Companion Pass Changes in March 2017

mactrader

Level 2 Member
I swore I read somewhere that the southwest companion pass would no longer be available come this March. I can't find any mention of that but that you cannot transfer from hotel partners to meet the 110k balance at that time.

Are both correct or just the latter? I got the first SWA chase card but not sure I can get another in time if both from opening too many Chase cards in a short period. Speaking of, any idea on how long until I'm good to apply or the max on cards?

Thanks!
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
I swore I read somewhere that the southwest companion pass would no longer be available come this March. I can't find any mention of that but that you cannot transfer from hotel partners to meet the 110k balance at that time.

Are both correct or just the latter? I got the first SWA chase card but not sure I can get another in time if both from opening too many Chase cards in a short period. Speaking of, any idea on how long until I'm good to apply or the max on cards?

Thanks!
Hotel point transfers do not count towards the CP mileage requirement after 3/31. The CP lives on; it just becomes harder to get after 3/31.
 

mactrader

Level 2 Member
That's good news, thanks! I'm banging on the ceiling of new Chase cards so I think I need to wait 30 days to get the next card to push me over 110K. What's the best value to transfer in from hotel partners? I have a fair amount of SPG points.
 

knick1959

Level 2 Member
The big leverage is doing the Marriott travel package thing. With SPG transferring to Marriott 3x, you need 90k if all you wanted to use was SPG. 270k Marriott gets you the right miles in a travel package, but if you have miles/points in the right place ...

Are you aware of this scheme? There are threads here about it and blogger posts externally. This option goes away on 3/31!
 

mactrader

Level 2 Member
I've heard of it, but haven't looked into it. My initial impression is that it's a paid vacation package that gets you the points. I'm not sure I have it in my budget for a non-points driven vacation this year. I'll start diving into it.

I will have 52K RR soon as I just met the minimum spend on the Chase Premier SWA card, but it'll be either 45K SPG or 55K if I don't want to churn out the last 8K.

Thanks!
 

dukerau

Level 2 Member
I've heard of it, but haven't looked into it. My initial impression is that it's a paid vacation package that gets you the points. I'm not sure I have it in my budget for a non-points driven vacation this year. I'll start diving into it.

I will have 52K RR soon as I just met the minimum spend on the Chase Premier SWA card, but it'll be either 45K SPG or 55K if I don't want to churn out the last 8K.

Thanks!
Not sure what you mean by it being a paid vacation package. 90k SPG = 270k Marriott = 7 nights Marriott cat 1-5 + 120k WN miles. You can reportedly cash in the 7 nights for 45k Marriott (=15k SPG). So net is 75k SPG gets you 120k WN and the companion pass. If you have that level of SPG/Marriott, it far beats the 140k Marriott (or 46k SPG) : 50k WN rate that I think you're considering. Consider that for 29k more SPG, you get an additional 70k WN.
 

mactrader

Level 2 Member
Ah, I misunderstood the program! I get it now. I will have ~53K RR shortly after hitting the $2k spend on the Premier card. I have applied for too many Chase cards recently so both my wife and I got declined for the business card (she's less than 5/24) so was looking at the other options. Trying to figure out if the tradeoff is worth it for the Marriott travel package. 45-50K SPG points can go really far.

Is there a good map that can filter locations out by Category? As I mentioned I haven't budgeted for a second vacation this year and 7 nights somewhere would have some other costs for sure. Having a place driveable would be even better, I'm in the metro Detroit area so anywhere worthwhile within 5-7 hours.

Appreciate the insights!
 

Suzie

Level 2 Member
Ah, I misunderstood the program! I get it now. I will have ~53K RR shortly after hitting the $2k spend on the Premier card. I have applied for too many Chase cards recently so both my wife and I got declined for the business card (she's less than 5/24) so was looking at the other options. Trying to figure out if the tradeoff is worth it for the Marriott travel package. 45-50K SPG points can go really far.

Is there a good map that can filter locations out by Category? As I mentioned I haven't budgeted for a second vacation this year and 7 nights somewhere would have some other costs for sure. Having a place driveable would be even better, I'm in the metro Detroit area so anywhere worthwhile within 5-7 hours.

Appreciate the insights!
Google Marriott Rewards Category 5 hotels. It will bring up Cat 5 and on the right hand side you can click on other categories and it's displayed by region.

You can book the lowest Cat 1-5 and then upgrade later by adding more pts. That's what we did.

I would only do the CP if you are in a SW hub and will use it a lot.
 

mactrader

Level 2 Member
Thanks very much, that does help! Do you lose the 110K points when you get the Companion Pass or do you get to keep those for future travel also?
 
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