Flying International on Southwest

Up until a year or two ago, Southwest was exclusively a domestic airline. That's no longer the case. After their buy out of Airtran, Southwest picked up all of Airtran's international routes to central america and the Caribbean. 

Now, you can fly to a number of exotic locations with your favorite airline (I mean most of us LOVE Southwest, right? And many have the coveted Companion Pass? That's what I thought). Here's where you can jet off to:

• Cabo San Lucas, MX
• Puerta Vallarta, MX
• Mexico City, MX
• Cancun, MX
• Belize City, BZ
• Liberia, CR
• San Jose, CR
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Montego Bay, Jamaica
• Punta Cana, DR
• San Juan, PR
• Havana, Cuba

This is great news for anyone looking for a little tropical getaway.  We recently did this for the first time on our trip to Costa Rica and it was great, but a little different than other international flights and different than your typical Southwest Flight. Here's everything you need to know about flying internationally on Southwest.

1. Check In As Usual (Sort Of)
Anyone who has flown on Southwest sets their alarm for 24hours and 1 minute before the flight leaves, so you can get that coveted "A" boarding group. The same applies for international flights, but the actual process is a bit different. Because your passport needs to be checked at the airport, when you check in online or on your phone, you'll only get your boarding group number but no actual ticket. Your spot is secure, but you still need to go to the ticket counter when you get to the airport to have your passport checked .

2. Bring Some Food With You
If you're used to flying international to Europe or Asia, you're use to being fed and pumped full of wine every 45 minutes. The Southwest flights aren't like that. All juice, soda, coffee is still free, and they are quite generous with the upgraded snacks (our flight had bags of pretzels, peanuts, Oreos, Fritos and Cheese Crackers), but if you're like me and don't want to eat that kind of stuff, I'd advise you to bring your own meal. There's also no food for purchase. Our longest flight segment was 6 hours when we flew to Costa Rica, which I knew I'd definitely get hungry. I'd suggest a sandwich, salad, or bento box. I'd also bring some snack-y things like granola bars, nuts, or dried fruit incase you get munchy (PS - my favorite in flight snacks).

3. There's Still Free Live TV 
Like a lot of international flights, you will have some time to kill. They still offer the free live TV and movies are available for purchase just like normal Southwest flights. There was also WIFI for purchase. Bring your own laptop, smart phone or tablet in order to stream (there aren't any personal tv's on the plane).

4. Bring Your Blanket and Pillow
Unlike other international flights, there were no blankets, pillows or sleep masks waiting for us on board. These flights also weren't overnight, so that wasn't a huge deal. However, our flights were early and it's nice to be able to take a nap. I have an inflatable neck pillow that I'd highly suggest, since you can deflate it once you land so you don't have to lug it around when it's not in use. And as always, bring a scarf to cover up if you're cold!  

5. It's Pretty Cheap!
I was shocked at how affordable these flights were. We used our Southwest points, and each round trip ticket was 21,000 points. That is not a typo. That's about 10.5k each way. It costs more to go to California!!!! Now, I can't guarantee these rates, but I checked a lot of locations and a lot of date combos, and I was pleasantly surprised at the price. Many flights are under $500 pp round trip. And don't forget, you can always get your points back/flight $ credit if the price goes down (we originally booked at 36k points pp.... that's 15k points down!)

6. Be Flexible With Your Dates
The flights from Costa Rica went down 1-3x a day. The return flights was only available a few days a week. Check this before you plan your trip (use their "Flexible Fare Calendar" feature to see!)

7. Check Those Bags
Yup, 2 checked bags. For free. As always! We carried on, but checked our bags on the way back since we picked up some souvenirs that we couldn't carry on. 

What are you waiting for? Book your tropical vaca now. You can thank me when you're watching the sunset.

xo

Southwest Companion Pass

Ever since I heard about the Southwest Companion Pass, I've been CONSUMED with getting it. I neeeeeeeeeeed it! Do you have it? If you do, I'm incredibly jealous.

Since I was in the dark about this, I thought some others might be, too! So I've done my research and found out HOW to get it, and WHY it's awesome!

FACTS ON THE SOUTHWEST COMPANION PASS

The only way to get the Companion Pass is earning 110,000 Rapid Reward Points in one calendar year. This means January 1 - December 31. It's January 21, so let's hit the ground running with this New Year's Resolution :) 

The 110,000 RR points must be in one person's name. These points cannot be transferred from another Rapid Rewards account. You can't have 55,000 in your name and 55,000 in  your spouses name..... all 110,000 have to be in one name. No exceptions.

The Companion Pass is eligible for the rest of the calendar year (so, 2015) and the entirety of the following year. Which means as soon as you earn it this year, you're in the clear for the next year, too! Awesome.

The Companion Pass is only eligible for ONE person.... which you can change three times. So for example's sake, if I signed Matt up as my companion (duh!), I could switch it to my best friend, but still be able to switch back to Matt. It gives you one option, but just be careful you don't mess it up!

The Companion Pass is eligible for EVERY flight the holder books. SO, if I pay for my flight with money or miles, it doesn't matter - Matt comes with me for free. Please note that the "companion" must be with the holder of the pass, so he doesn't fly for free unless he's with me. 

