Tag Archives: Southwest Airlines

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My Travel Philosophy for Redeeming Miles vs. Paying Cash for Flights (w/ Account Balances as of March 2020)

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I just finished listening to the Miles to Memories podcast (latest episode) and enjoyed listening to them talk about Disney when they redeem miles vs. pay cash for flights.  I don’t have a hard and fast rule that I live by, so I thought it would be fun to share my travel philosophy of when I redeem miles vs. pay cash for flights.  I specifically mention flights because I plan to write a similar article about hotels and didn’t want to make this article too long.  Lastly, when I use the word cash, that could mean paying for the flight with a credit card, or paying with an airline gift card, or using credit card rewards to pay for the flight – basically anything other than booking an award ticket with airline miles.

I also think it is important to share how many credit card reward points I have, since my thinking would be much different if I had 1,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points vs. 1 million Chase Ultimate Reward Points.  With that said, here are my transferable points balances, as of March 2020, from smallest to largest:

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2 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: American Airlines (55%) & Southwest Airlines (40%)

Good afternoon everyone.  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found a few offers ending soon.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 2 offers that end this week.  Up first, American Airlines is offering up to a 55% bonus + 10% discount, depending on the number of American Airlines AAdvantage Miles you purchase.  This offer expires on March 6.

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Use American Express Chat to Change Airline Fee Credit Airline Choice (Almost 100% Automated)

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  Yesterday, I booked an American Airlines flight from New York (LGA) to Dallas (DFW) to Orange County (SNA) for Laura and myself (we plan to check out the Centurion Lounges in LGA and DFW during our trip).  With my American Express Gold Card, I get a $100 airline fee credit to use each year to cover seat assignments, checked bags, in-flight drinks/snacks, etc.  I decided to use my $100 airline fee credit to purchase preferred seats for our American Airlines flights.

Unfortunately, American Express has a weird system that will automatically enroll you in last year’s airline choice if you do not make a change by January 31.  Since I selected Southwest Airlines in 2019 (when buying Southwest Airlines eGift Cards triggered the credits), that was who my airline choice was for 2020.  Thankfully, you can change your airline choice if you do not use any of the credit in the current year.  Instead of calling American Express, I clicked the Chat button in the lower right corner of the screen.

I typed in my comment and the automated system asked me a few questions.  After going through the prompts to change to American Airlines, I thought the Chat box was going to make the change for me, but unfortunately, I had to be connected to human.  After confirming my airline choice, the agent processed my change.  I’m not sure why the Chat box could not do it by itself, but the whole process only took a few minutes.

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4 Buy Miles / Points Promos Ending Soon: JetBlue (40%), Southwest (30%), British Airways (30%) & United (75%)

Good afternoon everyone.  I was working on my Buy Miles & Points Page and found a few offers ending soon.  Always check the math to make sure that buying miles & points makes sense for you.  Do not buy miles & points speculatively unless you have a use in mind.  With that said, here are 4 offers that end this month.  Up first, JetBlue is offering up to a 40% discount, depending on the number of JetBlue TrueBlue Points you purchase.  This offer expires tomorrow – January 23.

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View Southwest Airlines Travel Funds in your Account (Effective December 3, 2019)

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your Friday is going well.  A few years ago, I wrote in my 2018 travel predictions that “Southwest Airlines will increase their Transfarency by automatically keeping track of travel funds in each account.”  I wrote that post on January 14, 2018, and it looks like my prediction came true on December 3, 2019.  If you log into your Southwest Airlines account, you should see a new section at the top of your My Account page that says “My Travel Funds.”  Click the View Travel Funds button to view your travel funds.

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