If you focused all of your family’s spending with a specific strategy, what could that get you? The answer is a whole lot! You could earn the coveted Southwest Companion Pass, where a friend or family member can fly with you for free (plus taxes of $5.60+ each way) anytime you buy a ticket either with cash or points. You’ll also have at least 115,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points (worth about $1,700 in airfare) and $500 in Southwest gift certificates to use to pay taxes on those flights. In addition, you will earn 180,000 airlines miles… that’s enough for two tickets to nearly any destination in the world! You’ll also have at least 162,000 Hilton Honors points to book rooms and one free weekend night at ANY Hilton worldwide. Plus, you’ll have diamond status (Hilton’s highest tier) to get you free upgrades (possibly to suites), hotel lounge access and free breakfast.
Now, this is a just vague strategy for a fake family, but we can tailor your plan specifically for your family. The assumptions we made were that our fake family spends about $20,000/year, that you live near to an airport that services Southwest Airlines, and that one member of the family is eligible for small business credit cards. More people are eligible for small business cards than may even realize it. Besides the obvious owners of traditional businesses, you may qualify if you drive for Uber, sell products through a MLM organization or rent your home through Airbnb or several other situations for example.
Application calendar
For our example, we will generally have the two partners alternate credit card applications. P1 will refer to the person who is eligible for small business credit cards, while P2 will be their partner. You’ll have a total of six credit card averaging a new application about every two months.
| Applicant | Date | Card Name | Minimum Spend (MS) | MS Time | Bonus | Annual fee |
| P2 | 3/2019 | Hilton Aspire (our link, thank you) | $4,000 | 3 months | 150,000 | $450 |
| P1 | 5/2019 | Ink Preferred (our link, thank you) | $5,000 | 3 months | 80,000 UR | $95 |
| P2 | 8/2019 | United MileagePlus Explorer | $3,000 | 3 months | 50,000 MP Miles | |
| P1 | 10/2019 | Southwest Rapid Rewards Business | $3,000 | 3 months | 60,000 Rapid Rewards | $99 |
| P1 | 12/2019 | Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus | $2,000 | 3 months | 50,000 Rapid Rewards | $69 |
| P1 | 2/2020 | Chase Ink Cash | $3,000 | 3 months | 50,000 UR | $0 |
Why these cards?
For this example I wanted a mix of domestic air miles (Southwest), international air miles (United), flexible points (Chase Ultimate Rewards), hotel points (Hilton) and interesting/useful perks (Southwest Companion Pass, Priority Pass lounge access, Hilton diamond status, airline gift certificates and Global Entry). I also wanted the total required spend to be right at the $20,000 mark, which did limit me just a touch. Lastly, I wanted to try and hit Chase a little harder at first. Chase has a number of limitations on being approved for new cards, so getting them first is almost always a good idea.
The Hilton Aspire is currently my favorite of the “premium” cards. These cards charge a high annual fee, but come with a whole host of great benefits. This is a card that we will probably continue to hold year after year, despite having to pay $450 to have it. The first big benefit is the $250 airline incidental fee. This fee is meant to be used for things like seat assignments, checked bags and change fees. However, we use it to buy Southwest Airlines gift certificates which can be used on flights or to pay the taxes owed on award flights. Priority Pass lounge access is another benefit we love (We most often use it in Denver when flying on Southwest). With Priority Pass you get $28/person (up to three people) in credit for free. We try to get a meal before leaving on our trip and again upon our return and all we usually have to cover is the tip. You’ll also get a weekend free night at any Hilton hotel in the world. In my opinion, the benefits far outweigh the costs year after year.
The Ink Preferred is an outstanding small business credit card. You’ll get 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points after spending $5,000 in three months. The best thing about Ultimate Rewards is that they are very flexible. Worst case scenario is you can cash them out at a penny a point making your sign-up bonus worth $800. A better option is to redeem them for travel (airfare, hotels, rental cars) through Chase’s portal. Then each point is worth 1.25 cents, making your sign-up bonus worth $1,000 in travel. My favorite way to redeem them, however, is through transfer partners. Chase lets you transfer your Ultimate Rewards Points to a number of airlines and hotels. One Ultimate Reward Point will equal one airline mile or hotel point in twelve different partners. My favorite partners to transfer are (in no particular order) British Airways, Singapore Airlines, United Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Air France/KLM for airlines. However, the only hotel partner that’s really worth transferring to is Hyatt. By transferring to these partners, you can get well over two cents per point, making your sign-up bonus worth over $1,600! Peakawardbooking.com can really help you maximize the value of transferable points like these.
The United MileagePlus Explorer card is a great card to help you get started on international award flights. Not only will you get 50,000 points after spending $3,000 in three months, but you’ll also get a few extra little perks. My favorite is increased award availability. By either being an elite member of United or by having this card, United opens up additional economy awards on their flights. This is mostly helpful if you live near a smaller airport as these flights can get you to major international gateways for your dream trip. You will also get reimbursed for Global Entry or PreCheck (I recommend Global Entry since it basically includes PreCheck as well). Global Entry will allow you to speed through customs and give you expedited security at US airports via the PreCheck lane. The Explorer card will also get a few extra perks as well, such as priority boarding and two free checked bags.
The Southwest cards, in my opinion, are really only worth getting if you can get both the business and the personal. If you time your applications and bonuses properly, you will earn over 110,000 Rapid Rewards points early in the year. This will unlock the greatest perk in domestic air travel, the companion pass. The companion pass allows you to designate one person to fly with you for free (minus taxes which start at $5.60 each way). The perk lasts for the entire year you earn it as well as the following year! You can have almost two years of free flights from two credit cards. Since point redemptions on Southwest are tied to the price of the ticket, you and your friend could use those 110,000 points for up to 22 round-trip flights! Sure, you’ll still owe taxes, but that is what the gift cards from your Hilton Aspire card can be used for.
Lastly, I threw the Chase Ink Cash card into the mix. You’ll get 50,000 more Ultimate Rewards points after $3,000 spend in three months. You can combine these with what you’ve earned from the Ink Preferred to either redeem or transfer as you wish. You could transfer your 138,000 to United to end up with over 190,000 United MileagePlus miles. That is enough to fly two people anywhere that United or any of their Star Alliance partners fly. There is no annual fee on this card and it earns 5x points on office supply stores, as well as internet, cable and phone services.
Your total cost for these cards is $713 in annual fees, but the approximate value of the points and perks is over $5,000. If you really leverage your benefits and points, this could be worth over $10,000!
What is the right plan for you?
This is just one credit card application strategy example. Maybe you don’t live near an airport Southwest serves. Maybe you aren’t interested in hotel points or don’t qualify for a business. Whatever you situations, Peakawardbooking.com can build an application strategy that is specifically designed for you. Reach out to us and we will have you traveling in style and saving thousands as well.