Companion Pass Ticket

Old Aug 29, 2016, 10:52 am
  #1  
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Companion Pass Ticket

I'm about 2 months into my Southwest CC and "thought" the companion pass was a 1 time ticket so wasnt too excited about it. Now, thanks to the boards, I relaized its actually for an entire year so I am very excited about it! Fortunately I use my card for business so with the 50k miles bonus, I should have plenty of charges (and trips) to get to companion pass level this year and should use the card enough to get there every year. Couple of questions:

1. If I USE miles for a flight, they are not deducted from my companion pass level, correct? In other words if I get right to 110,000 miles but used 10k in November for a flight and end December with 100k miles I will still have the companion pass for next year, correct?

2. This, I think, is stupid but I will ask any way. My daughter is going to college in a different state so when she is coming home for a bit, does it make sense to BUY a ticket, fly there, Fly back with her riding for free (companion), then buy a return flight with her riding for free and then paying to fly home by myself. Basically the way I look at it is the money I spend on the time I am flying with her is no different since she is flying for free, so my additional expense is basically 1 round trip, however I get 4 one way flights for miles and towards A-list. Is the cost worth it????

Thanks, hope these are not too rookie of questions!
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 10:58 am
  #2  
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Welcome to Flyertalk!

1. Correct

2. I doubt most experienced Southwest people would consider this plan financially worthwhile. Just book a RT for your daughter to fly by herself, using your points. Unless maybe you were not going to get to A-List otherwise.
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 11:05 am
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1. You will have CP through the end of 2017. You can spend as many points as you have available and it won't impact how close you are to earning status.

2. If your daughter is anything like I was, your daughter's excitement over seeing you will be worth the cost of flying to utilize the CP. Plus, more free bags to carry things home and back.
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 11:08 am
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Thank you for the quick reply. I kind of thought that would be best but I know there are so many ways to work the system that there are smarter guys than me figuring it out!

As a follow up questions on the A-List, my understanding is 25 One-way flights (I wont reach that in a calendar year), or 35,000 Tier qualifying points. Its my understanding the point received on my Southwest CC only count partially to that (I think I read 15k max). Is there anyway else to get the 35k besides flying?
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 11:19 am
  #5  
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Pretty much no. On very rare occasions there is some sort of offer.
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 11:35 am
  #6  
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Possibly you could get both (Personal and Business) Premier versions of the card.

That is a LOT of spending to put on Southwest Visa, a mediocre card, for the bonus Tier points. I would look to Starwood and cards like Amex Plat (250000 business offers out there) and Chase Ink (100k offer and 5 points on some spend). Or even a 2% cashback card.

A-List/Preferred is just not that enticing to reach for.
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 11:47 am
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Originally Posted by jmbarkes
As a follow up questions on the A-List, my understanding is 25 One-way flights (I wont reach that in a calendar year), or 35,000 Tier qualifying points. Its my understanding the point received on my Southwest CC only count partially to that (I think I read 15k max). Is there anyway else to get the 35k besides flying?
There are only 2 consistent ways to get TQPs - Flying and the 1,500 TQP Bonus for $10,000 spend on the Premier card up to 15,000 TQP/year. Very occasionally Southwest will have promotions for additional TQP and may offer to sell you some. Don't count on those, I've never gotten either. You can increase your TQP earning by purchasing Anytime (10 points/$) or Business Select(12 points/$) tickets but they cost more and earn more points.

If you are close to 25 trips it might be cheaper to make a segment run (or 2) when there is a good sale. Typically and AT or BS fare is more than twice an WGA fare and sometimes sale fares are available that at 1/4 of the AT fare.

For example I just checked one of my short routes for the middle of next month. The WGA fare is $111. The Sale Fare is $49. The AT Fare is about $270. The BS fare is about $290. All are the same number of flights but the Sale Fare is only 195 points, The WGA fare is 493 points, The AT fare is 2362 points and the BS fare is 3013 points.

Using these fares you can see that you can make A-List in 12 BS flights or 15 AT flights, but it would take 70 WGA flights and you would already be A-List Preferred (50 Flights) if you made that many. It might be worth it to you to pay the extra $15-20 for a BS ticket (about $200) and get A-List sooner.

However if you had enough credit card spend to make CP ($110,000/year less bonuses) that would also be 15,000 TQP. meaning the number of flights you need to make to get 20,000 points is reduced it would only take 7 BS flights or 9 AT flights.

You can do the math based on you particular situation.
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 12:31 pm
  #8  
 
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Originally Posted by jmbarkes
Basically the way I look at it is the money I spend on the time I am flying with her is no different since she is flying for free, so my additional expense is basically 1 round trip, however I get 4 one way flights for miles and towards A-list. Is the cost worth it????
You could certainly do that for the same cost..but you would not get points or credit for 4 flights, just 2...you ONLY get points for your butt in your seat for the flight segment portion. If you buy tickets for someone else, they get the points for flying...not you even though you bought the ticket. Rewards points and flight segment credits are tied to the flyer, not the purchaser.

You can get additional points by purchasing their tickets on your SW CC however.

Regarding #1...status is based on total points earned over the year, not your total points balance at any given time. You theoretically can earn CP and have a zero points balance if you are using them along the way
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 2:57 pm
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"You could certainly do that for the same cost..but you would not get points or credit for 4 flights, just 2...you ONLY get points for your butt in your seat for the flight segment portion. If you buy tickets for someone else, they get the points for flying...not you even though you bought the ticket. Rewards points and flight segment credits are tied to the flyer, not the purchaser."

PAX- Just to be clear, I would be buying 1 RT ticket to pick her up (her flying 1 way as companion) and then another RT ticket to take her back (her flying with a companion tix) so in that situation I would have 4 one way segments, correct?

TOOMANY- I also agree, A-List is not really that important and my wife is very good at checking in 24 hrs in advance so we are usually late A early B boarding anyway but due to the amount of travel to see our daughter and flying her home, the companion tix is HUGE and the miles for travel is big as I also have had AA miles and every time I try to book that is minimum 1-2 layovers for its lowest mileage. I do have a 2% cash back card that I was using prior to Southwest CC and will go back to using that once I reach the 110k each year. Heck, I can always pay for Priority from that and have some leftover! I was just wondering if there was an easy way to get that also since I was already putting so much cash on the card.

If I got a personal southwest card (mine is a business), would I get another 50k bonus? If not, what if I wait until next year? Also could I then accumulate 2x15,000 miles to A-list (so 30k total) or will they max me at 15k still?
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 3:57 pm
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Yes, you can get more than one card with points going into a single account.

You have to get to 110k in a single calendar year for the CP. Be very careful with timing. Points generally post within a couple days of your statement close, but bonus points not if you cut the spending too close. Many many many posts about this here.

Many folks aim to get the 110k as soon after Jan 1 as possible, so they have the CP for almost 2 years.

Yes, you can get 2x15k Tier points toward A-List with 2 cards. That total also goes by calendar year, resetting to zero at midnight 12/31. The 15k max Tier points per card is annual, but I am not sure if that is calendar or goes by your renewal date. Someone here must know.
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Old Aug 29, 2016, 7:25 pm
  #11  
 
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Originally Posted by jmbarkes
PAX- Just to be clear, I would be buying 1 RT ticket to pick her up (her flying 1 way as companion) and then another RT ticket to take her back (her flying with a companion tix) so in that situation I would have 4 one way segments, correct?
You are correct...missed the part about flying with her on both legs.
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