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Rapid Rewards Shopping

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Rapid Rewards Shopping

Southwest’s reward program is called Rapid Rewards. One of our favorite airlines is Southwest, so it’s not shocking that one of our favorite shopping portals is their Rapid Rewards Shopping portal. One disadvantage of this program is that Southwest doesn’t have any airline partners, so you do have to redeem the points you earn with them.

To get started with this program, visit the Rapid Rewards Shopping portal and Sign up for a new account.

How Can I earn Points?

There are several ways that you can earn points, but how quickly you earn them depends mostly on your shopping habits. There are are many ways to earn points you should refer to the Rapids Rewards website for all the details. However, Here are a few of our favorites:

  1. Ultimate Rewards Credit Card – This is a Chase credit card and the only bank partner of Southwest.  Pro Tip: Earning points through the Ultimate Rewards program and then transferring them to Southwest. Earning Points through Ultimate Rewards gives you lots of options for points redemption, and you can still use them for Southwest as needed.
  2. For everyday online spending use the Rapid Rewards Shopping portal. This is a great option to earn points when you are making purchases online anyway.
  3. Hotel Rentals – Rapid Rewards currently has eight partner hotels where you can earn points by booking with them. Among our favorites are Hyatt and Mlife due to the numerous trips Jason takes out there each year.
  4. View and make sure you take advantage of any promotions that Southwest is currently offering. They have an entire section of their website devoted just to their current promotional content.

Extra Benefits we love:

  • No Blackout dates for flights
  • Your points don’t expire as long as you have activity at least once every 18 months

We hope you have learned a little something extra about the Southwest Rapid Rewards program. Please let us know what else you would like to know about by contacting us!

How to earn points with everyday purchases! Rapid Rewards Shopping

Should I hoard my points or spend as soon as I can?

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When should I use my reward points?

One of the most common questions asked by people who have started collecting reward points is if they should hold their miles or spend as soon as they can. I have changed my strategy over the last several years as I used to be a hoarder. I always wanted to get the most out of my miles, but that can be a gamble. By holding on to them they are subject to the whim of the airline or hotel company.

The value per point will change each time the company makes an evaluation and decides they want to increase the cost of the room or flight. Example is when I would stay at the Palazzo in Las Vegas, two years ago would cost 50,000 points through IHG, now its 60,000 points. That is over a 15 percent increase for the exact same room.

Company risk if you hold reward points

Companies get bought and sold, one of the most popular programs is SPG Starwoods points.  Recently SPG was bought by Marriott and rumors point to the programs being merged into one program sometime in August. The travel partners you can transfer to with SPG Starwoods are huge and are worth about two cents per point. Marriott points are worth about 4/5th a penny. This is a significant difference and it leaves a lot of uncertainty about if/when they combine into one program. Everyone is waiting to hear what the final transfer rate will be or if they will even maintain the same transfer partners.

It is all up to the whim of the hotel and airline companies. It is their currency. They control the value and can change at no notice. If they want, they can suspend your account and remove the miles at their control.

Earn and Spend

I recommend a “Controlled Hold” or “Earn and Spend”. If you are saving up for a specific destination, such as Hawaii, go ahead and hold them but be fully aware that they can change in value overnight. Don’t plan on them being worth the same amount that they are now, two years from now. Right now, I book out as far as I can locking in before any type of increase occurs. Try to be savvy about how you book. For example, Southwest flights I can rebook if they drop in price. Within the last month though, they have decreased the value of their points meaning you have to use more points to book a specific flight.

Chase Ultimate Rewards

This is the other reason I like to hold points in programs with banks such as Chase’s Ultimate Rewards program. Chase Ultimate Rewards on my previous blog article. At worst, there is a cash value that you can redeem for statement credits or an increase level through their travel site. You still have the flexibility to transfer to other programs when you need it. This way you are not locked into United or Southwest if they decide to devalue their points.

Flexibility is the key in managing your reward points. Allowing for flexibility gives you the best option. This allows you can customize your travel and put things more under your control.

Want to know more or have ideas for future articles? Contact me or check out these other articles you may be interested in.

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Do you want to know if you should spend your reward points or save them? #hoarding #rewardpoints #rewards #points #travelhacking #hoardpoints #spendpoints

Three Strangest Things I Have Done for Points

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In this article I will tell you about the three strangest things I have done for points. A couple of the guys at work always make fun of some of the “hoops” I jump through to get points.  There are many that do this as a full time job doing travel hacking but focusing on cash back.  I have done some things that would be strange to others but have been very profitable.  Most people do not go to this extreme, but sometimes some of the biggest point gains is when you do things outside the box.

