Originally Posted by
NoStressHere
There is no status to buy, and by the way, the only status gets you early boarding. No reserved seats. No first class.
As to cards to get - we have lots of cards but do not use them to earn miles on daily spend. We alternate getting SW cards and get the signup bonus. We actually get two of them in the late fall and get enough for the companion pass, then put them away.
If you like to board early, I strong suggest thier premium cards. Yes, they cost more, but you get 4 A1-A15 boardings. (better than A list), along with annual miles boost.
This is the way. We don't even use our Southwest card to purchase Southwest flights past $75 - those go on our Amex Plat. We just get the signup bonus, anniversary points, $75 annual credit, and the upgraded boarding credits. Makes the annual fee well worth it, plus we get access to any cardholder-specific promotions.
We manage to maintain A-List and Companion Pass status just through leisure travel, credit card signups, and some other points earnings games. It requires a minimum of 25 cash segments per year (or, if you get to book Business Select for work, 35k points earned on flights) plus redemptions to burn the points you earned. For legitimately frequent travelers, this is an unbeatable offering for domestic travel. It can be pretty great even for less frequent travelers, but if you don't travel domestically for leisure much, you'll want to run the numbers.
We essentially can't leave Southwest, especially now that they gave us a second local airport with plenty of flights. I do agree that it is incredibly frustrating to be stuck boarding very late on after a delayed connecting flight, but we deal with it for the other benefits.