Alive thru 3/17: How to buy a Companion Pass, 120k RR pts + 7 hotel nights for $2048
 

If you value a Companion Pass highly and you haven't already figured out a way to get one cheaper, there is now a complicated way you can buy one.

First, I ask bloggers NOT to copy this information and NOT to post any more than they already have. You guys have flogged the opportunity to death and given away all the pieces, so please leave it at that. Otherwise I will put you on my fecal roster (hat tip from FlyerTalk to CarTalk). This is the Southwest forum, so I'm giving some extra help to people who actually fly the airline. People here know the Southwest rules but no so much the rules of other programs.

Oh, and the same goes for FT members. No cross-posting or linking from other forums, please. Keep this discussion here, for readers of this forum only. This deal looks pretty fragile to me at this point.

Here are the steps, which need to be started soon.

1. Create a Marriott Rewards account if you don't have one.
2. Create a Starwood Preferred Guest account if you don't have one. Use the same name and address as for the Marriott account.
3. Link the two accounts to allow points transfer.
4. Google "Starwood points purchase promotion". Find out what percentage discount you are offered on this Starwood account. Typical discount is 35%. The max of 50% is rare.
5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for two more family members at the same address. You can add a 3rd or 4th member, but don't go crazy with it or the SPG folks might not appreciate your gaming of their promotion. Trust me and just forget about getting 50% off. Settle for 35%.
6. Do not buy the points yet! Important!!
7. Steps 1 through 6 should be completed soon, or anyway by November 25 if you want to be able to redeem for your Companion Pass in the first week of January for 2-year validity.
8. Let any new Starwood accounts age for 14 days before purchasing points, to comply with the terms of the promo. I plan to purchase points late in December in case this deal is killed before then.
9. Purchase 30,000 points (the maximum) from each of three different Starwood accounts which were created at least 15 days ago. At 35% off your cost will be $682.50 times 3 = $2047.50. If you use a Starwood Amex card you will earn 2 points per dollar for this purchase, meaning you will need to buy slightly fewer points. Purchased points appear almost immediately, provided that you have not attempted to exceed the 30k annual purchase limit per account.
10. Make sure all Starwood accounts have been at the same address for at least 30 days. The longer the better, since a human being must approve this step. Fill out the online form to transfer points from account C to account A and then fill out the online form to transfer points from account B to account A. About 4 days later all 90,000 points will be in account A. Transfers can only be done in 1k increments. If your transfer is denied, assemble your proof that the family members really do live at the same address (kids are ideal) and call to request a prompt review.
11. Transfer the 90,000 Starwood points to Marriott, where they become 270,000 points. Transfers can only be done in multiples of 1000 points.
12. Phone Marriott on January 2 or later to redeem your 270,000 points for a 120,000 point Travel Package. Note that Marriott DOES allow points from a spouse's account to be combined with yours when redeeming an award in case Starwood gave you any trouble with the transfer between members. The 270k redemption gives you 120k Rapid Rewards points (or similar miles on another airline if you prefer) plus a single stay of up to 7 nights at a hotel in Marriott categories 1-5, typically a sub-$120 hotel. The RR points have heretofore qualified for Companion Pass, and we know how long it takes Southwest to change their software. ;)
13. If you didn't wait until January to request the package your Companion Pass will expire December 31, 2017. If you waited, it will expire December 31, 2018. Request date matters. Posting date does not.
14. I figure the hotel award is worth at least a few hundred dollars and 120k RR points are worth about $1700. If you agree with those valuations your Companion Pass is nearly free.
15. If you have or want to buy additional points, you can spend 120k more Marriott points (40k Starwood) to upgrade your hotel coupon all the way to the top category. If you plan to use all 7 nights that is a good deal. You can upgrade the category by adding points even months after your initial redemption, so experts recommend redeeming the 270k and waiting to see what hotel category you actually are going to use before you upgrade the certificate.
16. There is a real risk that Marriott will pull the plug on these Travel Packages before you can complete this plan. They've been getting slammed with redemptions and the Starwood promotion (which ends December 31) can't be helping. I suppose there's a risk of an early end to the Starwood discount as well. I don't expect Travel Packages to last beyond 2017 in anything like the current form. Personally, I'd put the over/under at 3 months, but the experts think that Marriott won't risk upsetting members until the merger is complete. No guts, no glory. I'm going to try it myself, but I do have a backup plan in case this one doesn't work.

Good luck! And please, please keep this on the down-low, in this forum only.

Great post... :) Def ready to give this a go

Any downside users out there?

I am aware of at least one thread here and a blogger that has already mentioned this.

I know one FT member that was stopped at step 10.

Why was he stopped?

I have a system too that I am going to use in 2018 (as I already have companion pass for 2017):

1) Get a Chase Sapphire VISA card to get 100,000 points for yourself
2) Get a Chase Sapphire VISA card for your spouse (or any family member) to get another 100,000 points
3) Combine the points (you can do that) and then transfer them to Hyatt
4) I might be a few thousand points off somewhere, but you can convert the Hyatt points to Southwest points and will have enough for a CP.

The downside is, you have to pay $495 a year for the card -but you get $300 off travel, free priority pass lounge access, and a few more perks.

NSX do you agree this is a valid method too?

You're assuming the 100,000 point bonuses are going to be available on the CSR. Even if it is, it would take 200,000 points to get 120,000 RR points after the conversion. But other than that, yeah it would work.

I'm not NSX, but I agree that your plan should work, assuming nothing in the UR-->Hyatt-->WN path changes.

As long as you transfer from Hyatt to WN in multiples of 50K:
50k UR --> 50k Hyatt -->30K WN RR
Doing this 4 times with your 200K UR will give 120K WN RR

Assuming a rough value of $0.015 to $0.02 per UR point, you are spending $3000-$4000 in UR points to get two things:
1) a CP, and
2) WN RR points worth at most $1666.67 (at 72 RR pts/$; let's hope that this doesn't get devalued any further).

I would try to make sure that you will be using the CP enough to make up the difference between these values.

In all honesty if someone wants to get 2 cards just to get the companion pass, you might as well get 2 Southwest cards. Anual fee lower and less spending to meet minimum spend.

That's an excellent point. The only way that the UR plan makes sense is for someone who thinks that they won't be approved for 2 Chase cards (e.g. they are at 4/24) - in a case like this having two people each apply for one card may be the better option.

Darn!! Only 25% off!

"Now through December 31, 2016, you’ll save 25% on purchases of 5,000 Starpoints or more."

Hello, I have a relative who wants to do this. Step 10 says transfers can only be 1000 points at a time? So 90 transactions?

No. Thanks for the catch. I edited the post to clarify: "Transfers can only be done in multiples of 1000 points."

I am planning on trying this, already have the Marriott points waiting in my account to do this transfer.

But I do want to warn people that some people do believe this is actually against the terms and conditions of Southwest. So there is always a chance Southwest will decide to fix the bug or change how these transfers count so that the points will no longer qualify.

How is that against the T&C?

Because the T&C specifically state that transfered points do not qualify for a companion pass.

Some transfers for example Ultimate Rewards already do not count towards a companion pass.