Which is better? Alaska Companion Fare vs Southwest Companion Pass

 

Ah, Hawaii! So relaxing and pretty much top on everyone's bucket list. My neighbor just returned from Hawaii and was super excited to have scored a "free" ticket with her Alaska companion fare. The last time I went to Hawaii, I used my Southwest companion pass. 

So I decided to dig in and compare the Southwest Companion Pass with the Alaska Airlines Famous Companion Fare and see how they stack up. 

Which is tops? Alaska Companion Fare vs Southwest Companion Pass

Let's start with the Southwest Companion Pass. This is believed to be the best travel perk out there. It is good for buy one, get one FREE plane ticket for two years on every flight. I have had this pass for the last 8 years and it has saved me thousands of dollars. 

I have taken my family to Washington DC, Boston, Chicago and even Cuba. 

To get the pass, you need to earn 125,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year. Once you get the pass, it is good for the rest of that year and the following year. Your companion must fly with you on the same flights and you can change your companion three times per year. You can buy your ticket, which we don't recommend, OR use points and then add your companion. You still need to pay the taxes which are $5.60 per flight. 

You can add your companion to your flight right up until you fly. 

Earning 125,000 points may seem like a daunting task, but we share the secret here at almostfreefamilytravel.com about how to do it fast and easy. 

Which is tops? Alaska Companion Fare vs Southwest Companion Pass

The Alaska Airlines famous companion fare is $99 plus taxes and fees from $22. You get the companion fare every year on your credit card anniversary. Your companion must fly with you on the same flight. In fact, you must book the two tickets at the same time. 

You cannot use points to book either person's flight. But both people will earn miles on the flights. 

The companion fare is good for 12 months from the date of issue. 

The Mileage Plan member who owns the companion fare must be one of the travelers or the purchaser of the flights with their Alaska Airlines credit card. 

So let's break it down: 

1. Easy to earn: Alaska Airlines wins because the fare comes with your credit card every year on the anniversary. It's automatic. 

2. Best deal: Southwest Airlines wins here because you can pay for the flights with points and the taxes are just $5.60. You can also use the Southwest pass on unlimited number of flights for two years and you can only use the Alaska companion pass once. 

3. Ease of use: Southwest Airlines wins again because you can add your companion at any time to the flight up until you actually fly and on Alaska, you have to book the two people at the same time. I have actually changed my companion while on my trip. A bit risky, but it worked. 

4. Flexibility: Southwest wins again. You can change your companion up to three times per calendar year. 

Though the Alaska Companion Fare is better than paying full price and if you are loyal to Alaska or if you are looking at a very expensive flight, then the Alaska companion fare might make sense for you. But hands down, the Southwest Companion Pass still reigns as the best travel perk out there. 

Stay posted because as we get close to the end of the year, it will be time to earn the pass again for the next two years. But timing is everything! So stay tuned. 

Get A FREE Year of Grubhub+ With Your BofA Card

 

If you are a Bank of America cardholder either credit card or debit card, you are eligible for a new perk! You can get a one year membership to Grubhub+ with your card. 

What is Grubhub+ 

Grubhub is a food delivery service and it's FREE. Grubhub+ is a paid service that gives customers access to unlimited $0 delivery fees on eligible food orders over $12 at thousands of restaurants. Membership typically costs $9.99 per month. 

So this perk is valued at $120. Just remember to cancel the membership when the one year is over otherwise you will be charged the monthly fee. 

This perk is offered to any Bank of America customers who DO NOT currently have a Grubhub+ membership. 

You can enroll for this new perk here. 

Double and Even Triple Dip On Your Back To School Shopping

 

You can earn points by flying OR you can earn points by using your credit card to buy the things you purchase everyday. Are you going to the grocery store? Yep, earn points. Are you going to fill your car with gas? Yep, earn points. See how easy it is. 

Now it gets even more fun when you get leverage that spending two or maybe three times like when you shop for school or college dorms. 

I use the website cashbackmonitor.com before I buy anything. This site lists hundreds of stores and how many points they are offering on a variety of credit cards or through the shopping portals. 

If you click on a specific store, then you can see exactly how many points each shopping portal is offering. Shopping portals are a marketplace of retailers hosted by a a specific credit card, hotel or airline. For example, let's look at walmart.com. If you shop through the United Shopping portal with a United credit card, you can earn 1 mile per dollar, without a United card, you will earn .5 miles per dollar. In the American Airlines Shopping portal though you can earn 1 mile per dollar and use whatever credit card you want. 

