How To Get Buy One, Get One FREE On Southwest, Fast

The Southwest Airlines companion pass is one of the best travel perks out there. If you earn 110,000 points in a single calendar year, you earn the pass for that year and the following year. 

The pass is buy one, get one FREE on any Southwest flight. 

And you can change your companion three times each calendar year.

  Read about how I got mine here. 

For example, I took my son to the East Coast in March to look at colleges. I booked my flight from San Diego to Chicago with points and then added my son as my companion and his flight was FREE. As long as there is an empty seat on the plane, Southwest will allow the companion on board. 

Right now, the new Southwest Performance Business credit card offers an 80,000 point bonus that counts towards the companion pass. If you add in the 5,000 points for the minimum spend, you would only need to earn another 25,000 points to earn the pass. 

110,000 - 80,000 - 5,000 = 25,000

You could earn 25,000 with purchases on your new credit card which earns 3x points for purchases on Southwest Airlines, 2x points on business supplies and 1x points everywhere else. 

In my next post, I'll talk about ways you can earn Southwest points without flying. 

That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com 

How You Can Score 80,000 Southwest Points!

Chase and Southwest Airlines just announced a new business credit card with an 80,000 point bonus! That's crazy and the highest bonus we have ever seen. Plus if you get this bonus, it puts you very close to earning a companion pass. The Southwest companion pass is one of the best travel perks around. Once you collect 110,000 points in a calendar year, you earn the companion pass or buy one get one FREE for the rest of that year and the following year. 
Plus 80,000 points on Southwest can get you and your family a long way. Point values vary for flights depending on the price of the flight. But my flight from Fort Lauderdale to Havana last year only cost 2,956 points each way. 

Let's break it down:

New Performance Business Credit Card

• $199 annual fee 
• $5,000 minimum spend 
• $100 Global Entry credit
• 9,000 points on your anniversary 
• 3x points for purchases on Southwest
• 2x points for purchases on search engine, internet, cable and phone
• 1x points for purchases everywhere else
• 4 upgraded boardings 
• Inflight WIFI

The fine print

You can apply even if you already have the Southwest Premier business credit card 

Chase and Southwest reps will hold a series of business events for business owners to talk about how to grow their businesses. 

Bottom line, if you are under 5/24 and have a small business (I'll write a follow up post with what qualifies as a small business), apply for this card, it's a no brainer. 

Double Points With The Wyndham Shopping Portal

Wyndham is offering 2x points when you shop through its shopping portal. Now I didn't even know Wyndham had a shopping portal and I love shopping portals. 

But I'm glad they do because shopping portals are a great way to build miles and points on airlines and hotels or earn cash back or FREE products. 

I tend to use the shopping portals from Southwest, American Airlines, United Airlines, Ebates now known as Rakuten (If you use my referral link, you will get a bonus discount) and the Marketplace. 

Shopping portals all work the same way, though the cash back or points/miles that you earn from each retailer can vary from portal to portal. You can use cashbackmonitor.com to quickly check rates for a specific retailer. You can see above that through the Wyndham shopping portal, Macy's is offering 1 point per dollar with the bonus. It usually offers .5 points per dollar.

Services are also included in shopping portals with big points/mile bonuses. 

To use a shopping portal:

• Log in to your membership account 
• Find the retailer you want to shop with 
• Click on that retailer, you will be redirected to the retailer's website
• Shop normally and purchase 

Note, you must make your purchase on that redirected website for the tracking to work so you get the points. If you think you lost the tracking by clicking on another website, leave your items in the cart and go back to the shopping portal and repeat the original steps. 

Your items will still be in the cart and the tracking will be turned back on. 

It takes about 1-2 weeks for you to get an email alerting you that you earned points. 

And a few weeks after that for the points/cash back/miles to post. 

How To Get 5% Cash Back On Every Fill Up

Chase just released its new Q3 5% cash back categories for the no annual fee Chase Freedom credit card. Drumroll, please. 

Q3 5% Categories:

• All streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Sirius
• Gas Stations 

Woohoo. Who doesn't like earning 5% back on every fill up. Chase Freedom is a great card to keep in your wallet since it has no annual fee and can earn 1% cash back on every purchase and 5% on rotating categories. You earn Chase Ultimate Reward points which you can cash in for cash back. If you have a Chase Sapphire or Reserve card, you can transfer those Ultimate Rewards to airlines like Southwest. Huge!
You need to activate your Q3 categories by clicking here and entering your last name, zip code and last four digits of your card or you can login to your Chase.com account.
You will have until almost the end of Q3 to activate the categories and it is retroactive.
If you don't have a Chase Freedom card yet, use this referral link to get $150 cash back after you spend $500 in the first 3 months.
If you have the Chase Freedom, think about opening a Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred so you can transfer those great points to airlines.

Woohoo, Got My 100,000 Marriott Points Bonus

Back in February, my husband was offered 100,000 bonus Marriott points if he upgraded his Starwood American Express to the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card and spent $5,000 in the first 3 months. The Brilliant also comes with a 50,000 point certificate for a free night on your anniversary, $300 credit at any Marriott and Global Entry. It carries a hefty $450 annual fee, but with the hotel credit and Global Entry, it's almost a wash. 

