Anyone taken advantage of the Southwest credit card offer?

[Gregandmel]

We usually fly Southwest and I think last year they had an introductory offer to apply for their Rewards card, which then made you eligible for 50,000 points (approx. 2 round trip airfare) if you met a qualifying purchase within 3 months. We thought about it last year, but then just decided to stick with our Disney Rewards Card. The offer is up again on the Southwest homepage and we are now considering taking advantage of their offer (we usually pay off the balance each month). Since we fly Southwest, it would be a good fit for us. Anyone out there take advantage of this offer for the benefit of the points to apply to their tickets, and if so, anything I should know pro or con about it? We only have the one credit card (Disney rewards) but this offer would save us about $700 on our next flight out. THoughts anyone?? Thanks!

[Pirate Granny]

My DD, MommaBruski, has that card...she is camping this weekend, so hopefully she'll check in and give you the scoop. They fly SW from Denver to Detroit and Orlando at least once a year...sometimes more and I know they have this card. We are actually flying out for thanksgiving to Denver and we let her put on her SW card to get the points! Of course we wrote the reimbursing check.

[BrerGnat]

Yep! Both DH and I applied for and were granted a card, so we got 100K points between the two of us. We flew our family of 4 to CA last fall using the free flights. We still have about 40K points left, which we plan to use in January for Marathon weekend.

I think it's a great card. We also just applied for the Disney Visa to get the $200 offer gift card and we have already racked up a nice amount of rewards for our summer vacation.

I am ALL about rewards cards for the perks. We don't carry a balance so it works out well.

There is an annual fee on the Southwest Card, but they give you, at the time they charge you the annual fee, a "bonus anniversary points gift" in an amount of points equivalent to the annual fee, so it's a wash.

We use them both for different things. When we need to rack up Disney $$$, we primarily use the Disney Visa. When we need to save up for a flight, we switch.

[CuteAsMinnie]

We got the SW credit when they had the same offer about a year and a half ago. No downside at all, as long as you pay your balance.

Our airfare to MCO we booked solely on points. The 50,000 offer and we charged DD college tuition to get the points and just wrote the check to SW so it has worked out great

The only other card we use is the Disney Visa. We'll go this summer with around $500 in Mickey $$ that has been accumulating since our last trip.

Please, folks... Don't keep a balance on your credit cards!

[Gregandmel]

That's great information and glad to hear that people have used it and it works out well. I think we are going to take the plunge and go ahead and apply for it. Didn't realize that we BOTH could apply and then rack up the points that way as well (right now you have to have $2000 in purchases within a 3 month window so I would assume we need to do that on both cards...probably won't be a problem...ha ha). Thanks so much for the information!! Maybe this will get us closer to our next trip...the airfare for 4 people kills our budget! This would certainly help!!

[SBETigg]

Don't have that card, but husband has enough miles on SW from business travel that I have a companion pass. I fly anywhere he flies on SW for free. It's pretty awesome. Love SW!

[Katzateer]

Yes, and I used the ticket to fly to St. Louis to visit my mom and brother. I cancelled the card after I used the ticket and before I had to pay any fees. That was 2 years ago so maybe they are set up a little different now but no fees were charged for the first 6-12 months, after that they had a yearly fee for using the card. Guess they are hoping you forget there is a fee attached to the card after a grace period.

[GAN]

Our airfare to MCO we booked solely on points. The 50,000 offer and we charged DD college tuition to get the points and just wrote the check to SW so it has worked out

Just curious if your DD's college charges a fee to put tuition on a card -my DD's school hits you with 2 or 3% fee, so it negates any advantage of getting points. Otherwise, I would use the card.

[Gregandmel]

Just received our SW Card in the mail yesterday and now plan on charging all of our "everyday" purchases on it. Just need to hit $2000 in the next 3 months and then hopefully we'll get about 2 round trip tickets out of the deal (which would save us about $700 or $800 in airfare!)

Decided NOT to order hubby a separate card. We keep our expenses somewhat low and was worried about having to charge $4000 (total) over the next 3 months between the 2 in order to get 4 round trip tickets. But maybe the next time it's offered, we'll sign him up. I'm ALL about the rewards cards. They really are great (as long as you pay off the balance each month!). We currently have about $800 in Disney rewards for our next trip!

[CuteAsMinnie]

Just curious if your DD's college charges a fee to put tuition on a card -my DD's school hits you with 2 or 3% fee, so it negates any advantage of getting points. Otherwise, I would use the card.

They did not charge a fee. But, this week we received a nice letter stating as of AUG 1st they will charge a 2% fee that is charged to them by a third party!!! Ugh... There goes that plan!

[Imalismom]

Just curious if your DD's college charges a fee to put tuition on a card -my DD's school hits you with 2 or 3% fee, so it negates any advantage of getting points. Otherwise, I would use the card.

My DD goes to Florida Institute of Technology, and they do not charge a fee for me to charge her tuition on my Disney Visa - I get my annual pass free every year for at least two more years....