The #1 Southwest Companion Pass Blunder That Can Derail Your Travel Goals!

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best travel perks out there. It's a BOGO on any Southwest flight for up to two years. You can even change your companion three times a year. And the bonus offer to help you get there fast is ending December 11th. 

I have had this pass for the past 8 years and estimate it has saved me thousands of dollars. 

Now you can earn this pass by flying 135,000 miles, but I don't recommend that. The easiest way is to open two credit cards (1 personal and 1 business card), make purchases to reach the minimum spend and earn the welcome bonus. 

But the timing of this process is extremely important because the pass is good for the calendar year that you earn it and the next calendar year. So ideally, you want to earn the pass in January so it's good for the entire two years. 

The #1 blunder that can derail this process is earning the welcome bonus too early so it posts in the current year instead of in January. This mistake will cost you an entire year of having the pass, ouch. 

It just happened to one of my readers. She got confused and thought she had to just earn 135,000 miles by January. She earned one of the welcome bonuses in December and since you can only earn the bonus once every 24 months, she may be out of luck for the companion pass. Ouch! 

The new offer is 75,000 bonus points on the PLUS, PREMIER and PRIORITY credit cards with a $3,000 minimum spend. Pair this with either of the Southwest business credit cards and bam, you have earned the Southwest Companion Pass. 

Remember right now is the time to work towards earning the pass for 2024-25. You can follow this article on your own OR join the second cohort of my new travel coaching program. There are limited spots available, but if you can get one, we will walk you through the process step by step plus help you build a personalized plan for FREE travel.

The new bonus offer ends December 11th.  

Reminder on How to Travel Smart and Save Big This Cyber Week!

 

Just a reminder, be sure to check any tours, flights and hotels for Cyber and Travel Tuesday deals right now that may give you a discount or earn you bonus points and miles. These can be discounts on new reservations or existing ones that you modify. 

For example, I had been watching a Lavatube Tour for our trip to Tahiti next year. I checked and the company added a 10% off Cyber deal if you book now. 

So I went ahead and booked it even though it's early. Plus I paid for it with my Capital One Venture X credit card and plan to erase the entire purchase.  To learn how to erase travel purchases with your Capital One Venture X credit card, click here. 

Before you make any purchase, be sure to check cashbackmonitor.com for offers in shopping portals, Chase and Capital One offers to see if you can stack the purchase and save even more or earn bonus points and miles. 

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

If you want support planning your next trip, join my new Travel Coaching Program, we are enrolling for cohort #2 right now. And right now, we are offering our own Cyber deal. It's just $99 for the entire program (video modules, custom tracker, 1:1 consult and live group coaching forever). I would love to help you travel for almost FREE. 

The Ultimate Guide to Maximizing Miles Through Shopping Portals!

 

The Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are already popping up! So if you have your eye on something, now might be the best time to press that purchase button to get the best deal. 

But be sure that you are getting the most points and miles for each purchase. 

Not only can you get the points for the purchase, but you can also get bonus points. 

We have put together the ultimate guide to maximizing miles through shopping portals to help you get that next trip for free. 

You can think of a shopping portal like a marketplace. All of the retailers are listed on one website and when you access the retailer through the marketplace, you are rewarded with extra points or miles. These are IN ADDITION to the points you get for the purchase. We call this "stacking"

1. Before you buy anything, check cashbackmonitor.com. This website lists every retail store and which portals it is listed on so you can choose the best option for you. You click through to the portal from cashbackmonitor.com

Depending on your strategy, you may pick one portal over another. 

• if you need to top off an account
• you have points that are expiring and you need some activity
• you are trying to earn enough points for a specific trip 

There are a lot of reasons to pick one portal over another. 

My go-to portal is the Chase Ultimate Rewards since I can transfer those points to dozens of different airlines, hotels, use them in the travel center or pay myself back. Points earned in the Southwest shopping portal count towards the Companion Pass. 

Sometimes the portals will offer bonus points too so if I saw a great bonus offer in another portal, I would head there. 

You can click on the portal out of cashback monitor and log in from there. Some of the portals require a separate login from your regular airline mile account. 

Then make your purchase just like you would normally. The portal will track your purchase and a few days later you will get an email letting you know that your purchase is being tracked. 

