Did you Earn the Southwest Mini Companion Pass?

 

When I saw this promotion pop up in September, I jumped on it. Two one-way flights or one round trip and you get a promotional companion pass good for two months, count me in! I told you to jump on it too. For families, the Southwest Companion Pass is the number one secret to FREE travel. It's a buy one, get one FREE ticket on every flight you take during the life of the pass. 

Did you Earn the Southwest Mini Companion Pass? 

The regular companion pass is good for the year you earn it and the following year. In the next few weeks, we will start to talk about how to earn that pass for 2022 and 2023. There are some strategies you need to follow so that you earn the pass in January and max its value. 

I have had the companion pass for the past six years and have written numerous posts about it. The pass has saved me thousands of dollars on many trips cross country. 

When I saw the promotion back in September, I looked at cities with short and cheap flights from my home airport of San Diego. Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Oakland are usually pretty inexpensive. I found flights to Phoenix for just $49 each way so I booked a one-day round trip ticket. 

Yesterday, I took a 10am flight to Phoenix, had a wonderful lunch with a dear friend, and took the 5:30pm flight back in time for dinner at home with the family. 

And this morning, I received an email from Southwest, bam, I earned the mini pass. Woohoo!

The promotional Companion Pass is only good for two months, just January and February 2022. However, for me, it will bridge the gap until I can earn the regular pass. Plus I already have one trip planned to the East Coast, now the big question is where else should I go? and who should I take with me?

Southwest Companion Pass: Best Travel Perk In The Industry

If you don't have a Southwest Credit Card yet, you may want to take advantage of the new bonus offer 50,000 points for just a $2,000 minimum spend and another 50,000 bonus when you spend $12,000 in the first year. This bonus is being offered on all 3 of the Southwest personal cards. To figure out which card is right for you, check out my blog post. If you have a business, there are a few options for you too that come with increased bonuses of 60,000 and 80,000 points with minimum spend of $5,000.  These points also count towards the Southwest Companion Pass. 

Now is the time to apply for this card, but don't charge anything to the card yet. That's the first strategy towards earning the Southwest Companion Pass. 

And when you decide to apply for one of these cards, please consider using my referral link. 

Why I Love The Priority Pass

 

On a recent trip cross country, we had a quick layover in St. Louis. Even though it was only about one hour, we dropped into the Priority Pass lounge, Wingtips, in Terminal 2 across from Gate E29. The Priority Pass lounge network features 1,300 lounges around the world and is a free benefit with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card 

I always check to see if there are lounges available in the airports when I fly. Besides snacks, drinks, and a quiet place to charge cell phones, the lounges offer a place to sit down. The pass is good for the holder plus one guest. 

Sometimes the lounge may not be a lounge at all, it could be a credit at a restaurant in the airport. If that's the case, the pass is valid for $28 for the pass holder and their guest. Wow! 

A few years back I flew out of JFK to London Gatwick. There is an amazing restaurant in JFK Terminal 8 Bobby Van's Steakhouse that is on the lounge pass. My daughter and I feasted on a full dinner before boarding our red-eye flight across the pond. Our bill came to $5 and that's only because we ordered a dessert. 

On the way back, we stopped at the Grain Store Cafe and Bar in London Gatwick South Terminal. Whew, we had a hard time spending our $28 credit each. We ended up loading up on croissants and desserts to bring home to the family. 

Lounges vary from airport to airport in quality and offerings, but sometimes you luck out. 

The Priority Pass is a FREE perk with the following credit cards:

• Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Citi Prestige Card 
• The Platinum Card from American Express
• The Business Platinum Card From American Express 
• Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card 
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card 
• US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card
• Hilton Honors American Express Surpass Card 
• Hilton Honors American Express Business Card 

Note that the American Express cards do not have restaurant benefits. My favorite card which you probably know by now is the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Right now, that card is offering 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in three months. It carries a $550 annual fee but includes a $300 travel credit, $100 global entry credit, %15 off Lyft, and $60 Door Dash credit. If the Reserve is too much, try the Sapphire Preferred card, it does not include Priority Pass membership, but it is a great card. Though the offer has changed, you can read about why I love this card so much. 

