FREE checked bags. If you have a Southwest credit card or A List, you will still get one FREE checked bag. If you follow my blog and have earned the Southwest Companion Pass, then you have at least one Southwest Credit Card. Your companion will also get a FREE checked bag. 

But since you won't get two FREE checked bags, what's the #1 way to prepare for these changes?

#1 is to stop traveling with checked bags. #teamcarryon all the way. Southwest will still allow a FREE carry on and a FREE personal item. 

If you are saying right now, there is no way I can fit all my stuff in just a carry on, I'm here to help you. 

There are a few methods like 5-4-3-2-1 (5 shirts, 4 pants, 3 shoes, 2 dresses, 1 accessory), but I follow the pack for approximately 7-10 days no matter how long you plan to travel. You can always do laundry. 

You can check out this video to see how I pack my carry on. You will note that I take along a French press too. 

I also bought this nifty personal size backpack that fits under the seat, but holds an extraordinary amount of stuff. You can find it on Amazon for $36.99 in all different colors. 

Bottom line, change is part of life, but the challenge is to find the best value. 

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. Or you can book a 30 minute consult for just $100. We would love to help you! 

How To Visit National Parks With Points and Miles

 

Feeling uneasy about traveling internationally right now, there are so many beautiful places to visit right here in the US including National Parks. And yes, you can use points and miles to visit them. 

Recently, I visited Joshua Tree National Park, it is the 6th most visited park in the US with 3 million visitors every year. The park is located approximately 45 minutes from Palm Springs in the Hi Desert.

The top 10 most popular National Parks are: Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Canyon, Zion, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, Acadia, Grand Teton, Joshua Tree and Olympic. 

And those are just the most popular ones. Some of the smaller yet amazing National Parks include: Canyonlands, Lassen Volcanic, Big Bend, Channel Islands and North Cascades. 332 million people visit the National Parks each year. 

You will need to pay the entry for each park so if you plan to visit 2-3 of them, you should look into purchasing the America The Beautiful annual pass for $80. For seniors, it's just $20 for an annual pass and $80 for a lifetime pass. The pass is FREE for military and fourth graders and their families. 

You could pay a lot to stay inside some of the parks OR there are a handful of hotel chains that are typically located just outside the entrances to the parks. Those chains include Fairfield Inn and Suites by Marriott, Holiday Inn Express by IHG and Sure Stay Plus by Best Western. These hotels usually qualify for FREE night certificates like Marriott's FREE night for 35,000 points. In addition, Holiday Inn is a stay 3, get the 4th night FREE and Marriott is stay 4, get the 5th night FREE. 

If there is no chain near the entrance or you don't have a FREE night certificate, you can also look in the Chase Travel Portal or the Capital One Travel Portal or you can "erase" the hotel with your Capital One Venture credit card. 

For Joshua Tree National Park, I used a FREE night certificate to stay at the Fairfield Inn and Suites in Twenty Nine Palms. It is located about seven minutes outside the park entrance. There is a grocery store across the street from the hotel and a few restaurants nearby including a Chipotle and Starbucks. I prefer the Fairfield Inn and Suites hotels because the rooms can accommodate up to 6 people, there is a pool and includes breakfast. 

Most of these parks are located within driving distance from a city where Southwest flies so you can use points and your Southwest Companion Pass. For example, Joshua Tree National Park is approximately 30 minutes from Palm Springs, 1.5 hours from Ontario Airport and 2.5 hours from Los Angeles, Burbank, John Wayne Airport and San Diego. 

Yellowstone is located a few hours from Salt Lake City and Boise, Idaho. Yosemite is located a few hours from Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose and Fresno. The Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce are located a few hours from Las Vegas. You can also fly into Phoenix to visit the Grand Canyon. 

The biggest expense with a National Park trip is usually renting a car, but if you charge this purchase to your Capital One Venture or Venture X credit card, you get rental insurance and can "erase" the purchase with points. Right now, the Capital One Venture credit card is offering 100,000 bonus points through my special link. You might also try booking your rental car through the Chase or Capital One Travel portal, but I usually find Costco has better rates. 

One of my clients told me she finds great rates through airline offers when she books her flights. But however you make the reservation, be sure to pay for the rental car with a credit card that earns bonus points for travel. Or use a credit card that you are working to earn a bonus offer like the Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 point offer or that you can erase the rental with points. 

Food options can be limited near the National Parks so it's a good idea to carry a cooler with you and stop at a grocery store on the way. Keep plenty of water with you as well since many of the parks can be hot and have long lines during the busy season. 

Some of the parks like Joshua Tree National Park offer ranger tours like the one I took to Keys Ranch, an original homestead inside the park. We spent two hours in a private area inside the park that is only accessible on the tour. The original house, equipment and cars are on the property and Ranger Tom had lots of stories about the miners and park back in the 1930's. The tour is only available October - April and costs $20 per person. 

