RR Visa S/U: Free Flight and $500 GCs! (EXPIRED; Now: Offer issues discussion)
Jul 23, 2010, 1:35 pm
#46
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: BOS
Posts: 1,461
Wife applied for card on 7/7, cards received on 7/21. Paperwork supplied with cards explicitly stated the fee waiver for the 1st year but made no mention of the 16 credit bonus for first purchase or the gift cards. We therefore called the 800 number on the back of the card first, rather than the activation number, to query. Upon prompting the representative stated that they were aware of the promotion but that he had to look up the codes to apply them to the account...after a moment he said we were all set for the first use credits plus the gift cards and so we gave him the ok to activate the cards.
We'll see how this works and will report on the results.
We'll see how this works and will report on the results.
Jul 23, 2010, 10:41 pm
#47
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: New Orleans, LA
Programs: DL PM, AA Gold, A3 Gold, WN CP, and lots of points everywhere.
Posts: 344
On the fence...
This is a good deal but I'm on the fence and hoping others can possibly fill in a few details. The 16 credits for a free flight and $500 core offer is very good. But it'd be better if I could make use of the remainder credits which leads me to...
1: Given my 3 credits that I have from last year and the ~4 I'd earn for the $5k spend (or, in my case, balance transfer), I'd have 7 extra remainder credits. I'm not personally likely to earn more for flying (I mostly fly DL/UA and would use these for my wife). I see that I can effectively buy credits for ~$30 each via the 2 for renewing the credit card and more balance transfers but $30/RR credit seems higher than I'd like to pay. How often are there other non-hotel/car promos (we don't use either very much) aside from the credit card to add another 9 credits so as to make use of my remainder? By the way, I'm already working coins for other purposes. Unless some PM's me a means of generating spend that's not being generally talked about on FT, I have to go the Bal Trans. route.
2: I don't see anything that indicates one-way's available for, say, 8 credits. Just hoping to be corrected if I'm wrong. That'd solve my remainder problem in #1.
3: I checked Amex MR and there didn't appear to be a direct transfer path into RR. Nor did I find anything on the WN web site. Any others? Webflyer.com's calculator shows paths from MR or SPG via Amtrak but last I looked into that, it was problematic unless I had status on Amtrak. So converting points from those programs to add another 9 doesn't look good.
4: Looking for some subjective advice... I opened 2 Chase cards already this year (BA in February and UAL in April). I *think* I can add one more for a total of 3. Continental seems a natural target for me (30k on CO already and ~80k on UAL) but the best offer lately is only 25k and a future offer may come along with a significant spending target (which I don't have much ability to meet in 2010). I'm waffling between this offer and the CO offer. This is clearly higher value but would be moreso if I could use the remainder RR points mentioned above. I realize this is the WN board but would welcome any relatively impartial advice.
If anyone's curious, here's my basic rate of return calculation:
* $209 cost (annual fee + 3% bal trans for $5k).
* 1 ticket @ $350 value + $500 in gift cards = $850 return.
* Net gain: $641 + a remainder of 7 RR (3 currently, 4 earned on bal transfer) points.
Aside from the BA offer, this is right up there with the great UA and SPG offers this year. I normally don't fly WN but this is hard to ignore.
Thanks in advance. I appreciate the advice.
1: Given my 3 credits that I have from last year and the ~4 I'd earn for the $5k spend (or, in my case, balance transfer), I'd have 7 extra remainder credits. I'm not personally likely to earn more for flying (I mostly fly DL/UA and would use these for my wife). I see that I can effectively buy credits for ~$30 each via the 2 for renewing the credit card and more balance transfers but $30/RR credit seems higher than I'd like to pay. How often are there other non-hotel/car promos (we don't use either very much) aside from the credit card to add another 9 credits so as to make use of my remainder? By the way, I'm already working coins for other purposes. Unless some PM's me a means of generating spend that's not being generally talked about on FT, I have to go the Bal Trans. route.
2: I don't see anything that indicates one-way's available for, say, 8 credits. Just hoping to be corrected if I'm wrong. That'd solve my remainder problem in #1.
3: I checked Amex MR and there didn't appear to be a direct transfer path into RR. Nor did I find anything on the WN web site. Any others? Webflyer.com's calculator shows paths from MR or SPG via Amtrak but last I looked into that, it was problematic unless I had status on Amtrak. So converting points from those programs to add another 9 doesn't look good.