110,000 points is enough for an average of 9 free flight segments. Reward flights start as low as 6,000 points (one way), and go up to about 18,000, depending on when/where you're flying (I looked at a bunch of different flights to get a sample). So even if you only earned the companion pass in December 2015, you have 110,000 free points to fly the next year - so you can pay for YOUR flights with points and your companion is still flying free. That's an incredible deal in itself.

There are several ways to earn points:

• The largest (and easiest) is to apply for the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card with the current bonus offer of 50,000 RR points (if you spend $2,000 in the first three months of having the card)
• You earn 2RR points / $1 spent directly with Southwest (a $200 flight = 400 RR points). Please note this needs to be purchased DIRECTLY with Southwest (on their website or phone)... not through a 3rd party website or travel agent.
• You earn 1RR point/ $1 spent on the card on everyday purchases (a $35 tank of gas = 35 RR points)
• You earn the RR points for every flight you take with Southwest (this is not dependent on having the Southwest Credit Card)
• You earn RR points by shopping through the Southwest Shopping portal. You sign in & do your regular online shopping... but for extra points. Nordstrom is 5points/$1 right now, iTunes is 3p/$1, and Sephora is 4p/$1. 
• Please note if you do your spending on the credit card, you'll also get 2points/$1. If you drop $50 at Nordstrom, you'll get 100points for the credit card and 250points for the shopping portal, making your $50 worth 350 points

Let's do a little math. 

If you sign up for the RR credit card and are approved, you'll start at 50,000 points. If you book 12 Southwest segments (6 round trip flights) this year ON the credit card, average $200 per segment, each and average 1,000 RR points (12 segments total), that's an extra 16,800 points. Putting you at 66,800! 

Now, if you do $50 a month of shopping through the Southwest portal on the credit card, even at only 3point/$1 offers, you still will earn an extra 250 points per month, or 3000 points for the year... putting you at almost 70,000 points!

Now all that's left is 40,000 points to earn. If you spend $40,000 a year then you're SET. You might not think you spend that much, but chances are you come pretty close! It comes to just over $3,000 a month on the Southwest Credit Card (I'm only into responsible credit card using.... only spend it if you can pay it off!)

A few notes:

• If you're buying for 2 - which if you're not, the companion pass is a little useless anyway - you will get the double points for money spent, just not their actual flight points. So, buying 12 segments for 2 people, puts you up to 24 segments total at $200, making your points earned 9,600 points... or 21,600 points. The new average would be 71,600 before any portal shopping or regular spending on the credit card. 
• If you're traveling for work, see if you can purchase your own flight and invoice the company. Every extra point counts!
• This companion pass would work best for someone with a business parter (if you travel together often), a married couple/seriously dating couple or a family with kids. If you mostly travel alone or with a variety of different people, this wouldn't make much sense for you. 
• Choose the person who will fly the most often - for example, I travel solo for work more often, so I in theory will earn more points in the calendar year.  
• You can use up to $15,000 in balance transfers to the Southwest Card in the first three months that WILL gain you points. However, they're at a 3% rate, so I would not advise it.

You guys.... we can do this. With a little strategy, you can work your way to dozens of free flights! Who's with me?

xo

More on Cheap Flights:

Save Money on Round Trip Flights

How to Travel for Free

Dear Southwest - Why Can't I Find Your Mobile Boarding Pass?

Dear Southwest,

You pride yourself on being a "green" airline with your numerous Environmental Initiatives - and I appreciate them greatly! I respect that you separate your recycling from garbage in flight, adding winglets to help with fuel economy, etc. HOWEVER - I think you're missing a major opportunity in the vein of being green.

When I used your app for online check in last week, I was certain my request wasn't processing - why wasn't it showing me a mobile boarding pass? (After all, that's why I love Passbook!)

After a few tries, I hopped on my laptop with the same result. I couldn't find ANY way to retrieve a boarding pass without printing it at home or in the airport. According to your FAQ's, you offer them. But I couldn't receive a mobile boarding pass despite my best efforts. On top of this, apparently you haven't updated your app to work with Passbook (you say it will be texted or emailed - but this never happened). This means every passenger with Southwest is printing a boarding pass at home, work or airport kiosk. Let's check some numbers.

According to your website, the following averages exist:

• 3,600 flights daily
• 138 seats per flight
• 21.1 Million flights have been booked in the last 12 months

Based on these numbers, you have the capacity of 496,800 passengers per day if all seats are full. Even if it's only an average of 75% full (just for arguments sake... but I haven't been on a plane less than 90% full in the last 5 years), it's approximately 372,600 passengers. 

That means between 1.36 and 1.81 MILLION flights are taken per year on your airline alone.... and every single passenger is printing at least one piece of paper per flight. And that's just in one year.

Why isn't this option being pushed? Why is it like pulling teeth? For someone like myself who is interested in the option, it shouldn't have been so impossible to accomplish. 

A few easy ways to get people to use your mobile boarding pass option:

• Reminder in their "Your Flight is Around the Corner!" email
• Emails are sent automatically
• Prompting them via online check in
• This never happened during my check in. Why not?
• Airport kiosk staff suggesting it to passengers 
• Would help decrease the line for passengers w/carry on bags, would speed up check in time for others

These options cost you nothing once the app is modified. It will save you money and help our environment. 

Come on, guys. It's 2014. And if "being green" is as important to you as I think it is, save the trees! Make it obvious for those who will use it! Let's fast track this party so we can keep our boarding passes in Passbook. 

What do you think? Do you use mobile boarding passes or Passbook?

xo