Chase Travel Portal Adopts A New Booking Service

 

The Chase Travel Portal is one of my favorite ways to redeem Ultimate Reward Points especially if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve credit card. You can read more about this here. The portal has relied on Expedia for its booking service. There were a couple of hiccups with this service which excluded discount airlines like Frontier and Southwest and the inability to include your loyalty rewards number for hotels. 

Chase Travel Portal Adopts A New Booking Service

But now Chase is dropping Expedia for CX Loyalty, it's the same booking site that Citi uses so you might be familiar with it. By the way, Chase bought the service back at the end of 2020 and actually used the service prior to 2018 when it switched to Expedia. 

The new portal is slowly being rolled out to Chase customers in the next few days. Here's a sneak peek, we will do a deep dive in the next few weeks. 

The first thing you will notice is that more airlines are listed including Spirit and Frontier. You will still need to call to book on Southwest and Allegiant. 

The other difference is when booking a hotel, the service asks for your hotel loyalty number which gives us hope that we may get credit when using a third-party site. We will have to wait and see on that one. 

More details as the service rolls out and we can do a deep dive. 

If you don't have the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve credit card yet, please consider using my referral link to apply. Right now, you can get a 60,000 point bonus which is valued at $750 FREE travel through the portal plus a $50 hotel credit. Pretty sweet! 

How To Do A Weekend Trip To Catalina Island

Catalina Island, the most Southern Channel Island, is located just 26 miles off the coast of Orange County in Southern California, but once on the island, you could be anywhere in the world. The island has the feel of the Caribbean or the Greek Islands. Picture lots of palm trees, beautiful ocean, houses hanging from the hillside, and drinks with little umbrellas in them. 

We went for an overnight kayak camping trip, but lots of people on the ferry were just hopping over to the island for the day. 

The island is easy to get to by the Catalina Express and the Catalina Flyer ,both carry passengers from the mainland to the island. The Catalina Express travels from San Pedro, Long Beach, and Dana Point to Avalon and Two Harbors. The Catalina Flyer travels from Newport Beach to Avalon. 

We opted for the Flyer and it could not have been easier. We found a coupon online so a roundtrip ticket cost $49.50 per person. The first ferry of the day left at 9am, the company asked us to arrive at 8am and the line was already long. There is long-term parking available two blocks away from the dock. Easy. The last ferry of the day left Avalon at 4:30pm and the company asked that we get in line at 4pm. 

The ferry ride was about one hour long and pretty calm. On the way back, the captain spotted two humpback whales and hundreds of dolphins so he stopped the ferry so we could get a better look. Pretty sweet! 

The town of Avalon has plenty of hotels, restaurants, shops, and rental companies. Activities on the island include kayaks, paddleboards, scuba, hiking, jet ski, zip line, casinos, golf, and a glass-bottom boat. You can also go on a bison tour. Catalina is home to about 150 bison or buffalo that were left behind after a movie shoot in the 1920's. 

Our group was going on a kayaking adventure so we brought everything along with us on the ferry in backpacks. Once we landed in Avalon, we walked about 15 minutes to the Descanso Beach Club to pick up kayaks with storage holds. Descanso Beach Club offers rentals and tours. Each storage kayak costs approximately $80 for a two-day/one-night rental. 

All the campsites on Catalina are private so you have to make a reservation through www.visitcatalinaisland.com. Five of the campsites are accessible by land and 11 are boat-in only. Keep in mind, the boat-in campgrounds do not have any services so you have to bring in everything even water. 

This was our first try at kayak camping so we opted for the closest boat-in campground called Willow Cove. After about a one-hour kayak, we arrived at the beautiful beach. This was our view! We landed our kayaks and set up camp. Because it's so dry, campfires are not allowed. But we brought along a jet boil so we had plenty of hot water. 

The snorkeling was pretty good, with lots of seagrasses, garibaldis, opaleye, and small silverfish. Overnight, we could hear the water lapping up on the shore from our tents. So relaxing, we slept in. 

I highly recommend an overnight trip to Catalina. Remember that many recreation activities will post as travel on your credit card so use the right card to maximize points. 