Rental Cars

The most recent and one of the strangest things I have done for points involved rental cars. I hate the Wisconsin Winters, I have an older truck I generally use when I have to put my Polaris Slingshot away due to the cold and snow.  One day, through an email I got through United Airlines, I noticed they were offering three different point bonuses that added up to 5,000 miles for every car rental.  I decided to do the math, since I had just used 135,000 United miles for the tickets to/from Hawaii for Joni, Cheyenne and myself I used this as my comparison.  I looked up the cheapest, eligible rental from our local airport for the day and found it was around $30 after fees.
Each week I would pick up a rental on the weekend and use that for smaller trips or just driving around town.  When I did the math, was able to compare 9 rentals which netted 45,000 miles.  That cost was $270.00.  Which is the same amount of miles for the $1,100 cost for a round trip to Hawaii.  Even if I decided to use the miles for one of the Vegas trips, it still would end up saving me almost $150-200 for that amount of miles than buying the ticket out right.

Storm Damage Repair

The second of the strangest things I have done for points was due to necessity. We had a series of storms go through our town this past summer and we had some storm damage. To say the storm damage this last summer was a pain to deal with is putting it lightly. However, this gave me an opportunity to earn some extra points.
I had a bonus on purchase from an ‘office supply store’. So I went to Staples and bought several hundred dollars worth of gift cards for Lowe’s.  I planned this during Lowe’s 11% rebate sale where any purchase provided a 11% rebate.  I then went home, went through a shopping portal online that directed me to Lowe’s website.  By doing these three steps, it allowed a combination of additional Lowe’s gift cards and travel points equivalent to a 24 percent discount off the purchases.

Target Pre-Paid Card

The third of the strangest things I have done for points was short lived and one of my favorite “Hacks”.  A couple years ago, Target released a Pre-Paid Card that could be loaded with a credit card.  This only lasted for several months as you will see why below.  You could load it with up with $2500 per month and allowed for ATM withdrawals.  The card only cost was about $5.00 when you first purchased it. Both Joni and I had one of these cards to maximize our points.  I would then go to the service desk and throughout the month load each card with the maximum allowed. Immediately after, I would go to the no fee ATM, withdrawal the cash, and pay off the balance.
I was told several times at Target by the service desk person, “Oh, You are one of those Travel people!!! There are like five of you that show up like clockwork…”  By doing this, it helped me hit the Southwest Companion pass that has allowed Joni to fly free with me on all Southwest Flights since 2015.  This Target option sadly ended in just under a year.
Read more about how to earn free points by shopping on Amazon or how to earn free flights with Ultimate Rewards.  Tell us what crazy things you have done to get travel points!
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Travel Hacking: How to get free flights with ultimate rewards

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As I have mentioned before, my favorite key to travel hacking for free flights and reduced travel is the Chase Ultimate Rewards Program.  Below is a recommendation of the best credit card options.  They all compliment each other, but you do not need one of each to use Ultimate Rewards to earn free flights.  As long as you have one card that has an annual fee, Chase allows you transfer to their travel partners and use their chase travel portal.  Without the annual fee cards, they are just considered a cash back card.
Joni and I use two cards as our preferred credit card choices for the majority of our travel and to help us earn free flights. They are the Chase Ink Business Plus (Chase Ink Preferred is the new version) and our Chase Freedom Unlimited cards.  I have included referral links if anyone is interested as they will give you free points. Either we or a friend of ours will get referral points if you use these links throughout the article. If you are looking to get a new credit card to help with travel hacking we would appreciate your support and help all of us earn free flights.

Chase Ink Preferred (Small Business)

This is the card that Joni and I use the most.  We have one of the older styles that has a higher point value that is no longer on the market.  This is the new version that we would be using if that other one was not available. I have friends and family that have any kind of small business.
One of the biggest benefits is that you receive three points per dollar spent on travel, shipping, internet, cable bills, cell phone, and social media advertising. In addition you earn one point per dollar on all other purchases.  Now days almost everyone has a cell phone bill or a cable or satellite TV bill.  For a couple friends, that have to ship out items such as leggings or purses, this could be a huge money maker for them.  Another benefit is if you pay for your cell phone and cell bill with this card, it offers you protection against theft or damage.  If your phone gets run over by a cement truck?  It’s covered!
Keep in mind, 3 ultimate reward points is a minimum of 3.75 cents in travel and could be up to 7 cents depending on the travel partner.  Another one of the benefits I use often is that it provides additional car rental insurance.  I often rent cars on my trips to Las Vegas which are considered business trips due to my sports collection side business. This gives primary car rental insurance instead of having to use my personal auto policy or the expensive car insurance the rental companies sell.

What does this mean for free flights?

With this card there is an 80,000 ultimate rewards point sign up bonus if you use the link listed below and spend $5,000 in three months!!!  Yes that amount is a large dollar amount but most people spend that in typical bills and purchases without even realizing it. We currently use our card for cell phone bills, car insurance, TV and internet bills along with groceries and gas.  This allowed us to hit this dollar amount along with some minor home repairs those first couple months.

