Earn BoGo Flights for 2 Years with One Card?!

It's true! While the "traditional" Southwest Companion Pass method (described here in detail) requires one person to open two Southwest cards (one business and one personal), there is currently an elevated Southwest card offer that can get you Companion Pass with just the one card - no referrals needed!

How to Earn Companion Pass with One Card

Thanks to this current elevated offer:

This is a record high sign up bonus offer! Which ends 10/22/2025.

Southwest Performance Business Card

Annual Fee: $299*

Current (Elevated) Sign up Offer: Spend $10,000 in 3 months, earn to 120,000 points

5/24 Status: Because this is a business card, it will NOT impact your 5/24.  (If you're not familiar with what 5/24 Rule is, visit this post New to Points, Rule 2)

*Benefits to help offset the annual fee: 

These aren't all of the card benefits, but I wanted to highlight that for holding this credit card you get:

• Free checked bags for cardholder and up to 8 guests up on the same reservation (including companion)
• Free seat selection at time of booking
• 9,000 points every year for your card anniversary
• 10,000 points boost towards CP every year for holding a card (note: these points cannot be used for bookings)

How to utilize this Offer to Earn CP

Reminder, in order to earn Companion Pass (CP), you need to earn 135,000 rapid rewards points in a calendar year. Your points towards companion pass reset annually on January 1st.

So, if you wanted to use this offer to earn buy one, get one flights for *most* of 2026 and ALL of 2027, here's what you need to do and the timeline to follow to do it

1.  Between now and 10/21/25: Open a Southwest Performance Business card

Don't think you qualify for business cards? I bet you can! Read this post for ideas that may help you qualify for a business card, as well as step-by-step instructions how to fill out a business card application if you don't have an LLC or EIN.

2. After approval through mid-December, spend $9,000 of the $10K spend on the card. Once you hit $9k spent, put this card away and do NOT use.

3. 1/1/2026 - your 3-month deadline: Spend the remaining amount needed to hit a $10,000 spend in 3mo from your date of approval. This may be a quick turnaround for some, so plan ahead and make sure you complete the $10k minimum spend before your 3-months to do so is up!

Adding up the Points

Following the above, you will earn: 10,000 points (minimum, from your $10,000 spend) + 120,000 points (sign up bonus for hitting minimum spend) + 10,000 points (point boost for holding a SW card); which puts you at 140,000 points, which will likely hit your account in February, after your statement closes!

At which point, you will have earned Companion Pass for Feb 2026 through 12/31/2027.

Don't forget, those 130,000 points you earned from signing up for the card and hitting the minimum spend are usable! You can use those points to book your flight and then add your companion; so you're both flying for free, plus taxes and fees ($5.60 per person one-way for domestic flights; more for international).

Summary

Have you had a companion pass? Or is this the year you'll go for one? We are going on three years of having companion pass and have gone so many places with it (Hawaii, Chicago, Seattle, Costa Rica, Belize, California, Scottsdale, etc); it's become a crucial part of my travel strategy for my family!

PS - if you're a family of 4 like me, both you and your partner could open this year (if you can hit the minimum spend for both at the same time). If you do this, don't forget to have one person refer the other person to the SW card for even more points!

As always, I SO appreciate you using my links to open to new cards! It helps me to continue educating and providing free content! If you're going to grab this card, please use my referral!

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> Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

> Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

Avios: What are They and How to Transfer

(Warning! This the content of post is an redemption intermediate skill. Even then, it may be overwhelming as you read through it - but it's good to be aware of; or at least have the option to come back to)

I did something really stupid. I booked this big elaborate 15th Wedding Anniversary trip for us, which consisted of booking six flights for each of us (some under one reservation, and some under separate reservations due to how/where our points were coming). I share this extra tid-bid of information to be fair to myself to say: there are a LOT of pieces to this trip's puzzle that I'm managing.

What are Avios?

Avios are the name of the points system used by certain airlines: British Airways, Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus, Loganair, Finnair, and Qatar Airways. What's nice about this group of airlines is that you can earn or move points amongst them!

Which means, if one of these airlines has a bank transfer bonus, you can take advantage of the transfer bonus, earn extra points, and then move the Avios points to the airline you want to book with!

