SWA Rapid Rewards Gurus: Any Suggestions for earning 20k points by 12/31?

[KristinU]

Hi everyone!

Thanks to this board I was able to enjoy the past two years with my son as my free companion...due to expire as of 12/31/2017. In looking at it, I should be within 20,000 of keeping that status - is there any way (aside from spending $20k on my SWA Chase) to earn 20k companion qualifying points before year end?

 

[Alexle2007]

Shopping and dining portal, there are some hotel stays on their site that are offering a nice bonus to stay at before the end of the year, a couple of flights before the end of year. Open a SW CC and meet the spend this year, easy 40k (personal) or 60k (business).

 

[Wish Upon A Starbucks]

I agree with PP to open another SW card to get the sign in bonus if you can. Or if you can't get it yourself and you're married you can refer your spouse to get the card. You get a 10,000 bonus for the referral I think. That gets you halfway.

 

[DizMe]

I agree with PP to open another SW card to get the sign in bonus if you can. Or if you can't get it yourself and you're married you can refer your spouse to get the card. You get a 10,000 bonus for the referral I think. That gets you halfway.

You can actually refer yourself, I read. Not sure about that, but it would be an extra bonus.

 

[KristinU]

Thanks for the ideas, guys!

 

[mum of two pirates]

You could get a square (trade maybe it's called where you can take credit cards lol or at craft fairs and such you get a small square thing that plugs into your cell phone.) card and charge yourself $20000 then it goes back in your checking account. You'd have to figure out how much the fees would cost you to use it though. My friends use them at craft fairs and to sell Scrapbooking supplies and beach body stuff.

 

[mum of two pirates]

I also think I read somewhere that you could transfer points from another account into yours, like if you got a business card you could put them into yours or transfer your hubbys into your account.

 

[DisMommyTX]

Point transfers between accounts cost money and do not count towards the CP, neither do purchased points.

Christmas shopping through their shopping portal can get you a lot of extra points, but you need to buy soon to give the points time to post. Lots of merchants offer 2-4pts per $, which is great if you were planning to buy electronics or other expensive stuff anyway. Subscriptions to things like NY Times or WSJ, Blue Apron, BirchBox, etc. also get sign up bonuses in the 500-1000 pt range and could be gifts for those hard-to-buy-for family members as well.

I know when we wanted to hit DH's spend quickly, we made early payments for our next trip. We could have waited another month or two to pay those balances, but it didn't cost us any extra to pay early and this way we avoided spending on extra things just to reach the minimums. Maybe check into putting any large payments you have coming up onto the card. I know our property taxes and insurance can be paid on a card but charge a 3% fee. Utilities, cell phone, and kids extracurricular don't charge extra. My daughter is a competitive cheerleader, so one year we prepaid her fees on a credit card and the gym actually took 5% off the total vs. paying it monthly. Orthodontist also charged 3% for using a card but took 10% off the total for paying up front. Look for ways to redirect what you were planning to spend anyway vs. making extra purchases.

 

[mum of two pirates]

Those are great ideas

 

[rer1972]

I recommend opening a rapid rewards credit card account. I think they're current bonus is 40,000 points when you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months (includes a $69 annual fee). That could be enough for more than one pass.