This could work to your advantage IF you have an Amex offer or another discount. You can check your Amex offers by logging into your online account. 

Here's where it gets even more fun. The Chase FREEDOM, FREEDOM Unlimited and FREEDOM Flex cards earn 5x points on rotating quarterly categories. This quarter the categories are gas, car rentals and streaming. Probably can't double or triple dip on those, but sometimes the categories include home improvement stores and those are super easy to stack. You can earn up to 10x points on those purchases if you play your credit cards right. Here are the airlines that have shopping portals. 

Many of the shopping portals offer bonus points too if you spend a certain amount during a specific time frame. These bonus offers happen during holidays or back to school shopping periods. 

Happy shopping and earning FREE travel at the same time! 

Things To Do In Ireland With Teens

 

Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to expect in Ireland. But this beautiful country and welcoming, funny, quirky people created an extraordinary off the beaten path experience. And especially this summer, Ireland provided lots of outdoor space, few crowds and cool weather. 

There are hikes, kayaking, surfing if you can brave the cold water, castles, Games of Thrones, rope bridges, distilleries, live music and more. I'll run through what we did during our two week exploration of the country, but there is plenty more to enjoy. 

Day 1-5 Dublin - We arrived to Ireland early on Friday and left Dublin Tuesday morning. Honestly, it was probably one day too long in Dublin. Dublin is a medium size city. The central district is easily walkable. While in Dublin, here's what we did and saw:

Jameson Distillery Bow St. - highly recommend doing this tour, very informative, well done and includes tastings. If you want an extra special experience, buy the cask draw. Even if you don't like whiskey, it's pretty cool to take a sip right out of the cask. Your ticket comes with a FREE drink too. 

Guinness Storehouse - Skip it. Even the staff working the tour told us it's not worth the expensive ticket price. FYI, you can't go inside without buying a ticket. 

Trinity College - We bought a tour with a student that included the Book of Kells and the Long Room. 27 Euros per person. This was a highlight for my teens because we got the chance to hear from a current student about their college experience. 

Southside and Northside Walking Tours - Another highlight of the trip. I have taken these tours in cities all around the world and they are amazing. The guides are honest and open about what life is like in their city, history and politics. In Dublin, the Southside and the Northside are so different that I highly recommend taking both tours. The tours are FREE, but you need to make a reservation and it is expected that you will tip the guide at the end of the tour. Both guides were able to take an online tip. 

Brazen Head - oldest pub in Dublin. Yep, it's worth having a meal and a pint here. The best food, probably not, but it's an experience. 

Temple Bar District - Worth spending an afternoon walking around here and enjoying a pint. Be sure to check out the Molly Malone statue, small farmers market in the square and if you have extra time, the Gallery of Photography is worth a visit. 

Church Bar - fun live music and amazing venue

If you are vegan or vegetarian, I highly recommend dining at Cornucopia and stopping by Bread 41. 

Day 6 - Wicklow Mountains National Park and Kilkenny - this is an easy one day driving trip with an easy three mile hike in the valley. Enter the Visitors Center as your destination in GPS. Easy parking and restrooms available. From there, you will pass over the Wicklow Gap on your drive to Kilkenny. You can buy tickets to tour the Kilkenny castle online and then there are lots of restaurants in town to grab some dinner before taking the highway back to Dublin. 

Day 7 - Drive to Galway stopping near Athlone to kayak on the River Shannon with Mid Ireland Adventures. Jonathan will give you a wetsuit and a great two hour kayak tour. Ask him for his recommendation for the best fish and chips in town. The oldest pub in Ireland, Sean's Bar, is located in Athlone so that's fun to visit. The pub does not serve food and parking nearby is metered and only accepts Euros so keep that in mind. 

Day 8-10 - Cliffs of Moher hike with Pat - This was a highlight of the trip. Pat joined with 30 of his farmer neighbors to create a walking path along the top of the cliffs. Parts of the path are a bit precariously perched close to the edge, but you get some great photos! Meet at O'Connors pub in Doolin and grab lunch here afterwards. Pat charges 20 Euros per person for the tour and 5 Euros per person for a ride back to Doolin (totally worth it). If you do the hike, skip the ferry ride to the cliffs. 