Last Chance For The Marriott Bonvoy Big Bonus

 

Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Offers end November 3rd. So if you don't have any of these co-branded cards yet, you may want to take a look. Marriott Bonvoy points are in my top three because you can transfer them to dozen of airlines at 3:1 with a 5,000-mile bonus so 60,000 Marriott Bonvoy points equal 25,000 airline miles. 

 Of course, you can use the points at thousands of hotels worldwide. 

Chase and American Express Bonus Offers

The bonus is on Chase and American Express co-branded cards and a mix of business and personal cards. The Chase cards are:

Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless - 125,000 bonus points when you spend $5,000 minimum plus one FREE hotel night for 50,000 points. This card comes with a FREE 35,000 hotel night on your anniversary and only carries a $95 annual fee. 

Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold - 60,000 bonus points when you spend $2,000 minimum. This is a no annual fee card. 

The American Express cards are: 

American Express Marriott Bonvoy Business - This offer is currently 125,000 bonus points plus two FREE hotel nights valued at 50,000 points each. There is a $125 annual fee. If you decide to apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express, please use my referral link 

American Express Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant - The bonus right now is 150,000 points and a FREE night valued at 85,000 points with a minimum spend of $5,000. This premium card carries a $450 annual fee, but it also comes with a $300 Marriott credit and one FREE hotel night valued at 50,000 points. 

All of these offers end November 3rd. 

Marriott Bonvoy Announces Positive Program Updates, For Real!

 

Even though things are opening up and travel is making a comeback, Marriott announced today that it is extending a variety of benefits for Bonvoy members. 

The announcement includes: 

• Elite status from 2019 and 2020 will be extended through February 2023
• Suite night awards extended through June 2022
• Pausing points expiration through December 2022
• FREE night award certificates extended through June 2022

The other announcement may or may not be so positive, Marriott Bonvoy is dropping its award chart for dynamic pricing. This means that the number of points needed to book a hotel will vary depending on on-peak and off-peak demand. For example, instead of the Marriott San Diego charging 35,000 per night as a category 5 hotel, it may charge 30,000 per night in May (off-peak) and 40,000 per night in July (on-peak). 

Marriott Bonvoy is also making a change to its annual award night certificates that come with many of the credit cards. You will soon have the option to use or purchase up to 15,000 points to the certificate's value so that you have access to more hotels. We will hear more about this option as it gets closer to the debut date of early 2022. 

Right now, you can earn 3 FREE nights (35,000) at a Marriott Bonvoy property by applying for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card. It has a $95 annual fee and a $1,000 minimum spend in the first three months. If you prefer a credit card with no annual fee, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold credit card offers 1 FREE night (35,000) with just a $500 spend in the first three months. 

Marriott points are great because you can transfer them to a dozen different airlines at 3:1 and of course, you can use them at thousands of properties across the globe. 

100% Bonus on IHG Points Through Nov. 8

 

If you like IHG, you might want to get in on the 100% bonus offer on points. From now until Nov. 8th, when you buy IHG points, you will get a 100% match. IHG points are good at Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Intercontinental, Kimpton, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Even Hotels, Hualuxe, Regent, and Six Sense. All in all 16 brands with 6,000 locations. IHG uses dynamic pricing so you do have to decide whether using points makes sense. We value IHG points at 5 cents each. 

The 100% bonus kicks in at 30,000 points so you need to spend a minimum of $300 to earn 60,000 points. The max is $2,500 for 500,000 points. You will also need to do some research to see if it's worth it for you and your family. There are some great IHG properties in the Maldives and the Caribbean. A quick search showed a lovely Kimpton Hotel in Grand Cayman for 70,000 points per night. If you paid per night, the website says it would cost you $1,200 per night. So obviously if you spent $2,500 on 500,000 points, it would be a sweet deal. 

You can use awardmapper.com to locate IHG hotels throughout the world. 

The sale ends Nov. 8th so you have some time to do the research and decide if this is a good offer for you. We don't usually recommend buying points, but I know some people who use this promotion to travel the rest of the year and swear by it.