Since we had a big event coming up and needed to direct those purchases somewhere, we took advantage of this upgrade. 

I applied for Global Entry and we will use the $300 Marriott credit this summer. 

By the way, since we already had the Starwood American Express card, we would not be eligible to apply for the Brilliant card ever. 

Well, look what arrived in my inbox today:

Woohoo! Next year, we are heading to Santiago, Chile so these points will come in handy to get all four of us there and back for FREE. For every 60,000 Marriott points, we can get 25,000 airline miles. Marriott gives you a FREE 15,000 points for every 60,000 points you transfer to an airline. The transfer ratio is 3 points for 1 mile. 

So this bonus gets us really close to another round trip ticket. Woohoo! 

Always be on the lookout for upgrade offers, they can be super sweet! 

The current offer for the Brilliant card is 75,000 Marriott points with a $3,000 minimum spend plus the $300 Marriott travel credit, Global Entry and the 50,000 night certificate on your anniversary. 

If you would like to apply for this card, please consider using my referral link and help my family get to Chile. 

No More Cruises To Cuba, But You Can Still Go

Add caption

As of today, the Trump administration halted all US cruises to Cuba. The administration says they changed the rules due to Cuba's ongoing support for countries like Venezuela. Whatever the reason, the flow of cruise passengers to the island nation will hurt the thousands of Cubans who are trying to scrape out a living.
More than 800,000 passengers are being affected by this order. Most cruise lines have issued statements saying they will reroute future cruises and refund passengers if they would like to cancel. They are also rerouting ships that were en route to Cuba right now and refunding for paid excursions.
Since 2016, cruising to Cuba has been one of the most popular ways to visit. But here at almostFREEfamilytravel, we do things differently.  We like to spend time in a country, meeting the people, exploring the culture and really digging into the community. And you can still visit Cuba that way. Check out the series of blog posts we wrote last year about visiting Cuba. 

Here's how:

1. Southwest, United, and American fly from Fort Lauderdale to Havana. You can buy your ticket online. Flights in July on Southwest.com were running about $153 each way. Look for sales, tickets can go as low as $100 each way. And if you have the companion pass, buy one, get one FREE on Southwest, you can get a better deal. 

2. After you purchase your flight, the airline will prompt you to buy your visa. DO IT! It costs $50 per person and you will pick it up at the counter when you check in for your flight. Check the box for the "Support The Cuban people" category. Easy. Carry a copy of your itinerary just in case someone asks for it. Remember the rules are you can't lay on the beach in Cuba, you need to talk to the people, visit museums, art galleries, coffee farms and more. 

3. You cannot use credit cards or atms in Cuba so you need to book ahead or take cash. You can change money there, but the rate is the same at the airport or in town and the lines are long so go ahead and change your money at the airport and be done with it. 

4. You can't stay in hotels in Cuba, but you can stay in private homes called casa particulares. You can check my past blog post for my favorites. Book your accommodations on airbnb.com  If you don't have an account, use my link and you will get a discount on your first stay. For me, homestays are the best way to see a country. You are living in someone's home which gives you a chance to see what life is really like and hear the personal stories. Be sure to ask if the owner of the home will include breakfast for 4-5 CUC. Most of the time, they will prepare dinner for you as well for 10 CUC. You should get breakfast every day and at least try the dinner once. 

5. Eat at the paladares or family-run restaurants where a meal will cost you about $10 per person. You are not going to find many food stalls or grocery stores since the country operates on a ration system. Outside of the cities,  there is actually more food available. 

6. Book tours and take FREE walking tours in Vinales, Trinidad and Havana. Check out my blog posts about what to see and do in each city. Use the shared taxi system. 

Even though you can't cruise to Cuba anymore, you can still go and it's an easy country to navigate. And really you can get a more authentic experience by getting off the boat. 

Groupon's New Membership Rewards Program - Is It Worth It?

Groupon is launching a new program called Groupon Select that may save you some money if you shop at the discount website frequently. Groupon offers deals on services, goods, travel and experiences in many different cities. Be sure to look at the fine print on the deals because many involve blackout dates and redirect you to specific websites to register. 

Here's how it works:

1. Join the membership club for the 6 month trial - get the first month FREE and then you will be charged $4.99 per month for 5 months. If you don't cancel at the end of the trial, you will be charged $4.99 a month. My trial offer included a FREE $5 Starbucks card too. 

2. Your membership includes

• FREE Shipping on goods
• 10% off travel 
• 25% off local deals
• 10% off live deals 

Some merchants have opted out of this program. And Groupon says on its website

The following deal types are also not eligible for Groupon Select discounts:

• BeautyNow
• Groupon+
• Goods Marketplace
• Getaways Market Pick

But if this looks good for you, give it a try and let us know how it works. If do not have a Groupon account yet, use my referral code to get the FREE Starbucks offer. If you have a Groupon account already, log in and look for the select promotion.