                - Galway - Spend an afternoon in town. There is a great shopping district with lots of pubs and restaurants. If you want to dine at a Michelin restaurant, you will need to make a reservation. You can also pick up groceries at the local Spar, there's one in every town, but they do tend to close early. 

                - We stayed at an Airbnb on a farm for a few days and then moved to Pete's castle for a night. Highly recommend staying with Pete. His castle is quirky and a one of kind experience. You can read all about it here. 

Day 11- Drive to Belfast through Connemara - You could opt to go further south to Donegal by taking the car ferry, but we wanted to spend time in Belfast so we went north instead. The Kylemore Abbey was beautiful and well worth the hour out of our way. You can buy tickets online for 15 Euros per adult. Discounts for students and children. 

Day 12-13 - Belfast, Giants Causeway and Rope Bridge - Highly recommend all of these in fact, I'm not sure a trip to Ireland would be complete without visiting Belfast. It gives you a whole different perspective on the politics in the region. In Belfast, you must take a Black Taxicab Tour and visit the Titanic Museum. Definitely pay the extra Euros for the audio guide. Both are incredible and highlights of the trip. Giants Causeway is a strange remnant of a volcanic eruption that makes for a great hike. You may have to pay a few Euros to park. The Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge is nearby and gives you yet another stunning view of the Northern Ireland coastline. You can buy tickets online for 13 Euros per adult. 

Day 14 - Howth - cute seaside village about 25 minutes from the airport. There is a beautiful three mile cliff walk and be sure to visit McNeill's for live music and great food. 

Ireland is beautiful with lots of gorgeous scenery to enjoy. It's definitely a fun place to visit with children and teens. And you can do it for almost FREE. Does it take some work and some planning, yep, is it worth it? Family time, memories and a chance to visit a beautiful country. I think so! 

If you want your entire trip to be FREE, you need to plan in advance and I recommend joining me at Families Fly FREE. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn. She has created a simple system to help families fly free. 

If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :)

If you are thinking about applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, please use my referral link. 

If you are thinking about applying for the Capital One Venture X credit card, please use my referral link. 

My teens said the highlights for them were hiking the Cliffs of Moher, touring Trinity College with a student, 

 

Hate those pesky travel credits you get when you pay cash for a Southwest flight and then cancel or adjust the rate? Yep me too. Actually I always use points to fly so I avoid those credits. You should too, but that's a story for another day. 

If you do pay cash for Southwest flights, then listen up! Southwest Airlines announced today that flight credits issued on or after July 28th 2022 will not expire.....ever! Woohoo! 

No More Expiration Date For Southwest Travel Credits - Woohoo! 

You will notice that within a few days the flight credits will have a dummy date attached in the year 2030. 

This new policy does not apply to Southwest LUV vouchers. Those will still have an expiration date. A LUV voucher is compensation from the airline for a missing bag, delayed flight or other situation. 

Flight credits still can only be used for the person listed as the passenger on the original booking. That's why we recommend that you only use Southwest points to book flights. Points will be returned to your account if you cancel or adjust your flight and then you can use them for anyone. 

If you think you have a travel credit, you can find it by logging into your account. If you don't see it at the top of your account, then you can click here and enter the confirmation number attached to the credit. 

 

Just returned from two weeks in Ireland, amazing! In the photo, you can see my family and I on a five mile hike along the top of the Cliffs of Moher. Fabulous! We also spent time in Dublin, stayed the night in a castle and took the Black Taxicab Tour in Belfast. 

And guess what? The trip from soup to nuts cost approximately $1,000 for all four of us. Yep, that includes flights, hotels, rental car, food and tours. 

I am going to break it down for you step by step so you can see how we did it. 

• Flights - erased with Capital One points and Chase Ultimate Rewards 
• Hotels - IHG points and a FREE night certificate, Marriott points, erased Airbnb.com reservations with Chase Ultimate Rewards points and Capital One Venture X $300 promotion credit
• Tours - Erased some with Capital One points 
• Dining - Erased with Chase Ultimate Reward points 
• Parking - Erased with the Chase Sapphire Reserve travel credit 

My goal is to teach everyone how to fly and stay for FREE so travel is accessible for all families. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step1 

The first thing I work on when planning a trip are the flights. Now that may seem so logical to you, but I have met people who book their hotels first. Wrong! 