In June, I utilized a 30% transfer bonus from American Express to British Airways to fly from Maldives (MLE) to Doha (DOH), to catch our long-haul Qatar Airways flight back to North America. Surprised to hear that British Airways flies from MLE to DOH? That's because they don't!

But, thanks to OneWorld airline alliance, I was able to transfer my Amex points to British Airways to get the 30% bonus points, and book my Qatar Airways flight on British Airways website. (This is fairly intermediate, but can go a long way, once you pick up on how to utilize airline alliances to your benefit!) 

Anyways, what did I do? 

Here I am, at the beginning of October, with our trip being in October. I was typing up a clean itinerary to share with our parents and I realized that my flight from MLE to DOH isn't what I thought I booked...

Who knows where I'm going with this?...

Y'all those flight times I booked are NOT in the afternoon, but in the wee early hours of the morning! CRAP!!!!!!

I immediately searched British Airways to see if they had a daytime flight available, and they didn't! eFFFFF! 

Thankfully, I knew that typically flights available through airline alliance partners are saver flights (aka flights for less); once those saver priced flights sell out; generally/often, you can still find standard priced flights direct with the airline you want to fly.

So, I searched Qatar Airways (QA) and sure enough, found the DAY time flights we needed! I cancelled my British Airway flights and within 12 hours had the original points I used to book back in my BA account; which leads me to sharing...

How to Transfer Avios Points Among Avios Airlines

Again, in my case, I need to book my flight directly on Qatar based on award flight availability... but I had 35K flights "stuck" with British Airways. What's a girl to do?! 

Since both, BA and QA are in OneWorld alliance and utilize Avios points, I was able to move my BA points over to QA I'm sharing this because you may also want to use this technique in the future, to take advantage of a transfer bonus with one Avios-airline, but book with another.

Here's now to move your Avios points amongst Avios airlines:

1. Log into Avios.com (assuming you already have accounts set up with the two airlines you want to transfer between). In my case, I have a both a British Airways and Qatar Airways account; but I haven't linked my QA account to avios.com

(Note you will not find this ability if you look directly in your British Airways account; you have to go to Avios website)

2. Once logged in, select "Transfer Avios" under "Manager your Avios"

3. You'll be taken to this page, which gives you the options of which other Avios-using airline you want to move your points to. Select the Airline your are transferring points from.

4. Select the airline you want to transfer points to. For my situation, I selected Qatar Airways, and was taken to this page to link my QA account:

5. I went through a process to verify my information with British Airways and then was taken to Qatar Airways website to log in and linked my two accounts:

6. Enter the amount of points you want to move and submit. My points moved from British Airways to Qatar Airways instantly; I logged out of my QA account and back in, and there they were!

Reasons Why You to Move Avios

Here are a few reasons why you may want to keep this skill in the back of your mind:

• All major banks have at least one Avios-OneWorld airline they transfer to. This means, you can combine your points amongst different banks to book a flight.
• For example; if you wanted to go to the Maldives and fly on QSuites (Qatar's Business Class, which is said to be the best in the world and industry), you can transfer Amex points directly to Qatar, but Qatar isn't a transfer partner of Chase or Capital One. Similar to the example above, you could transfer Chase points to British Airways, and then move those now Avios points from British Airways to Qatar; essentially pooling your points from different banks.

• Similarly, if you have points sitting in one Avios airline account, you can move them to another Avios airline to pool your points and not have points just sitting in an airline account (remember, flexible points in banks do not expire, but once they are moved to a travel partner, like an airline, they generally expire if they're not used in 2-3 years).

• Take advantage of transfer bonuses!

Summary

Avios Airlines are an intermediate skill to have and understand, but once you know that you can book points among this grouping of airlines, it can help you get better value from your points and transfer bonuses!

As a reminder, right now through 10/31/25, Chase has a 30% transfer bonus with British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia (which is kind of funny, since they all live in the OneWorld Avios family and you could move your points amongst these airlines already). Will you take advantage?

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> Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

> Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

Declined? Time to Try, Try Again with Reconsideration

 It happens. You apply for a credit card and whomp, whomp, get the dreaded notification of...