Now one more thing before you push the button to make that purchase and after you click through to a shopping portal, be sure you use the right credit card. If you have a Chase FREEDOM FLEX card, then check your bonus categories. If the store you are making a purchase from is listed, then use that credit card to get the bonus on top of the portal bonus. For example, Q4 2023 bonus categories include Paypal. Can you use Paypal to pay for this purchase? Many retailers offer the option, then do it and collect 5x bonus points on top of the portal points. 

If not, is the retailer an office supply store? If so, use your Chase Ink credit card to earn 5x points and so on. Amazing and happy shopping! 

Black Friday Flash Deal on My New Travel Coaching Program

Wish you could travel for FREE? You can. I am launching the second cohort of my Travel Coaching Program right now. There are only 10 spots available so don't wait. Click here to sign up! and for Black Friday, I am dropping the price to $99. 

I'm setting the price low since it's only the second cohort. But this cohort will sell out very quickly.

I'll show you all my tricks and tips plus you start with short modules to learn the basics and see real life examples. I think the real value is the custom tracker, personal review of where you are and the 1:1 with me. 

Check out some of the feedback from the first cohort:

"Stephanie Antin of Almost Free Family Travel has been so helpful in saving my family $1,000’s of dollars in travel costs.  I was also able to save on domestic travel by following her tips on how to make the most of your Southwest card to get a Companion Pass. If you love to travel Stephanie Antin and her Almost Free Family Travel blog is a “must have”!!
-Dena from San Diego

"I just want to take a moment to thank you for helping me plan my recent trip to Europe. Taking the time to clearly explain different credit card options, and giving me useful tips on using the miles and points was invaluable. In the end, I was able to use the points earned to cover airfare for all four of us to Iceland, The Netherlands, and Spain. I am now working on our upcoming summer vacation to Hawaii and plan to use points to cover not only airfare, but also most of our hotel rooms. I could not have done it without you!

Debbie from Riverside

In my travel coaching program, you get the following:

• 3 video modules that cover basics of points and miles 
• 2 bonus modules with real life examples of redemptions 
• custom points and miles tracker 
• audit of your points, miles, credit cards
• 1:1 live strategy session with me
• group coaching sessions forever 

If you want to travel for FREE or if you are thinking about earning the Southwest Companion Pass for 2024-25, you need to be part of this new cohort. We will go step by step together to earn the pass. There are only 10 spots available, so don't wait. 

Woohoo! Got The Capital One 90,000 Point Bonus

 Update, the 90,000 bonus is no longer being offered, but you can still get a 75,000 bonus using my referral link 

You might think it's strange that I'm celebrating that I spent $4,675 on my credit card! But look at the rewards, 98,563. Yep, I already got the 90,000 point bonus from Capital One Venture X and I haven't even paid the card yet. 

Here's a hack, Capital One gives you the bonus BEFORE you even pay off the credit card. Now we always pay the full balance every month when it is due. 

But here's an interesting hack, you can actually use the bonus to erase the purchases you made to reach the minimum spend. Are you following me?

Let's say that part of that $4,675 was a purchase of two airline flights. As soon as you see the bonus come through, you need to follow the steps to erase the travel purchase. If you can do it before your statement closes, you won't have to pay for the purchase. Instead you are using the bonus to pay for it. Pretty good hack. 

In this case, I will pay the balance and keep adding points so that I can erase my rental car in Tahiti. Woohoo! 

I like the Capital One Venture X credit card because you earn 2x points on all purchases, you get $100 Global Entry credit, you get Priority Pass lounge membership for you and your authorized users which you can add for FREE plus you can transfer the Capital One points to dozens of airlines, and a few hotels and you can use them in the Capital One portal and just use them to erase ANY travel purchase. Annual fee is $395, but you get a $300 travel credit in the portal. 

You can get the 90,000 bonus offer too by using my referral link here. 

Now if this is confusing or scary or you just want some help deciding if this card is right for you and your travel goals, join my travel coaching program! I am launching the second cohort now and offering a Black Friday special of just $99. This is an incredible deal because it includes the video modules, the custom points and miles tracker, a 1:1 meeting with me and our monthly group coaching sessions for life. There are limited spaces available so don't wait! 

