It’s time to jump into the pre-Halloween weekend, but before you turn into a pumpkin:
- Southwest has extended its schedule through August 4th, which includes most of summer’s travel season. As a general rule, booking summer travel in autumn often means there will be schedule changes, and with Southwest schedule changes often mean a free change to any other flight between the same city pairs ±2 weeks.
- Chase Southwest cards have increased sign-up bonuses of 75,000 Rapid Rewards points on the personal cards, or 80,000 points on the Rapid Rewards Business card. These offers aren’t all-time highs, but they are interesting getting two of them and hitting the spend threshold for the bonuses after January 1, 2024 will earn you a Companion Pass through 2025.
No one out there seems to remember the downside of the Companion Pass though: you’re still on Southwest. - Office Depot/OfficeMax stores have $15 off of $300 in Visa gift cards starting Sunday and running through the following Saturday. To maximize:
– Consider that maybe multiples of $300 might behave strangly
– Link your credit cards to Dosh
– Try for multiple transactions back-to-back
– Don’t forget about the American Express Business Gold $20 credit, which you can use twice during the promotional period
These are Pathward gift cards, and often only work with PIN transactions for a total of $480 every six minutes per store. (Thanks to DoC) - Do this now: Register for double Avios on up to 10 flights booked by November 21 for travel by January 14, 2024. Surprisingly this works with AA, Iberia, and Finnair paid flights credited to BA too.
- Sebastian notes that Bank of America’s Business Unlimited Cash Rewards Mastercard still has a $500 sign-up bonus available with $5,000 spend in 90 days. This card is useful because:
– In conjunction with Bank of America Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors status, this is a 2.625% everywhere card
– You probably still have time to get it before More Rewards Day on November 9
Don’t forget that with Bank of America, one card is nice, but more is better. (Vague much, MEAB?)
Have a nice weekend!
Pictured: Your 23 year old companion after the fourth leg on Southwest between Eugene, OR and Greenville, SC.