... an inevitable decline to your credit card application.

If you follow the steps above, you'll find a letter in your Chase account giving you the reasons for declining your recent credit card application (much quicker than if you wait for a letter in the mail). Generally reasons for decline are:

• Too many recent inquires
• Too much credit extended
• Too low of revenue (<applicable for Business Cards only)
• Error on application (more than once I've accidentally used my P2's birthday instead of my own!)

Reconsideration

Fear not! If this happens with Chase, you have an option. You can pick up the phone (ugh, I know!) and call to ask to be reconsidered for your recent credit card application. You have 30 days from your application submission to request "recon".

Steps for Recon

1. Simply call the phone number listed below:

• For Chase Personal Cards, call 1-800-432-3117
• For Chase Business Cards, call 1-800-453-9719

2. You'll likely receive an automated messaged about your application. Click "0" to be taken to a live agent

3. Tell the agent "I recently applied for a card and was declined. I'd like to be reconsidered"

4. They'll ask for verification of identity, then verify your application, and may ask you questions about why you're applying for another card

Tips and What to Say

• Don't say you're applying for another card for a sign up bonus. They don't like that! Instead, you can say something along the lines of "You know, I'm an existing Chase customer and really value my relationship with the bank so far. I noticed this credit card has X,Y,Z benefits which I would like to utilize". 

• You can say you're worried there was an error on your application and you'd like to confirm your inputs

• If you were declined for "too much credit extended", you can say "I understand Chase is concerned with how much credit has already been extended to me; is it possible to move crediting from an existing line to approve this new line of credit?" (This way Chase is keeping the total amount of credit extended to you the same)

• Always be kind. I consciously pay attention to the name of the agent when they first introduce themselves and be certain to thank them during the recon process, using their name.

• Lastly, if you're still declined - try try again! Generally do not give up until you've called recon at least three times for an application. Trust me! This is what happened to me in the past week! Third time was a charm! ;) 

• Buuuut before you call recon repeatedly; know that you are only allow one reconsideration every 24 hours!

Summary

Being declined for a credit card isn't the end of the world; it's more annoying than anything! But it's also not the end of the road, you can call reconsideration and have luck turning that denial into an approval!

Have you called Recon? It's always a bit nerve-wracking for me, but worth it!

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> Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

> Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

Vail Stay with Amex Fine Hotels (+ Hotel Collection)

While I'm still typing up ALL of the card benefits for the revamped American Express Platinum (personal) Card and it's monstrous $895 annual fee (increased from $695, starting 9/18/2025); I have to say, I utilized just ONE of the benefits, last past weekend for a stay at Grand Hyatt Vail and am very impressed! 

Before I jump into the details of how I utilized this benefit, I'm going to cover the benefits themselves.

$600 Annual Hotel Credit

As of 9/18/25 updates, Platinum cardholders now receive $600 annually to use through Amex Travel Portal for a prepaid hotel stay in the form of a statement credit for hotels falling under two categories: Fine Hotels & Resorts Credit (FHR) and  The Hotel Collection (HC).  Essentially, you charge your platinum card for a hotel stay in Amex Portal and you are then reimbursed up to $300, twice a year (Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec) with a statement credit. 

Your stay to use the $300 bi-annual credits doesn't have to take place during the time period, just the reservation needs to be made during these time periods...AND, just as important, you need to hold an Amex credit card at the time of check-in.

For example, it's September now - I could use my $300 credit (expiring 12/31/25) to book a stay next April (2026). If I cancel my Amex Platinum before April 2026, my reservation still stands (because it's prepaid), but I would need to have another Amex credit card in April 2026 when I check into my hotel stay.

The differences between the two hotel categories are:

Fine Hotels & Resorts 

Benefits of booking an FHR hotel:

• Requires only a one-night (although you can stay longer)
• Free daily breakfast for 2*, even if you stay longer than one night
• $100 Resort Credit** (valid only once, no matter how long you stay)
• Upgraded room, if available
• Check in as early as noon, if available
• Guaranteed 4pm check out

*This will vary some amongst hotels: some hotels will give a fixed dollar amount for daily breakfast (which could cover more than 2 people) and some will stick to 2-person rule. Ask at your specific hotel. Be sure to charge breakfast to your room to take advantage of this credit.