If you are looking to stay closer to home or in the US this summer, National Parks offer a great escape from the city and are super affordable with points and miles. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? 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 program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

Another Client Success Story: Saved $400 on Last Minute Flights

A client called to ask for help because they needed to take a last minute trip to Austin, Texas, but flights cost over $400 each way. Argh. 

Let's walk through how I found last minute flights for FREE, well, $19. 😂

• My first go-to is usually google flights just to see what's available in the space. Who flies from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. In this case, we see that Frontier, Southwest, United and Alaska. Frontier charges $151 one way, but you would have an almost 10 hour layover in Denver or change planes in Atlanta. Ugh. 

• Next, we look at the Chase Travel Portal because we have a stash of flexible points due to amazing bonus offers like the 100,000 point offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card that is ending May 15th. We can get a flight on American one way for 29,546. The actual cost of the flight is $444 so this isn't bad, but can we do better?

• Next stop, seats.aero. This tool will let you know all the points flights available. The free version will show you flights 60 days out, the paid version will search out almost one year. We see that Alaska is offering flights for just 12,500 plus $19. Bam! 

Another Client Success Story: Saved $400 on Last Minute Flights

But next question, does this client have Alaska Airlines miles? Bilt just added Alaska Airlines as a transfer partner in March 2025 and this client uses his Bilt credit card to pay his rent each month. Woohoo! None of the other flexible points transfer to Alaska Airlines. 

Once the client logs into his Alaska Airlines account, he finds that he already has 7,500 miles in his account, yes! Another reason we love our personal tracker from the Almost FREE Family Travel coaching program so you can keep track of your points and miles. No surprises. 

Another Client Success Story: Saved $400 on Last Minute Flights

The client transferred just 5,000 points from his Bilt account to Alaska Airlines and booked the flight for 12,500 and $18 taxes. Wow! 

That's how we do it here and that's why we love flexible points. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? 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 program. 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities. 

Have Southwest Flight Credits? Stop Giving Southwest Your Money

 

I met with a client recently who asked me why Southwest Airlines charged her 23,000 points and $185 for a round trip flight from San Diego to Phoenix. She logged into her account so we could investigate and I noticed she had $1,372 in flight credits on Southwest. 

So now I was wondering "why was she giving Southwest any money at all?"

First, let's look at how she accumulated so many travel credits in the first place. 

How do you get travel credits on Southwest?

When you buy a flight with cash as opposed to points on Southwest and then cancel that flight, Southwest does not return your funds to your credit card instead it issues you a travel credit. 

If the price of your flight goes down and you change the flight to get the better fare, if you paid with cash, then you would get a travel credit for the difference.

Have Southwest Travel Credits? Stop Giving Southwest Your Money 

If you click on the "my account" tab inside your Southwest online account and scroll all the way to the bottom you will see your flight credits. If you always fly using points like I do, you will have no flight credits. 

But if you pay cash for flights and cancel, you will see this.

Most of the time, flight credits are not transferable which means they must be used by the same passenger as the original ticketed passenger. And starting May 28th 2025, travel credits will expire in 6-12 months depending on the type of fare. 

Have Southwest Flight Credits? Stop Giving Southwest Your Money 

If you have flight credits, then you should use them. Definitely stop giving Southwest your money and buying flights with cash. Even if you have points, use your travel credits first since you can use points for anyone and you can only use flight credits for the original passenger. 

To use flight credits, when you get to the payment section for your flight, scroll down and click apply flight credits. You will need your confirmation number which is a jumble of numbers and letters listed in the flight credits section of "my account." You can use several flight credits to pay for single flight.  

In the future, always use points to book Southwest flights. That's why we love flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt points. You can transfer those to Southwest 1:1 if you need more Southwest points. If you book with points, you will never be stuck with those pesky flight credits. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? 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 program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

Just Got Word....My Favorite Card Is Ending It's 100,000 Bonus Offer Soon 💗

Just got word that the 100,000 bonus point offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card will be ending soon. We don't know when soon is, but if you are thinking about this one. Do not wait! 

This my favorite card and Chase Ultimate Rewards are my favorite points. 

Just Got Word....My Favorite Card Is Ending It's 100,000 Bonus Offer Soon 💗 

What can you do with 100,000 Chase points? Here are some real examples:

• I flew from Athens to LAX for 15,000 Chase points + $90 taxes 
• My daughter and I flew from LAX to Medellin, Colombia for 54,000 Chase points round trip booked in the Chase Travel Portal. 
• I could transfer the points 1:1 to dozens of airlines including Southwest Airlines, what could you do with 100,000 Southwest points? How about 5 round trip flights to New York? Add the Southwest companion pass and wow! 
• I could transfer those points to Hyatt and stay at the Hyatt Regency Maui or Hyatt Vacation Club Ka'anapali for four nights. 

• Go off peak and stay at the Hyatt Place Waikiki and you could stretch those points to 7 nights FREE. 

Check out these other ways to squeeze more value out of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. 

