Would you love to have more teacher travel, but can’t make the outrageous prices work for the teacher budget?
I totally get it!
The cost of flight travel has gotten ridiculous, but there is a hack that I want to share with you.
And all it takes is a Southwest Credit Card!
This is your chance for a Disney trip for the family, an international honeymoon that you never got to take, or unlimited weekend adventures!
Let me begin by saying, I HATE credit cards and I literally only carry one.
What is that one card? The Southwest card, of course.
Why I Personally Love it:
Sign on Bonuses- If you are a new card holder you can usually earn anywhere from 50,000-80,000 Bonus Points. That can be enough points to fly multiple roundtrip adventures in US locations or enough for a roundtrip international flight!
Low Annual Fee- some credit cards have insane annual fees. Southwest cards start at $69 and includes TONS of perks
Card Perks- 2 early bird check-ins for free, earn double bonus points on TONS of travel purchases, anniversary point bumps
Easy to Earn Bonuses: to earn your 50,000 bonus you just have to spend $1,000 in the first 3 months of having the card (which is honestly pretty easy to do with gas, groceries, and other life essentials)
No Expiration on Points- The points you earn on Southwest NEVER expire. So you can earn points now and take a big family trip 3 years from now and still have access to the bonus!
Easy to Accumulate Points– Using your southwest credit card for daily purchases rather than a debit card causes you to easily accumulate points. I use mine on gas, groceries, and life essentials and that alone earns me multiple free flights a year in bonus points.
Companion Pass- This is the chance to fly somebody with you for FREE (just pay low ticket fees of around $6) for EVERY flight you ever take
Companion pass is so epic (and what i have had for the last 6 years) that it needs it’s own paragraph below.
Companion Pass
This is a southwest hack that says, if you can earn 135,000 bonus points in one calendar year, we will reward you in a BIG way!
Companion pass is the chance for BOGO- literally buy one ticket, get one ticket free.
All you have to pay on the free ticket is the $6 transaction fee per leg for US flights.
And this works for UNLIMITED amounts of flights that you travel on during your companion pass time frame!
So how do you earn 135,000 bonus points from Jan 1 to Dec 31?
The easiest way is to get new card member bonuses on 2 cards.
For example, at the start of the calendar year you could earn 50,000 on the Plus Credit Card and 50,000 on the Premier Credit Card.
That puts you WAY over half way there (100,000) just on bonuses alone.
Then you start thinking strategically about big purchases.
For example, some friends of mine were planning a wedding recently and they put the catering, venue, and expenses on their cards and earned companion pass by March!
They are now going to fly one person free from March-December of this year AND Jan-Dec of the following year.
This spending was all things they were going to purchase anyway, now they were just getting huge perks for having a southwest credit card.
Here is an another example, one year I had to update my hot water heater so I used my southwest card and I also paid for my home and car insurance on my card.
Those helped me get to the 1350,000 bonus points very quickly!
The card bonuses reset every December 31st so the sooner you get to 135,000 the better.
Don’t make it to 1350,000 in one calendar year? No worries!
As a reminder, southwest points never expire!
Want to check out the current southwest credit card promotions?
Overall, I have been extremely pleased with my experiences on Southwest!
I will continue to use the company as my preferred airline and I will continue to shout their praises for all teachers to take advantage of the perks!
If you still have questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask!
Find me on all socials: @MonicaGentaEd
Happy Travels!
PS– Don’t forget to check out these Awesome Southwest Bonuses
***Disclaimer- credit cards can create dangerous spending behaviors for some people. Only apply for a card if you fully understand the terms and conditions of the cards you apply for. Monica Genta, LLC is not responsible for any fees, fines, or finances based on your choices after reading this information. Card bonuses and specific details change. Be sure to check the Chase website for the most up to date information about card details ***