**The uses of the $100 Resort Credit will also vary per hotel (some may require this be used on an experience, such as spa, but others will allow this to cover restaurant, room service, and parking fees). Ask at your hotel for the specific credit coverage. Be sure to charge to your room to take advantage of this credit.

You do not HAVE to be using the $600 hotel credit to book an FHR hotel! You can book FHR anytime in the Amex Travel Portal (it's just that you often are paying a premium (in cash or points) for the benefits listed above).

Be aware that you will be responsible to pay resort fees (if applicable) at the hotel and that resort fees cannot be covered by the $100 Resort Credit.

The Hotel Collection 

The benefits of booking an HC hotel are not quite as extensive as FHR, but do include the following:

• $100 Resort Credit* (valid only once, no matter how long you stay)
• Upgraded room, if available
• Check in as early as noon, if available
• Check out as late as 4p, if available
• However, HC hotels require a two-night minimum stay (although you can stay longer)

*The uses of the $100 Resort Credit will also vary per hotel (some may require this be used on an experience, such as spa, but others will allow this to cover restaurant, room service, and parking fees). Ask at your hotel for the specific credit coverage. Be sure to charge to your room to take advantage of this credit.

You do not HAVE to be using the $600 hotel credit to book an HC hotel! You can book HC anytime in the Amex Travel Portal (it's just that you often are paying a premium (in cash or points) for the benefits listed above). Personally I don't foresee myself booking a Hotel Collection hotel because the costs are usually pretty high, that I would rather do a direct booking point redemption than book in Amex Travel Portal for better value/less point.

How I Saved over $600 with my $300 Credit

Yes, you read that correctly. I utilized my $300 Hotel Credit recently and was pretty shocked when I added up the value received from just this one benefit! Here's how!

If you know me, you know I LOVE fall colors in Colorado! The last weekend of September, every year, is generally prime leaf peeping time! So, when I realized I was scheduled to be home alone with the kids the weekend of 9/26/25, I used my Hyatt points and booked us a night at Grand Hyatt Vail directly. We stayed at this hotel last October and loved it (funnily enough, I also had work affiliated with the hotel remodel here back in 2016 when I lived in Vail!)

The standard points price for this hotel, when booked through Hyatt, is 35,000 points per night. (Reminder: when booking direct with Hyatt on points, you do not pay the resort, which at GH Vail is a heft $60/nt + $6 tax!)

OR

When the news came out about the changed to Amex Platinum benefits and the increase to a $300 Hotel Credit, I searched Amex Travel Portal, and saw the Grand Hyatt Vail was classified as a Fine Hotel & Resort. I checked the price for the date I had booked already with Hyatt and was shocked to see that through Amex Travel Portal, the cash rate was heavily discounted!  Amex was charging LESS than Hyatt direct!

The Hyatt pricing shown below does not include the $66 resort fee with taxes, so subtracting that from the Amex price shown, to compare apples to apples, Hyatt cost for one-night was $457 while Amex Travel Portal was approximately only $300! ($366.26 - $66.05 due at resort)

Hyatt Direct

 vs 

Amex Travel Portal

So what did I do? I booked with Amex Travel and utilized the $300 Hotel Credit for this Jul-Dec, then I canceled the Hyatt-direct booking (be mindful of cancellation policies) and got my points back to my Hyatt account!

Y'all, I'm going to toot my own horn - but could I have done a better job with using the $300 credit?! The prepaid hotel charges hit my platinum card and within a few days the $300 statement credit also hit my card for a ne

t cost of 21 cents (vs Hyatt cash price of $457)!!!

Plus I earned 1,500 points for 5x points on Amex Travel Portal bookings.

but You said You saved $700+... 

remember the FHR benefits? That's where additional savings came from!

The hotel cash price was $457 (I count the Amex Portal price as part of the savings), then I had the $100 resort credit - which I found out can be utilize to cover the $62 valet parking cost! and the remainder of that credit we utilized for dessert (and drink) room service!