4: Looking for some subjective advice... I opened 2 Chase cards already this year (BA in February and UAL in April). I *think* I can add one more for a total of 3. Continental seems a natural target for me (30k on CO already and ~80k on UAL) but the best offer lately is only 25k and a future offer may come along with a significant spending target (which I don't have much ability to meet in 2010). I'm waffling between this offer and the CO offer. This is clearly higher value but would be moreso if I could use the remainder RR points mentioned above. I realize this is the WN board but would welcome any relatively impartial advice.
If anyone's curious, here's my basic rate of return calculation:
* $209 cost (annual fee + 3% bal trans for $5k).
* 1 ticket @ $350 value + $500 in gift cards = $850 return.
* Net gain: $641 + a remainder of 7 RR (3 currently, 4 earned on bal transfer) points.
Aside from the BA offer, this is right up there with the great UA and SPG offers this year. I normally don't fly WN but this is hard to ignore.
Thanks in advance. I appreciate the advice.
Last edited by msp2msy; Jul 23, 2010 at 10:50 pm Reason: a couple typos
Jul 24, 2010, 3:30 pm
#48
Join Date: May 2001
Location: topeka, ks usa
Posts: 392
I don't understand how spending $5000 and getting $500 gift cards means 2 more round trips. Do you mean to purchase tickets with the gift cards, not award tickets? Assuming you can get RT for $250?
Jul 25, 2010, 10:29 am
#49
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: New Orleans, LA
Programs: DL PM, AA Gold, A3 Gold, WN CP, and lots of points everywhere.
Posts: 344
Since I did some additional work, I thought I'd fill in some details in case anyone had similar questions:
1: The flyerguide wiki about WN is great. Found I could pick up 2 credits for signing up for 2 email lists. Leaves me with a remainder of 9 and 7 to go to get a 2nd award ticket. I could continue into year 2 and get 2 more for $59 annual fee. That leaves 5 more. I'm pretty sure I can come up with $6k addt. spend in the next 12 months and/or find some hotel/car promos.
2: More reading and still no mention of one-ways so I think I can rule that out.
3: Too bad MR stopped allowing transfers around 6/30/10... Missed that one. Who knows though, maybe Amtrak is a good idea for next year. I've got until 8/2011 before my oldest WN credit expires so plenty of time. Also realized that if I interpret things correctly, the 16 credits for this card will come in on 7/2010 and the FIFO (first in, first out) system will effectively reset my oldest remainder credit from 8/2011 to 7/2012. That gives me LOTS of time to do something about my remainder credits.
4: Decided that I probably have time to take a run at this and maybe a good Chase CO offer later in the year. Essentially, I value this offer at $650 to $900. Offers worth over $700 are generally a no-brainer for me.
So I took the chance and applied. Unfortunately, I got the 15-day message. We'll see what happens. Mid 700's FICO, lots of inquiries, 2 other Chase cards in the last year but 0 in the last 3 months. My prior 2 also didn't get instantly approved but were approved with little hassle. So, I cross my fingers. Strangely, my wife's Chase applications are instantly approved online, despite a very, very similar credit profile. Of course, the mortgage for the property I owned before we married is only in my name so I blame that.
Also, I made a technical error during my value calculation below. A later post in this thread eliminated the annual fee too so that's $59 saved.
Will post my outcome once I know.
1: The flyerguide wiki about WN is great. Found I could pick up 2 credits for signing up for 2 email lists. Leaves me with a remainder of 9 and 7 to go to get a 2nd award ticket. I could continue into year 2 and get 2 more for $59 annual fee. That leaves 5 more. I'm pretty sure I can come up with $6k addt. spend in the next 12 months and/or find some hotel/car promos.
2: More reading and still no mention of one-ways so I think I can rule that out.
3: Too bad MR stopped allowing transfers around 6/30/10... Missed that one. Who knows though, maybe Amtrak is a good idea for next year. I've got until 8/2011 before my oldest WN credit expires so plenty of time. Also realized that if I interpret things correctly, the 16 credits for this card will come in on 7/2010 and the FIFO (first in, first out) system will effectively reset my oldest remainder credit from 8/2011 to 7/2012. That gives me LOTS of time to do something about my remainder credits.
4: Decided that I probably have time to take a run at this and maybe a good Chase CO offer later in the year. Essentially, I value this offer at $650 to $900. Offers worth over $700 are generally a no-brainer for me.
So I took the chance and applied. Unfortunately, I got the 15-day message. We'll see what happens. Mid 700's FICO, lots of inquiries, 2 other Chase cards in the last year but 0 in the last 3 months. My prior 2 also didn't get instantly approved but were approved with little hassle. So, I cross my fingers. Strangely, my wife's Chase applications are instantly approved online, despite a very, very similar credit profile. Of course, the mortgage for the property I owned before we married is only in my name so I blame that.
