New guy's Companion pass plan
Hello everyone, I'm extremely new in the points/miles game. In fact I'm new to traveling in general, growing up it was mostly trips from Jersey to Orlando. Well after spending a couple months over seas I realized I had seen way more of Europe than I had seen of my own country. So I've decided to change that for both me and my girlfriend, asap.
After discovering southwest's companion pass, their impressive list of destinations throughout the country, and what seems to me to be a rather easy path to attain it mostly through their credit cards I'm thinking this is the path to take to maximize the amount of the country we get to see.
So here's my plan,
1- this week ask chase to lower my sapphire reserve credit limit to that cards min I believe 10k
2 - November of this year I plan on applying for the southwest business chase (60k correct?)
3- if/when I'm approved I will request that limit be lowered if it seems high, wait a few days and apply for the personal card (40k?)
4- hopefully those offers are still around then, and hopefully I get approved for both cards. Big IFS Any idea when the current deals end?
5- I've heard you can start spending in December as long as your statement date is in January and don't receive the bonus until January. I'd like to get started asap
6- after receiving bonuses in January I'd have 10k more to go, I have to do more research to see what the best method for this would be. I don't want to go broke but I also don't want to spend half the year getting that last bit. We have 180k in ultimate rewards points and I'm wondering if I could do something with them like booking flights through their portal to get to that goal. Is that possible?
7- After receiving the companion pass I would like to use all these UR points on southwest travel. But I wouldn't mind using all this travel to get me my first ever status with an airline, if I transfer the points to southwest and use them for award tickets do I still earn towards status? What about bookings through UR portal? Has anyone ever booked a companion fare through the UR portal?
This is all I have so far, please help me with any missing pieces, or possible roadblocks. I appreciate any and all help.