Originally, when boking I thought I was going to have to pay for the resort fee ($66) + valet fee ($62); and still considering staying the one night for $128, during peak fall colors, a deal and well worth it for me... but in the end, I ended up paying $97 out of pocket, after the resort fee was charged and the $100 resort credit was applied.

Not shown on my receipt above, the other major FHR benefit was breakfast included for 2; which for Grand Hyatt Vail resorts translated to $70 breakfast credit. Although my charges were greater than that (we opted for the buffet since we had the credit. I definitely didn't eat $40 worth of food and wouldn't have done buffer otherwise!) and didn't even hit my bill!

Grand Hyatt Vail - Total One Night Cost

The cost equivalent of the stay without using benefits and paying cash:

• $457 room fee
• $66 resort fee
• $62 valet parking fee
• $86 breakfast
• $69 room service (includes room service fee and tip)

for a total price of $740!!!! Which of course, I would NEVER pay for....but instead, I utilized my $300 bi-annual Hotel Credit and Fine Hotel Resorts benefits; paid 0 points and $97 cash  (on my Amex Platinum card to receive the benefits)! 

So $740 - $97 out of pocket costs, I saved over $600!

Keep in mind: all bank travel portal hotel pricing is dynamic. Prices you see are going to fluctuate based on cash price. Hotels will be more expensive for holidays, peak seasons, etc. You won't find Grand Hyatt Vail during ski season or for New Years' Eve for $300/night.... but the free website Max FHR is created to intentionally helps you find low rates for Fine Hotel and Resorts so that you can find rates closer to that $300 credit to minimize your out of pocket costs.

Summary

Now was this stay necessary? No, absolutely not. 

Was it worthwhile? For me - absolutely YES!

Even without considering any of the other Platinum Personal benefits, if I do a stay like this twice a year (to utilize the full $600 annual credit); I will MORE than get my money's worth of the updated $895 annual fee. Add on the other benefits that are even easier to use, and it makes the high-high annual fee justifiable to gain more value than the fee itself. Overall - I think Platinum Personal card is a keeper!

If you're interested in opening a Personal Platinum card, first keep in mind Amex Personal Card Family Rules: if you don't already hold a Personal Gold card (details why I love this card here!), if you open a Platinum card first, you will NOT be eligible for a Gold sign up bonus in the future (you must open Amex Personal cards in tiered order to earn sign up bonuses; so Gold then Platinum).

Second, as always, I appreciate your support and utilizing my referral links! Be sure if you're viewing this in a Meta app, to open a new external web browser to complete your application, which protects your data and gives me credit!

If you're unsure, fill out my next card recommendation form, and I'll give you my two cents!

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> Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

> Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

American Express Partners

 In my last post, I doted on the Personal Gold card and why I love it....and in my beginner post, Rule No.3 is to Know Thy Partners, so in this post, I'm going to focus on American Express transfer partners to help you figure out how to maximize your hard earn points and get more value!

American Express Transfer Partners

Similar to Chase, each bank has their own set of travel partners (airlines and hotels; Chase listed here) that they pair with in order to allow you to transfer your points directly to a travel affiliate to book travel; often for less points than the fixed point redemptions you'll find on Amex Travel Portal.

One really nice thing about American Express is that if you hold multiple point earning cards, they automatically pool your points together for you!

Hotels:

Amex has 3 hotel partners; note that Hilton transfers at a 1:2 ratio, which doubles your Amex points into Hilton points when you transfer to Hilton (this what I used to book Tabacon Resort in Costa Rica!)

Airlines:

Amex has 17 airline partners! If you don't see an airline you want to book listed, then the next step is to see if the airline is in an airline alliance and can be booked through a partner (for example: Amex doesn't transfer to United, but United is in Star Alliance with Air Canada. Amex transfers to Air Canada; so you may be able to book your United flight through Air Canada's website and get to use your Amex points).

Not all of these airline partners transfer as a 1:1 ratio, and a few have changed recently. Refer to Amex Transfer Partner page directly for the current points ratio.

Remember: for each transfer partner, you will need to have created a loyalty account directly with the partner, and then will link your loyalty account to your Amex account.