Also, I made a technical error during my value calculation below. A later post in this thread eliminated the annual fee too so that's $59 saved.
Will post my outcome once I know.
This is a good deal but I'm on the fence and hoping others can possibly fill in a few details. The 16 credits for a free flight and $500 core offer is very good. But it'd be better if I could make use of the remainder credits which leads me to...
1: Given my 3 credits that I have from last year and the ~4 I'd earn for the $5k spend (or, in my case, balance transfer), I'd have 7 extra remainder credits. I'm not personally likely to earn more for flying (I mostly fly DL/UA and would use these for my wife). I see that I can effectively buy credits for ~$30 each via the 2 for renewing the credit card and more balance transfers but $30/RR credit seems higher than I'd like to pay. How often are there other non-hotel/car promos (we don't use either very much) aside from the credit card to add another 9 credits so as to make use of my remainder? By the way, I'm already working coins for other purposes. Unless some PM's me a means of generating spend that's not being generally talked about on FT, I have to go the Bal Trans. route.
2: I don't see anything that indicates one-way's available for, say, 8 credits. Just hoping to be corrected if I'm wrong. That'd solve my remainder problem in #1.
3: I checked Amex MR and there didn't appear to be a direct transfer path into RR. Nor did I find anything on the WN web site. Any others? Webflyer.com's calculator shows paths from MR or SPG via Amtrak but last I looked into that, it was problematic unless I had status on Amtrak. So converting points from those programs to add another 9 doesn't look good.
4: Looking for some subjective advice... I opened 2 Chase cards already this year (BA in February and UAL in April). I *think* I can add one more for a total of 3. Continental seems a natural target for me (30k on CO already and ~80k on UAL) but the best offer lately is only 25k and a future offer may come along with a significant spending target (which I don't have much ability to meet in 2010). I'm waffling between this offer and the CO offer. This is clearly higher value but would be moreso if I could use the remainder RR points mentioned above. I realize this is the WN board but would welcome any relatively impartial advice.
If anyone's curious, here's my basic rate of return calculation:
* $209 cost (annual fee + 3% bal trans for $5k).
* 1 ticket @ $350 value + $500 in gift cards = $850 return.
* Net gain: $641 + a remainder of 7 RR (3 currently, 4 earned on bal transfer) points.
Aside from the BA offer, this is right up there with the great UA and SPG offers this year. I normally don't fly WN but this is hard to ignore.
Thanks in advance. I appreciate the advice.
1: Given my 3 credits that I have from last year and the ~4 I'd earn for the $5k spend (or, in my case, balance transfer), I'd have 7 extra remainder credits. I'm not personally likely to earn more for flying (I mostly fly DL/UA and would use these for my wife). I see that I can effectively buy credits for ~$30 each via the 2 for renewing the credit card and more balance transfers but $30/RR credit seems higher than I'd like to pay. How often are there other non-hotel/car promos (we don't use either very much) aside from the credit card to add another 9 credits so as to make use of my remainder? By the way, I'm already working coins for other purposes. Unless some PM's me a means of generating spend that's not being generally talked about on FT, I have to go the Bal Trans. route.
2: I don't see anything that indicates one-way's available for, say, 8 credits. Just hoping to be corrected if I'm wrong. That'd solve my remainder problem in #1.
3: I checked Amex MR and there didn't appear to be a direct transfer path into RR. Nor did I find anything on the WN web site. Any others? Webflyer.com's calculator shows paths from MR or SPG via Amtrak but last I looked into that, it was problematic unless I had status on Amtrak. So converting points from those programs to add another 9 doesn't look good.
4: Looking for some subjective advice... I opened 2 Chase cards already this year (BA in February and UAL in April). I *think* I can add one more for a total of 3. Continental seems a natural target for me (30k on CO already and ~80k on UAL) but the best offer lately is only 25k and a future offer may come along with a significant spending target (which I don't have much ability to meet in 2010). I'm waffling between this offer and the CO offer. This is clearly higher value but would be moreso if I could use the remainder RR points mentioned above. I realize this is the WN board but would welcome any relatively impartial advice.
If anyone's curious, here's my basic rate of return calculation:
* $209 cost (annual fee + 3% bal trans for $5k).
* 1 ticket @ $350 value + $500 in gift cards = $850 return.
* Net gain: $641 + a remainder of 7 RR (3 currently, 4 earned on bal transfer) points.
Aside from the BA offer, this is right up there with the great UA and SPG offers this year. I normally don't fly WN but this is hard to ignore.
Thanks in advance. I appreciate the advice.
Jul 26, 2010, 12:17 pm
#51
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: HOU/IAH
Programs: WN CP; Hilton Diamond; IHG Plat
Posts: 189
I applied for this card as an individual and received it. So I have both of them open now. Will cancel my business card as soon as all the open credits post.