If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you could stretch those bonus points even further. 

The current bonus offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a $5,000 minimum spend in three months. This card has a $95 annual fee, but comes with a $50 hotel credit. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? 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 program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

Great News! Bilt Adds Southwest As A Transfer Partner

 

If you are renting, you should have a Bilt credit card! You can read all about the Bilt card here. For renters, it is a no brainer way to rack up flexible points every month. Those points can be transferred just like Chase Ultimate Reward points, Citi points, Amex points and Capital One points to dozens of airlines and hotels.

Great News! Bilt Adds Southwest As A Transfer Partner

 

And now Bilt has added Southwest Airlines as one of its transfer partners. 

The only other flexible points you can transfer to Southwest Airlines are Chase Ultimate Reward points. 

The points transfer 1:1 meaning 1 Bilt point = 1 Southwest point same as Chase Ultimate Reward points to Southwest points. 

The points do not count towards the Southwest Companion Pass. 

Let's say you spend $2,500 per month on rent. If you pay your rent through the Bilt app with your Bilt credit card, you will earn $2,500 Bilt points or 2,500 Southwest points per month. You need to make at least 5 transactions per month on your Bilt credit card to qualify.  

So after three months, you would have 7,500 Bilt points which you could transfer to Southwest and use them for flights like three one way flights from San Diego to San Francisco. Now that Southwest Travel Credits expire, you should always use points to buy flights. If you use points on Southwest and cancel a flight, the points are returned to your account. Southwest points never expire. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? 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 program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

What To Do When You Get Pending On Your Credit Card Application

 

You press the submit button for the Southwest credit card application and the wheel starts spinning and then you get the dreaded "pending review" message. Argh. 

The next message says you will receive a letter in 7-10 days regarding your application decision. Argh

What To Do When You Get Pending On Your Credit Card Application 

So now what? Lately, several of my clients have received these messages and then just this week, I got them too. Argh. 

But don't give up. Here's what you need to do. There are a few reasons why your credit card application may end up in review. 

1. Too much credit 

2. Not enough income 

3. 5/24 or too many credit cards opened 

Reason #1 - the easiest to reconcile. If you call the reconsideration line for the Chase Southwest credit card 888 270 2127 and 800 278 8830, the representatives will usually advise you to move credit lines around or close a few cards. 

Reason #2 - you can use both your salary, your partner's salary and your business income so let the representative know that you have more income you can add to  your application. 

Reason #3 - offer to close some credit cards. Never close your oldest card, but maybe some no annual fee cards that you just never got around to closing. 

Then the representative will resubmit your application and you wait again. 

What To Do When You Get Pending On Your Credit Card Application 

Right now, you can get 50,000 - 80,000 Southwest points for opening a personal or business credit card. You can only hold one personal Southwest credit card at a time, but you can actually hold both business cards. 

You can read here about the easiest way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass which is BOGO flights for up to two years. It's the best travel perk around and the way things are going with changes to Southwest, it may not be around forever. 

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 program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

 

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. 

Why Southwest's Big Changes Don't Matter To Me

 

I'm seeing that a lot of people are very angry and upset over Southwest Airlines big announcement regarding baggage fees and the way we earn points when we fly. 

Why Southwest's Big Changes Don't Matter To Me 

Southwest announced that they are joining other airlines and starting May 2025 will be charging for checked bags. We don't know the price yet, but the going rate is $35 per bag. Only A-List and Business Select fares will get two FREE checked bags. 

If you are a Southwest credit card holder, you will also get a FREE checked bag. Right now, you can apply for any Southwest personal credit card and get 30,000 bonus points plus a companion pass valid through February 28, 2026. This is a good offer, but I can show you how to get 135,000 points and the companion pass for almost two years in my Travel Coaching Program. Bonus, anyone on your reservation including your companion on your pass will get their own FREE checked bag. 

Southwest announced that it is modifying how many points you earn when you fly. In fact, this started already on March 4th 2025. 

Why Southwest's Big Changes Don't Matter To Me 

But for me and my clients in the Travel Coaching Program, these changes don't matter much. Let me tell you why. 

First, we don't check luggage. Yes, I know sometimes, you have to if you are moving a child across the country or moving things to other places. But in general, we believe that traveling lighter is better. So we are on TEAM CARRYON all the way. In fact, we recently tried traveling to a conference with just a personal item. You can read about that adventure here. And if you really need a checked bag, don't worry. Since we help our clients earn a Southwest Companion Pass, the best travel perk around, that would equal two FREE bags. You are right, it's still less than the four bags you get currently, but it's more than zero. 

Second, we don't pay cash for flights. Period. As a rule, we also don't earn points for flying on Southwest because we fly for FREE. So whether passengers earn 2 points per mile or 6 points per mile, it doesn't matter to us since we don't earn any points when we fly. We earn points in different ways. 

If you are interested in learning more about how we earn points and fly for FREE or how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, check out my Travel Coaching Program. I would love to meet you!