How to Transfer Points

1. Log into your account and locate your Membership Rewards Points. From the menu across the top, click "Earn and Redeem"

2. On the drop-down menu, under Redeem, select "Transfer Points"

3. This will bring the up the home page with all of the Transfer Partners. Find the company you want to transfer to and select "Show Details"

4. Ensure your loyalty account is linked and input the amount of points you want to transfer. NOTE: not all points are instant transfer. The points transfer page shows the estimated time, but you can google for accuracy.

Summary

I hope you found this post helpful! Some of the ways I've recently used Amex points are:

• Transfer to Hilton (at 1:2 ratio) for Tabacon Resort, Costa Rica
• Transfer to Air Canada to book business class flight on Edelweiss Air from Denver to Copenhagen
• Transfer to Air Canada to book economy flight on Lufthansa from Copenhagen to Denver
• Transfer to Singapore Air to book business class flight to Singapore
• Transfer to Qatar Air to book economy flights from Maldives to Doha
• Transfer to Qatar Air to book business class "QSuites" flights from Doha to US

Looks like I'm overdue for some documented points use/travel posts! But as you may read into, I really value my Chase points for Hyatt and Southwest; on the flipside, I really value my Amex Points mostly for international flights - but I wouldn't hesitate to use them domestically (it's just that with Southwest Companion Pass, that's primarily who we fly domestic right now!)

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

American Express Gold (Personal)

In the summer when Chase rolled out their revamped Sapphire Reserve (Personal Card) and their new Sapphire Reserve Business Card, I did a write up for each, which outlined the sign up offer as well as the card benefits to help outweigh the annual fee.

Similarly, this post is going to highlight one of my top 3 cards to always have and why.

American Express Gold

Annual Fee: $325

Current (Elevated) Sign up Offer: Spend $6,000 in 6 months, earn up to 100,000 points*

Note the 6-month minimum spend on the personal cards instead of the usual 3-month duration! I know this really helps out low spenders.

*Amex is weird with sign up bonuses. The same link may produce a 75K offer on your phone and 100K offer on your computer. It's always best to check the link in a few different browser and devices (clear your cookies, incognito mode, on your phone), before you apply and accept - to ensure that you're getting the highest offer)

5/24 Status: This IS a personal card, therefore it will take one of your 5/24 spots. (If you're not familiar with what 5/24 Rule is, visit this post New to Points, Rule 2)

Why I LOVE this card:

1. This card offers 4 points for every dollar spent on Groceries, Food Delivery, and Restaurants, which are my family's two highest routine spend categories, and one points per dollar on everything else. This is often my go-to card when we aren't working on a new card's sign up bonus. 

2. Rakuten: aka an online shopping portal where you earn Amex Membership Rewards points instead of cash back. Those points can really add up. In August I received 65,000 MRs from my quarterly Rakuten earnings and used those to book a 70K point one-way business class flight to Europe (with a cash value of $4,700). If you aren't familiar with shopping portals and/or Rakuten, this post will tell me you and also show you how to select points instead of cash back.

These two items are why I keep this card!

Off-Setting the Annual Fee

The signup offer and the benefits of this card can make it easy to offset the $325 annual, depending which of these you use. Card Benefits:

• $7/mo Dunkin Donuts credit

This is a bit annoying, as I rarely go to Dunkin, but what I did realize, was that instead of going to Dunkin monthly, I can simply buy a $7 Dunkin gift card monthly and then add that to a Dunkin account; which adds up to $84 a year. If you don't have a need for this, then you could still build up the credits and then be a nice person and bring a dozen donuts into work or school a couple of times a year

        Your Dunkin Card can also be used at Basket Robbins (hello ice cream birthday cake!) 

• $100 Resy annual credit: Twice a year (Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec), simply dine at a Resy restaurant and pay with your gold card to receive a $50 statement credit. (I've used this credit not even meaning to! lol)

• $10/mo Uber Cash: This can be used for rides of for Uber eats. Simply pay with this card

• $10/mo Dining: Use your card at Grubhub, Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com and Five Guys to be reimbursed $10/mo.

• Earn 3X's points on flights: Booked directly with airlines
• $100 credit towards Hotel Collections stay: Book 2-nights or more with Amex Hotel Selection properties and receive $100 credit. (Note, these hotels tend to be expensive, so I never use this credit)

American Express Family Rule

Another important item to know about Amex is it's "Family Rule" for personal cards. The Family Rule dictates that you need to get Amex personal cards in tiered "order", otherwise, you aren't eligible for future sign up bonuses of lower tier cards.

