Originally Posted by
StartinSanDiego
Hi,
I'd like some help analyzing the benefits of some of my new credit cards, particularly the Companion Pass perks in the various programs. I have 3 US Airways cards between me and Mr San Diego, plus usually hitting at least one Companion pass spend for BA. I think several other cards offer the companion pass as a perk (Southwest being top on the list).
I realize the limitations of the BA companion pass due to the YQ, but it seems to me with the recent devaluations in other programs, this might start to be more appealing. I recently redeemed a SAN-LHR business class with the companion pass, about $1000 per person, plus only 75K miles for both of us, during a promo. We had lounge access with free drinks and food, so figure that's worth about 20-30 per person, too, just in hard costs. Considering the nice product, I felt that was a decent use of cash/mile/companion pass. The earn rate on the BA credit card is 1.25 w/o any specials, so they rack up a bit quicker than the 1:1. Now that the game is changing over at United, I'd love some input and analysis.
Now, regarding the Barclays card perk...the US Airways $99 companion pass usage is a mystery to me, since I generally redeem points...are there any particularly good redemption ideas for this? Anybody using them? Also, what's the best use for the EQM's offered on that card? Once again, I simply don't know what or how to maximize this benefit.
I don't have an Alaska or Southwest card, but I believe the SW travel for free perk is the best, simplest thing going. How about the Alaska Card? Anybody using the companion pass for it? Any sweet spots?
The wife and I both have the US Airways card, and we use both CPs almost every year. It has some restrictions, but in our cases, we prefer using them over burning 20K miles a piece for domestic travel. Recently I have used them for a cross-country (CLT-LAX) trip. Best price I saw with tracking for months was $450+. And I really wanted direct, so US was the only option. 2 tix for < $600, deal. I also have family in rural parts of the Southeast, so the flights from CLT to the smaller airports have no competition and are always priced at least $300 it seems. So with the CP it's usually under $450 for the both of us.
In every case that I've used it, using miles would have been, at best, getting 1.5cpm (the CLT-LAX) referenced above, but usually closer to 1.1-1.2cpm. Instead, I can choose any flight I want and earn the miles associated with the flight.