Maximizing Free Travel with the Right Travel Credit Card

Traveling is a great learning experience and a lot of fun, but it can be expensive. If you love to travel, it makes sense to look for a credit card that offers the best reward system, so you can travel for free as often as possible. The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Card offers plenty of perks and benefits for frequent travelers is what we found when we compared it with other cards on MileCards.com. One of the best features is the opportunity to take a companion along with you for free. When using a travel rewards credit card, it is important to pay attention to the ways to maximize the points you earn. If you take advantage of all bonus point offers, you will be on your way to free travel quickly.

Seconds Fly Free With a Companion Pass

The Companion Pass with Southwest Airlines allows you to take someone with you on all your travels for a calendar year, for the cost of the taxes on the ticket. This can be as low as $10 for domestic flights. To qualify for this amazing perk, travelers must earn 110,000 points with Southwest Airlines during a calendar year. When you qualify for the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Card and spend $2,000 on the card within the first three months of opening the account, you will earn 50,000 bonus points with Southwest Airlines, which you can apply towards the companion pass. Four Southwest credit cards offer the same bonus points. If you qualify for a second card, you will earn another 50,000 bonus points. The companion pass can be used no matter how the primary traveler pays for their flight. If your spouse redeems points for a flight, you still fly for free with them on your pass! The Companion Pass is one of the best frequent-flyer perks on the market.

Inflight Purchases and Shopping Perks Too

All inflight purchases and Southwest Airlines Vacations packages booked with Southwest Airlines or AirTran earns double miles. Points are awarded based on the cost of the airfare and the booking class of the flight. Get Away fares earn 6 points per dollar spent, so for a $200 airfare, cardholders will earn 1,200 points. Travel in Business Select earns 12 points per dollar on the base fare, so a $300 airfare earns 3,600 points. Cardholders just have to book a few flights to reach the points required for the Companion Pass.

Rapid Rewards online shopping gives cardholders’ access to all major online retailers such as high-end department stores, home improvement shops, home accessories and almost everything else you can think of. To earn up to 10 points per dollar spent, cardholders just have to sign up, log in and start shopping. It’s really that easy. All sales and promotions available on the retailers’ websites are available through Rapid Rewards. Any shopping that needs to be done for everyday purposes, holiday shopping and gifts should be done this way to maximize the points you earn on the credit card.

A few car rental agencies partner with the Rapid Rewards program and offer double points per dollar spent. Before booking a rental car, be sure to check the Rapid Rewards website and see which company is offering additional bonus points. As long as they offer a competitive price, it makes sense to earn the bonus points as well as double points.

Even More Extras!

When trying to accumulate points to be used towards free travel, it’s all about getting as many points as you can by spending the least amount of money. With Rapid Rewards dining rewards, you earn three points per dollar spent for dining out. They have 10,000 partner restaurants, clubs and bars across the country that are eligible for bonus points. All that is required is signing up and using the credit card to pay for dining. Just for signing up, cardholders are rewarded with 1,000 bonus points on the first $25 spent on dining, and each time they review a restaurant online, an additional 10 points are earned.

For those who travel frequently and spend $10,000 on the card every calendar year, they are awarded 1,500 tier-qualifying points up to an annual maximum of 15,000 points. A-list perks require 35,000 points in a calendar year. They qualify cardholders for 25-percent more points on each flight, boarding priority, check-in and security lane priority and top-of-the list for stand-by flights.

If you’ve accumulated enough points to pay for airfare for yourself and your companion, you can also save money on hotels. With the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, points can be redeemed for stays at over 70,000 recognized hotels worldwide. You can even redeem points for car rentals and gift cards from dozens of retailers. Savvy consumers know that the best dollar-redemption value is for airfares, so always redeem the points wisely!

If you love to travel and Southwest Airlines flies out of your departure city, acquiring one of their rewards cards is worth looking into.