Basically, Amex has Green, Gold, and Platinum personal cards. If you get a Platinum card as your first Amex Personal card, then you are not eligible to get the sign up bonus for the Green or Gold cards in the future.

I personally don't think the Green card offer is worth a 5/24 spot, so I recommend starting off getting Amex Gold Personal before an Amex Platinum Personal.

Summary

Since we earn a lot of non-sign up bonus points with my Amex Gold card between 4x points on restaurants/groceries and Rakuten; I will make sure that one of us always has an Amex Gold Personal card in our wallet!

As always, I appreciate your support and utilizing my referral links! Be sure if you're viewing this in a Meta app, to open a new external web browser to complete your application, which protects your data and gives me credit!

If you're unsure, fill out my next card recommendation form, and I'll give you my two cents!

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> Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

> Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!

Using SW Elevated Offer for Companion Pass

My last post covered what Southwest Companion Pass is, how you can earn it through credit card sign up bonuses, how long it's good for AND the criticality of timing when your points hit, and traditional methods of earning. If you missed the basics, you can read them here.

However, with the current elevated Southwest personal cards having a sign up bonus of 100,000 points with a $4,000 spend in a 5-month time period; I've received SO many questions about how to use this offer to earn companion pass that I'm doing another post - focused on strategy with this offer.

Keep in mind, this 100,000 point offer will end 9/17/25!

If you already have a SW personal card and it's been at least 24 months since you opened the card and received a sign up bonus, you are eligible for this offer. First close your current SW personal card and wait a week. Then apply for this offer.

Companion Pass Basics

• What: Buy one, get one free flights for a designated companion. Pay only taxes and fees for the companion. Flights for primary flier can be purchased with cash or with points.;
• How: To earn a companion pass, you need to earn 135,000 points in a calendar year, Jan-Dec (CP earning points reset to zero every year, 1/1)
• Timing: Once you hit 135,000 points, you earn companion pass after that statement close. The companion pass is good for the remainder of that calendar year and the ENTIRE calendar year following.

How to use the 100,000 Personal Card Offer towards Companion Pass

Critical questions to think about before opening this card:

1. When do you want the Companion Pass to be valid for? 

A: Remainder of 2025 and all of 2026

B: Most of 2026 and all of 2027 

I will come back to this, but your answer to this question will determine your timeline for hitting your minimum spend. (Keep in mind, the strategies I'm sharing are based on current companion pass requirements, which may change in time).

2. Do you already have Companion Pass earning points?

If you're flown Southwest at all in 2025, then you may already have earned some points towards a companion pass! If you have at least 20,000 points here, then you simply only need to open the 100,000 point SW Personal Credit Card and don't need to worry about Question 3.

To check your status:

• Log into your Southwest Rapid Rewards account
• Click "My Account"
• Locate "My Rapid Rewards" 

As shown here, this person already have 43,905 of the 135,000
 points needed to qualify for Companion Pass this year

3. Do you have someone you can refer to a Southwest card?

The easier way to get a big chunk of points, in addition to a sign up bonus, is to refer someone to a Southwest card. Standard Southwest referrals are worth 20,000 points with a limit of 5 referrals per card per year.

Here's Your Plan and Timeline

If you want 2025/2026 Companion Pass

If your response is to Question 1 was  "A - Remainder of 2025 and all of 2026", then you are going to open the 100K Southwest Personal card offer before 9/17 and spend spend spend (within your means). 

Again, open this card ASAP!

Ideally, you would also refer someone else to the 100K point offer before 9/17 so that they can take advantage as well. However, any referral before December should have referral points hit in 2025 to count towards your goal of 135,000 points in 2025.

With this, once you hit the $4K minimum spend and refer someone, within the next statement close, you should receive your sign up bonus (100,000 points) + points for you minimum spend (a minimum of 4,000 points at 1 point per $1 spent, but more points if you are spending directly with Southwest, or 2 points per $1 spent if you are using for groceries and/or dining out) + 10,000 point boost* for holding a Southwest card + 20,000 points (for someone using your referral link. They do not have to hit the minimum spend in order for you to get your referral bonus).