How I Booked Overwater Bungalows and Flights In Tahiti for $140

When I asked my children where they wanted to celebrate their graduations,
they decided on Tahiti. I was a bit surprised since my first thought was that’s where you honeymoon. But I was game. And they added, we would love to stay in those over the water bungalows. Makes sense!

So how do you get a family of 5 an almost FREE trip to Tahiti? It takes a lot of planning and time. I wanted to walk you through my process so you can see the strategy in action. 

And I need to mention that if you are looking for help planning your next trip, I just launched the second cohort of my Travel Coaching Program. There are still a few spots open. And right now, I am donating 15% of all the proceeds to the Israel Emergency Fund.

But I'll share my process here so if you want to do it on your own, you can. Because my goal is that everyone can travel for almost FREE and enjoy those priceless experiences.

I start with research:

• Who flies to Tahiti
• Which islands should we visit
• What is there to do there
• Do we need a car
• Where will we stay

And of course, the most important question of all: which over the water bungalows do we want to stay in. 

After doing the research, I decided for this trip: 

• We should fly American Airlines - 70,000-80,000 miles per round trip
• We will visit Tahiti and Moorea - we can take a short ferry between these islands. 
• We will need a car on both islands
• Besides the OWB, seems to be most cost effective for our family of 5 to stay in Airbnb

Now this is the way, we travel, but you might make different choices for your family. Now the fun part, earning all the points. For this trip, we will need approximately: 

• 400,000 American Airlines miles for 5 r/t tickets
• 299,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points for 2 nights in an OWB bungalow and a garden room (we need two rooms for 5 people)
• Capital One points to erase the Airbnb, rental cars and tours

It sounds like a lot, but let’s break it down:

• Barclays American Aviator bonus offer 70,000 miles for $99 annual fee and one purchase - my partner and I each opened one of these
• Chase Ink Business Preferred bonus offer 100,000 Ultimate Rewards for a $95 annual fee and $8,000 minimum spend - my partner and I each opened one of these
• Several friends opened the Chase Ink Business Preferred using my referral link - bonus 40,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points for each one
• American Airlines Online Shopping portal
• Chase Ultimate Rewards Shopping portal
• Capital One points using my partners Capital One Venture X card and my new Capital One Venture X bonus. 

So what did all of this get us:

• 240,000 American Airlines miles netted 3 round trip flights
• 128,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points netted 2 round trip flights
• 299,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points netted 2 nights in the OWB and 2 nights in the garden room
• 74,000 Capital One points netted 3.5 days in the Airbnb

So right now, I estimate the amount I saved using points and miles at approximately $11,000. Pretty good. I have spent $400 on annual fees and $340 on taxes, fees.

Between now and the actual trip, I will continue to earn Capital One points so I can erase the Airbnb, tours and rental cars.

And when I’m relaxing on the beach in Tahiti, I’ll enjoy it just a bit more because I didn’t spend an arm and a leg to have this dream vacation.

If this sounds amazing, but you are confused about where to start and how to get your next trip for almost FREE then join the second cohort in my Travel Coaching program. Sign up by November 1st. 

Don't Wait! Travel Coaching Program is Filling Up Fast!

 

Wish you could travel for FREE? You can. And I want to help you! The second cohort of my Travel Coaching Program will be closing to new sign ups on November 1st. I'm setting the price low since it's only the second cohort so I'm really just covering my time.

This cohort is filling up quickly, in fact, there are only a few spots left.

And the timing of this cohort is perfect IF you are hoping to earn the Southwest Companion Pass for 2024-25. The pass is BOGO on Southwest Airlines for up to two years.  

Here are a couple of testimonials from the first cohort: 

"The examples were super helpful, and the tips about websites to go to were fantastic. I want to plan more trips than I have time for now!"

"You have me great strategies for my specific situation and I really appreciated your recommendations for adult kids!!"

Our Summer 2023 Cohort members have already booked FREE travel to Puerto Rico, Florida Keys, Spain and more. We are changing the way people travel. So what are you waiting for?

Besides the video modules, you get a custom miles and points tracker, audit of your miles, points and credit cards, 1:1 coaching session with me and membership in the group coaching sessions for life. 

Sign up by November 1st