SW Companion Program...
Oct 2, 2018, 12:35 pm
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Nashville -Past DL Plat, FO, WN-CP, various hotel programs
Programs: DL-MM, AA, SW w/companion,HiltonDiamond, Hyatt PLat, IHF Plat, Miles and Points Seeker
Posts: 11,072
I have it and worth a few thousand easily.
Oct 2, 2018, 3:51 pm
#5
Join Date: Feb 2009
Posts: 6,606
Well worth it as it lasts almost 2 years and your only out of pocket cost is $168 but for that $168 you also get 103K Sw points.
With the current CC offers you will get 103K points, only need 7k more to get 110K.
We have had CP via credit cards since 2014 and use it about 4 times per year.
Oct 2, 2018, 4:51 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: ATL
Posts: 1,924
Oct 3, 2018, 7:31 am
#8
Join Date: Oct 2001
Programs: LTP, PP
Posts: 8,699
Usage really depends on your life's circumstance so be honest with yourself. If everyone used them as they expected like every other week (sic), they wouldn't exist anymore!
Oct 4, 2018, 8:38 am
#9
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: LAS-DEN
Programs: WN CP & B-list. Disillusioned fmr UA-1P/2P,F9-Ascent; Fmr AA-Plat,CO-Gold,NW-Silver,TWA-Elite
Posts: 1,630
Spend $69 for a personal card (40,000 points) and $99 for a business card (60,000). Spend $10,000 on those cards (lost value of $200 you could have got with Citi Double Cash). Total costs, $368.
Receive 110,000 points (at 70 points per dollar, $1,571 of flying value). Even if you only fly once per year for two years with your companion on tickets that cost $200 per one-way, that is another $800. Minimum total value of $2,371. Where else can you invest $368 and get $2,371 in return? And, if you use the companion pass more than once a year, the return is even better.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Receive 110,000 points (at 70 points per dollar, $1,571 of flying value). Even if you only fly once per year for two years with your companion on tickets that cost $200 per one-way, that is another $800. Minimum total value of $2,371. Where else can you invest $368 and get $2,371 in return? And, if you use the companion pass more than once a year, the return is even better.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Oct 4, 2018, 10:14 am
#10
Join Date: Jun 2015
Programs: VX Gold/WN Companion
Posts: 682
Actually for me the CP value was for business travel. We travel with a full team all over the country for work and my business partner and I both earned CP. We each named an employee as our companion and saved thousands if not tens of thousands in hard airfare costs...then we just used points to book significant others for the few personal flight we did take.
Oct 4, 2018, 1:21 pm
#11
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,286
Spend $69 for a personal card (40,000 points) and $99 for a business card (60,000). Spend $10,000 on those cards (lost value of $200 you could have got with Citi Double Cash). Total costs, $368.
Receive 110,000 points (at 70 points per dollar, $1,571 of flying value). Even if you only fly once per year for two years with your companion on tickets that cost $200 per one-way, that is another $800. Minimum total value of $2,371. Where else can you invest $368 and get $2,371 in return? And, if you use the companion pass more than once a year, the return is even better.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Receive 110,000 points (at 70 points per dollar, $1,571 of flying value). Even if you only fly once per year for two years with your companion on tickets that cost $200 per one-way, that is another $800. Minimum total value of $2,371. Where else can you invest $368 and get $2,371 in return? And, if you use the companion pass more than once a year, the return is even better.
Seems like a no-brainer to me.
Minor quibble: Beginning back in April, 76/$1 is the new average for points redemption. While there are occasionally fares available at less, 70 is very rare. The floor is allegedly 74, and 78 is common. Meaning the value of those 110,000 points is slightly less (~$85 on average), depending on your specific redemption patterns.
Oct 4, 2018, 4:25 pm
#12
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: LAS-DEN
Programs: WN CP & B-list. Disillusioned fmr UA-1P/2P,F9-Ascent; Fmr AA-Plat,CO-Gold,NW-Silver,TWA-Elite
Posts: 1,630
Minor quibble: Beginning back in April, 76/$1 is the new average for points redemption. While there are occasionally fares available at less, 70 is very rare. The floor is allegedly 74, and 78 is common. Meaning the value of those 110,000 points is slightly less (~$85 on average), depending on your specific redemption patterns.
However, I tend to look at it as "How much money did I save?" So if a flight is $233 or 15,875 points (that is from an actual ticket I have outstanding), I consider that to be 68 points per dollar. I don't have to pay the tax (other than the $5.60 TSA fee) and neither does Southwest. However, if I bought the ticket, I would have to pay the taxes, thus $233. Granted, the base fare of that ticket is probably about $203, so 78 points per dollar. I still think of it as I traded 15,875 for $233 of value.
Oct 4, 2018, 8:50 pm
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Nashville -Past DL Plat, FO, WN-CP, various hotel programs
Programs: DL-MM, AA, SW w/companion,HiltonDiamond, Hyatt PLat, IHF Plat, Miles and Points Seeker
Posts: 11,072
You are complicating this with the points earned and flight costs as compared to FREE FLIGHTS (plus $5.60). If I take my wife on 14 flights this year that would have cost $300 each, I save $4,200. That has nothing to do with point to dollar ratios.
Oct 5, 2018, 6:14 am
#14
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Long Island
Programs: Southwest Airlines, Marriot
Posts: 235
Oct 6, 2018, 3:42 pm
#15
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: SFO
Programs: AS MVP Gold / Marriott Bonvoy(age) Titanium Elite, IHG Platinum, WN A+/CP, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 337
Its worth it.....but all depends on your travel pattern with your companion pass holders.....in theory you think you will use it a lot....but in practice some years we dont use it much....still the best deal in FF perks going however...