NoStressHere

QUESTION FOR ORIGINAL POSTER:

What are you expecting to get from status?

1.No status allows you to select seats in advance.
2. No status allows you to select your seatmates. Hint - boarding first is not always the best idea.

EVERYONE gets free bags. No problems.
NOBODY gets first class, or economy select, or anything like that.

toomanybooks

rsteinmetz70112

For the OPs information Southwest sometimes has targeted promotions and may offer challenges which may or may not include temporary status and give you a shot at status for a time while you actually earn it.

ryw

It depends why you want status and what your flying patterns are. Southwest has no checked baggage fee, change fee, or cancellation fees for all customers. Also no first class. (But you can opt in to get 4 alcoholic drink vouchers for every 10 one-way trips/5 roundtrips. Or get drink vouchers from the credit card). So while status on other airlines will often get you those benefits, they are already available to all Southwest flyers.

As others have said, Southwest has an open boarding policy, so your choice of seat is based on what's open when you get on the plane, with no pre-reserved seats. So one might want to optimize their boarding position. Generally (excluding pre-boards, family, military boarding, etc), boarding goes in this order:

• Business Select (15 per flight. You can pay for this when you you have to pay for this when you buy a ticket. Often a couple times more than the basic "wanna get away" fare. This fare includes a larger points earning, and a free alcoholic beverage as well as an early boarding position. If all 15 are not sold out by day of departure, you can pay a fee at the gate to be one of the first 15 to board, though
• Customers with Status (A list and A list preferred)
• Customers who purchased "early bird checkin" (it's generally believed that those who bought EBCI earlier will get an earlier boarding position)
• Customers in order of check in, starting at T-24.

Companion pass by itself has no effect on boarding order. It just means someone gets to fly with you for free. (Your boarding number is still determined by the above list). Other benefits of status on A-list are a priority phone line, free same-day standby options, and a small points earning bonus.

Depending on your flying patterns and which airports you'll be flying out of, status may or may not be worthwhile, as one can optimize their boarding position in other ways that may end up being cheaper. IMO if your goal is just to attain status, the credit card is not the best way to get there. (Cheap intra-CA flights might be your friend there).

If you already have status on another airline, you might also be able to use a status match, which makes the answers to this thread a lot easier (discussed here: New(er) limited promo? A-List/another airlines status)

camaross

You are correct, sorry I don't think I was clear. I meant earning points with UR, then transferring them as needed to SW to book with points, so you still have the flexibility to book/cancel with ease.

The plan that works for us is spending $110k between the two cards (enough to reup the companion pass), and then putting the rest of our annual spend on the sapphire reserve card. That way you've got 110k points banked with southwest, and then you can always transfer more over from UR as needed.

HawkeyeFlyer

That is what I am thinking. I currently run around $200k annually thru my mix of Chase Freedom (max bonus categories quarterly), Chase Freedom Unlimited (all non-bonus categories) and Chase Sapphire Reserve (travel and dining), then transfer all points to the CSR for max value and transfer options. Just don't see where getting the companion ticket will outweigh benefits I am currently getting on CC spend

camaross

Depends how much you fly. If you fly somewhat frequently, putting 110k through a southwest card isn't a terrible idea - gets you the companion pass and 110k points. Keep all the bonus category spend on the freedom card until you max that out, and put big travel and dining spend on the CSR.

NoStressHere

Still do not know what you hope to get with "status" on WN.

If you are running $200k in credit card charges each year, you surely should be getting as many NEW cards as possible and getting the signup bonuses.

As to getting companion pass - how many times a year will you make use of that?

AND - if you are looking at Companion Pass, time it for 1st qtr o 2019 and get almost two years of it.

toomanybooks

nsx

A friend moved and started commuting by air. I told him to phone Southwest and ask for an A-list challenge. He got temporary status made permanent after a few paid round trips.

I agree.

InkUnderNails

Ink's easy guide to WN points:

The most important thing to remember is that there are three different point counts.

Rapid Rewards points: These are earned from paid flying, credit card use, partners and more. They are the points that are collected in your Rapid Rewards account. The total gets larger as you earn them and drops when you spend them. Add points every so often but at least every 23 months, and they never expire. (They will on occasion be devalued, but not taken.)

Companion pass qualifying points: Most of the Rapid Rewards points are also Companion pass points, but it is not a one-to-one correlation. These are very similar to the RR points above and come from many of the same sources. You need 110,000 of these in a year to earn Companion Pass. At the end of the year WN comes in and takes all the accumulated CPQP points and you start on January 1 with none. The CP is effective the moment the 110,000 points is posted and lasts until December 31 the following year.

Tier Qualifying Points: These are earned from flying or credit card spend. The points from credit card spend is limited to 15K points per year. At the end of the year, WN takes all of your TQP and you start January 1 with none. Like CP, A-list and Preferred are good through December the following year. Bottom line, butts in seats are required to earn enough points for A-list.

Peoriaman1

Well, there's an airplane with Herb Kelleher's name on it... Maybe that's the kind of status the OP is shooting for?

HawkeyeFlyer

Sure it CAN be, and if I were going to be lots of vacation travel with my wife that would be amazing. However, right now it will mostly be business travel and not sure how often she will want to come along. I was aware that it was not a "ticket", I guess I worded that wrong. Thanks for clarifying though

NoStressHere

I see OP stopped back in.

Still wondering what sort of perks/benefits he is looking for???