You have to book the flights first because sometimes in order to get FREE flights, you have to be flexible with your dates/times and even destination. For example, it might be cheaper to fly to Paris and then catch a budget airline over to Dublin than to fly directly. 

For this trip to Ireland, we knew we wanted to leave around the end of June. Aer Lingus is the obvious airline of choice and usually it offers the best points deals. I had earned the 100,000 Avios bonus a few months back and planned to use those points to get us there. 

But when I started searching up flights, the fuel charges were so outrageous, it would have cost me 50,000 points plus $282 for each ticket. That's not FREE. 

So I checked American Airlines, Delta and United, but it was the same problem. Outrageous fuel charges. 

My next step was to look at the travel portals. Both Chase and Capital One offer travel portals where you can use points to "buy" your flights. 

Each portal works a bit differently and you can read about them here. 

After researching both portals, my best option was to book tickets for my husband and myself through the Capital One travel portal and "erase" the purchase with points. Those tickets cost us 55,000 points each, but no fuel charges. My husband had earned the points through the 100,000 bonus points Capital One Venture X credit card offer. Read about my ultimate Capital One Travel Portal hack here! 

And to buy my daughter's flight through the Chase Travel Portal on my Sapphire Reserve account with points. Since the Sapphire Reserve offers 50% bonus on points when you book through the portal, her round trip ticket cost 33,000 points. Read about the what you need to do before you book your flight through the Chase Travel Portal. 

My son was already in Europe. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 2

Now that we have flights secured, we move onto hotels. I use awardmapper.com to check the areas for hotel chains. I notice there is a Holiday Inn Express Dublin City Centre that has rooms available. I cash in a FREE night certificate for the first night and then book three nights on points. IHG offers buy 3 nights with points and get a 4th night FREE. Now we have the first 5 nights covered for 89,000 points. We had earned those IHG points a few years back with a bonus on the IHG credit card. 

Back to awardmapper.com to check Belfast for hotels and bam, an AC Hotel by Marriott offers rooms for just 21,000 points per night. I'll take two nights there please. 

The rest of the nights, I book on Airbnb.com using my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card which is running a promotion where you can use points to erase Airbnb.com purchases. 

The Capital One Venture X also came with a $300 credit on Airbnb.com so I used that to pay for the night in the castle.  

Now all the hotels are FREE. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 3

I book the rental car and due to a technical issue at pick up end up paying for it on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card so I'll end up paying for that one. 

Step 4

While on the actual trip, I use the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card to pay for all parking and dining. This card comes with a $300 travel credit so as we charge travel, it's erasing the charges. It also earns 3x points on dining and then when I return home, I erase another $700 worth of purchases with the pay myself back program.  Some may argue that you can get more value out of the points by transferring them to an airline, but it all depends on your travel plans. 

My Two Week Family Trip To Ireland Cost Only $1,000 

Step 5

I rent my house when I go on vacation and use those funds to pay for the trip too so that covers almost all the rest of the purchases less $1,000. 

Does it take some work and some planning, yep, is it worth it? Family time, memories and a chance to visit a beautiful country. I think so! 

If you want your entire trip to be FREE, you need to plan in advance and I recommend joining me at Families Fly FREE. We have teamed up with my friend and national travel blogger Lyn. She has created a simple system to help families fly free. 

If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :)

If you are thinking about applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, please use my referral link. 

If you are thinking about applying for the Capital One Venture X credit card, please use my referral link. 

 

Last Chance To Get 5 FREE Nights At Marriott

 

It's the last day to apply for this huge bonus offer from Marriott Bonvoy! The offer is for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card and includes 5 FREE nights with a $5,000 minimum spend. 

The annual fee is just $95. 

The offer ends on July 21st at 7am EST so apply today if this offer makes sense for you. 

There are a few details about this offer to think about:

• The offer is for 5 FREE night certificates valued at 50,000 points each and not points. So you will want to plan accordingly to maximize the value out of this offer. 
• You cannot apply if you have a Marriott Premier, Boundless or Bold credit card or have received a bonus in the past 24 months. 
• You cannot apply if you have or had what was previously a Starwood Business Amex credit card in the past 30-90 days
• The FREE night certificates will expire in one year
• You can't transfer the points to airlines or hotels

Personally, I prefer points rather than FREE night certificates since the certificates expire, you can't transfer them to airlines or hotels and you can't break them up to get more value, BUT if you are planning a trip and the certificates can help you get 5 nights FREE, then this is a great offer for you.