*Southwest gives each Rapid Rewards member who holds any credit card a 10,000 point boost towards Companion Pass annually. Note this is per account and not per Southwest credit card held. So if you hold a SW Business and a SW Personal card, you will only receive 10,000 point boost; not 20,000.

All of the numbers above add up to 134,000 points (100,000 + 4,000 + 10,000 + 20,0000); hitting in 2025. Hopefully of that $4,000 minimum spend, $1,000 of it was spent at groceries/restaurant and then you would earn an additional 1,000 points; which puts you at the 135,000 threshold!

If you want 2026/2027 Companion Pass

If your response is to Question 1 was  "B - Most of 2026 and all of 2027", then you are going to open the 100K Southwest Personal card offer before 9/17 and slooooooooow roll.

Again, open this card ASAP!

Ideally, you want to wait until mid-December to start spending on this card. That way, any spend you put on the card, will be included in your January 2026 statement and therefore, have the points awarded in 2026. Remember, each January 1st, companion qualifying points will reset to zero.

So, for you, my friend - open the card before 9/17 and put it in a sock drawer.

December 15th start spending. Spend up to $3,500 on the card before January 1st and then STOP! Put the card away again and don't pull it out until January 1s.... just to be safe! 

After January 1st, spend the remaining amount of the $4,000 minimum spend on the card (note: the longer you can wait to spend on this card until 1/1, the better/more conservative; but I know it's hard with the holidays! But this helps guarantee your points earned per dollar spent hit in 2026)

Also, come January 1st, refer someone else to any Southwest credit card.

With this, once you hit the $4K minimum spend and refer someone, within the next statement close, you should receive your sign up bonus (100,000 points) + points for you minimum spend (a minimum of 4,000 points at 1 point per $1 spent, but more points if you are spending directly with Southwest, or 2 points per $1 spent if you are using for groceries and/or dining out) + 10,000 point boost for holding a Southwest card + 20,000 points (for someone using your referral link. They do not have to hit the minimum spend in order for you to get your referral bonus).

All of the numbers above add up to 134,000 points (100,000 + 4,000 + 10,000 + 20,0000), hitting in 2026. Hopefully of that $4,000 minimum spend, $1,000 of it was spent at groceries/restaurant and then you would earn an additional 1,000 points; which puts you at the 135,000 threshold!

What if We Need Two Companion Passes?

If you're similar to me, and a family of 4, wanting two companion passes for most of 2026 and all of 2027, it's likely going to take you 3 cards between the two of you to get there. Here's how:

Player 1 opens Southwest Personal card 100,000 offer before 9/17. Again, open this card ASAP!

9/17 - 12/15: do not use the card

12/15: Similar to above, December 15th start spending. Spend up to $3,500 on the card before January 1st and then STOP! Put the card away again and don't pull it out until January 1s.... just to be safe! 

After January 1st: spend the remaining amount of the $4,000 minimum spend on the card (note: the longer you can wait to spend on this card until 1/1, the better/more conservative; but I know it's hard with the holidays!)

Also, after January 1st, Player 1 refers Player 2 to any Southwest Business Card (it's recommend to open between cards before Personal cards to ensure that you can get approved and the strategy will work)

After 30 days OR after hitting Player 2's minimum spend (whichever is longer, you need a minimum of 30 days between credit card applications for the same bank): Player 1 refers Player 2 to Player 2's second Southwest card. This card can be another Southwest Business card or a Southwest Personal Card.

Player 2 should have accumulated enough points with two sign up bonuses, minimum spends, and 10,000 point boost to hit the 135,000 point threshold to earn their companion pass!

In Summary

There are many ways to strategically utilize Southwest credit card sign up bonuses and referrals to earn companion passes without flying Southwest 100 fights a year or spend $135,000 on the same Southwest card you've had forever!

Utilizing my referral links help me keep my content free for you! If you're going to open a Southwest Credit card, I appreciate you using my referral link here!

I hope this helps, but as always if you have any questions, feel free to reach out! justcallmehaha@gmail.com

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