Jul 26, 2010, 3:58 pm
#52
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: EWR Ionosphere Club, LAX Clipper Club, Still Traveling Global, yearly BIS miles
Programs: EAL Silver Wings, I-Club, Flying Colonels DL, WorldPass PLat from the olde Meatball and PE SMARTbank
Posts: 1,987
I have already had the pers and biz (sole prop with my ss#)
I have a new sole proprietor biz, new tax id # , eligible?
(yes because new TIN, or no because the credit in all cases relates back to my ss#)
I have a new sole proprietor biz, new tax id # , eligible?
(yes because new TIN, or no because the credit in all cases relates back to my ss#)
Jul 26, 2010, 5:39 pm
#53
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: stuck at home now.
Programs: status-less.
Posts: 486
The card we received this month was my wife's second SWA personal Visa, previous one was cancelled about 10 months ago. I've had, used, and cancelled SWA Visas in my name twice before. Chase seems not to care so long as we keep our FICO scores nice and high and wait long enough between cancellations and re-applications. I'm just waiting from my last cancellation to see whether to grab another one of these offers or if the Hyatt card (whenever it comes out) will be better for our personal situation.
Jul 28, 2010, 10:39 pm
#55
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Chicago
Programs: Mileage Plus, Rapid Rewards
Posts: 949
Southwest allows you to book one-ways for half of a standard award (8 credits). You have to have 16 credits, though, in your account before you can book either a roundtrip ticket or two one-way awards. You can't start booking a RR ticket if you only have 8 credits in your account. Hope that helps!
Jul 29, 2010, 9:57 am
#56
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: New Orleans, LA
Programs: DL PM, AA Gold, A3 Gold, WN CP, and lots of points everywhere.
Posts: 344
Southwest allows you to book one-ways for half of a standard award (8 credits). You have to have 16 credits, though, in your account before you can book either a roundtrip ticket or two one-way awards. You can't start booking a RR ticket if you only have 8 credits in your account. Hope that helps!
We've been earning and burning miles at a pretty surprising pace this fall. This would improve our portfolio quite a lot. I'm trying to stay away from the big BA, MR, and SPG piles. Chase and Amex have been pretty generous to us this year but I've been pushing it. Hoping for one last approval.
Jul 29, 2010, 12:08 pm
#57
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: stuck at home now.
Programs: status-less.
Posts: 486
Once you collect 16 credits and have obtained a free flight award, the award is issued in two parts (A and B) that may be redeemed individually for one-way flights. It then requires another 16 to get the next award. A total of 17, 24 or 31 is no better than a total of 16 in terms of obtaining award tickets.
Jul 30, 2010, 7:34 pm
#58
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 55
I signed up for the Chase SWA Visa on 7/19 and just got my card today (7/30). I have a $4000 real estate tax bill due in Sept. I'm thinking about paying the 2.7% convenience fee to process my tax bill on my Chase SWA card. I wonder if Chase would consider paying a real estate tax bill to be a qualifying purchase toward the $5000 level to get $500 in free Southwest gift cards?
Jul 31, 2010, 8:08 am
#59
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Chicagoland, IL, USA
Programs: WN CP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 14,189
I signed up for the Chase SWA Visa on 7/19 and just got my card today (7/30). I have a $4000 real estate tax bill due in Sept. I'm thinking about paying the 2.7% convenience fee to process my tax bill on my Chase SWA card. I wonder if Chase would consider paying a real estate tax bill to be a qualifying purchase toward the $5000 level to get $500 in free Southwest gift cards?
I've used my WN Visa to pay governmental charges like driving tickets, water bill, pet tags, local car sticker fee, car registration, truck transfer/license plate/annual sticker, etc. and it always goes in as a regular purchase and I get the WN credits.
Jul 31, 2010, 3:43 pm
#60
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 2,135
Guys
I read through all 4 pages of this and am a little confused (I guess not mature enough with these cards and programs)
I am not currently a Southwest flyer and have no association with their rewards programs and don't even have a chase card.
Once I use my card, will I get the 16 RR credits immediately? Do I then have 12 months to use these credits for a return flight to the 50 states? Or are there any complications I'm not thinking of?
Thank you
I read through all 4 pages of this and am a little confused (I guess not mature enough with these cards and programs)
I am not currently a Southwest flyer and have no association with their rewards programs and don't even have a chase card.
Once I use my card, will I get the 16 RR credits immediately? Do I then have 12 months to use these credits for a return flight to the 50 states? Or are there any complications I'm not thinking of?
Thank you