Keep in mind 80,000 ultimate rewards points is equivalent to $800 in immediate cash back when the points post.  $1,000 in travel through Chase travel, this is enough for almost two round trip tickets to Hawaii from Chicago (45,000 points each through United depending on the days). If Hawaii isn’t your thing, how about five round trip tickets to Cancun from Chicago on Southwest Airlines? Yep! Free flights! Keep in mind, this card does have a $95.00 annual fee.  For us, this is a keeper for years to come! Here is where you can apply for the Chase Ink Preferred Card.

Chase Freedom Unlimited (Personal Card)

This is our second Chase card that Joni and I use.  This one is a ‘no brainer’ card for us to use.  A lot of cards say, “you get 2 points for this, or 3 points for that”.  This is our, ummm, I am having a brain fart and don’t know what to use card.  This one always gets you 1.5 points on every purchase.  As cash back its 1.5 cents per dollar, towards travel its 1.875 cents per dollar, or 1.5 miles/points in other travel programs such as Southwest Airlines, United or Hyatt (my favorite transfer partners).
The sign up bonus using my link for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card allows you to get $150 in cash back (15,000 points) if you spend $500 in three months.  This is a no annual fee card, so there is no cost to having this account.  This one has little risk so if you are just starting out and trying to figure out this Travel Hacking and how to earn free flights… this is a good choice.

Chase Freedom (Personal Card)

One of the cards we are considering and would be getting possibly in the future is the Chase Freedom card.  Chase does have a limitation of only accepting applications from people who have signed up for five cards or less in 24 months.  Since I had to experiment with what were the best cards when I first started out, I can’t apply for this card quite yet due to this limitation. After waiting the 2 years, this will be one of the next ones I will be applying for.  One of the benefits of this card is the rotating categories.  Every quarter you get a specific category where will allow you 5 cents (5 ultimate rewards points) per dollar on purchases up to $1500 and 1 cent (1 ultimate rewards point) per dollar on all other purchases.  Some of the categories they have used over the last couple years are Amazon, gas, groceries, and Walmart purchases.  This is a quick way people get their point totals to add up for travel.  After all if Walmart is the category for the quarter then, $100 in Walmart grocery purchases is 500 points towards travel and free flights.
The sign up bonus allows you to get $150 in cash back (15,000 points) if you spend $500 in three months.  This is a no annual fee card, so there is no cost to having this account. If you would link the Chase Freedom Unlimited card this link will help a friend who pays for travel as she works her way to the 2020 Para-Olympics in Tokyo for Taekwondo.

Chase Sapphire Preferred/Sapphire Reserve (Personal Card – Annual Fee Card)

If you are not eligible for the Chase Ink Preferred card due to not having a small business, this might be the card for you.  If you want the ability to transfer points to partners or to use credits towards Chase Travel portal then you need to use of of these next two options. Each card has different level of benefits.  The biggest difference is determining if the annual fee difference between the two is makes one a better choice over the other.
Chase Sapphire Preferred gives you 2 points per dollar on travel and restaurants and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases.  Joni and I go out to eat often so this would be a good way for us to earn points if we did not have the Chase Ink card instead.  The auto insurance for car rentals just like on the Chase Ink card is a perk of this card.  This card will give you 1.25 cents credit per point in the Chase Travel Portal.  The annual fee is $95.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you 3 points per dollar on travel and restaurants and 1 point per dollar on all other purchases. This card includes a $300 travel credit each year which can equal free flights!  This card gives you 1.5 cents credit per point in the Chase Travel Portal.  Keep in mind that the annual fee is $450 a year.  But if you travel a lot each year, the $300 travel credit each year technically drops the card down to $150.  At that point you have to determine if the benefits of the better redemption through Chase Travel, the extra points per dollar on travel and restaurants make up the difference.  There are some other benefits like lounge access at airports and a $100 credit towards Global Entry (TSA Pre-Check) that may make it worth the difference.  We have two friends who use this card. One travels a lot of taekwondo and other is hoping to be traveling all over soon!

If you would link a Chase Sapphire Reserve card considering using this link which will allow you to get 50,000 points in free travel if you spend $4,000 in three months.  50,000 points is worth $500 in cash back, $750 in Chase Travel Portal credit, or enough points to fly solo to Hawaii with free flights!

We recommend Chase for Travel and free flights

Chase bank has been a large part of my key to free flights, or nearly free travel over the last two years.  Our round-trip airfare for three to Hawaii which we got basically for free, was due to the sign up bonus and a couple months of spending on the card.  Joni and Cheyenne’s hotel for the week at taekwondo nationals this past summer was covered by making normal purchases on these cards.  Multiple trips to Vegas and Cancun are all due to transfers from these cards to Southwest Airlines.  For the person just starting out, this is the biggest recommendation I could give.  Get to know Chase as they have so many of the greatest opportunities.
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Want to learn how to earn free flights? Use the Ultimate rewards program!