Taking a same-day flight to earn a Southwest Companion Cross

Earlier this 12 months, Southwest Airways introduced again its promotion to earn a limited-time Companion Cross. In case you registered, booked a flight between Aug. 28 and Aug. 30 and accomplished journey by Sept. 30, you’d earn a coveted Companion Cross legitimate from Jan. 8 by way of March 8, 2024.

I am not a frequent Southwest flyer, however I’m a Southwest Speedy Rewards member, and the provider does supply in depth service from my house state of Florida. So, I began pondering. Might I take a fast journey solely for the sake of incomes this Companion Cross, thus creating buy-one, get-one flights for just a few months subsequent 12 months?

Because it seems, I used to be ready to do that with little problem and minimal out-of-pocket expense.

Here is why I flew to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Worldwide Airport (ATL) — and again — on the identical day, all due to a promo.

Associated: use the Southwest Companion Cross

Reserving the flight

When the promotion launched and I hatched my plan, I knew I could not take simply any flight. These have been must-haves once I started looking out:

• Low price: First, I wanted a flight with a comparatively low price. In spite of everything, the Companion Cross will solely be legitimate for 2 months, so spending a number of hundred {dollars} on a flight would make it more durable to recoup that price through the use of the perk.
• Florida departure: I stay on Florida’s Treasure Coast, which gave me comparatively easy accessibility to a trio of Southwest airports: Palm Seaside Worldwide Airport (PBI), Orlando Worldwide Airport (MCO) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport (FLL). I centered my searches on these three gateways.
• Minimal problem: I like working remotely, however I needed to ensure that I may nonetheless get my work finished through the day. Moreover, I did not need to take care of a flight on the daybreak or a late-night arrival, thus lacking helpful time with my household. For this to work, I needed to attenuate my inconvenience.

So, I started looking out.

I began on Southwest’s route map, a useful option to see all of the provider’s nonstop flights out of particular airports. It even offers you a beginning worth for one-way flights, serving to you zero in on locations with the provider’s lowest fares.

Palm Seaside choices have been restricted (and costly), and Orlando itineraries additionally weren’t nice in my search. Nonetheless, I used to be thrilled to see that flights from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta (and again) have been priced at lower than $50 every manner.

With a goal route in thoughts, I then moved on to Southwest’s useful low-fare calendar (facet by facet with my very own Outlook calendar). And on Tuesday, Sept. 19 — a day on which I used to be largely free — I discovered a flight for a complete of $107.36.

This might imply leaving my home round 7:45 a.m. (across the similar time my spouse usually leaves with my daughter to drop her at college en path to work) and getting again house round 7:30 p.m. With inflight Wi-Fi and roughly three hours on the bottom in Atlanta, I knew I might nonetheless have a big a part of the day to work like regular — and the worth certain was proper.

I booked the flight utilizing my Chase Sapphire Reserve to earn 3 factors per greenback and to make sure I used to be coated within the occasion of delays or cancellations. I may virtually style the free journeys I would ebook for my companion as soon as the move arrives in January.

The morning departure from my home went in keeping with plan, and I even used a part of my drive to have a name with a crew member. Whereas I hit some customary South Florida site visitors, I parked within the on-site storage round 9:40 a.m. It was a brief stroll to Terminal 1, the place I used Clear (due to The Platinum Card® from American Categorical, which affords assertion credit of as much as $189 per 12 months whenever you cost your Clear Plus membership charge to the cardboard) and TSA PreCheck to clear safety comparatively rapidly — although I did hit a small delay due to the brand new scanners in use on the checkpoint.

Whole price to earn the Companion Cross

So, when all was mentioned and finished, how a lot did this jaunt price me? Here is an entire breakdown:

• Flight: $107.36
• Spherical-trip drive to FLL (calculated based mostly on IRS reimbursement charges): $141.48
• Lunch in ATL: $12.41
• Wi-Fi on flights: $0 (ordinarily $16, however these have been coated by the charge credit score on my Ritz card)
• Parking at FLL: $15
• Whole: $276.25

Maybe most significantly, I used to be ready to do that complete journey at a really minor inconvenience. I used a few of my drives to and from the airport to speak to my crew members, and I bought in a number of extra hours of labor on the flights and within the airport.

The day after the flight, I bought an e-mail from Southwest confirming that I had met the necessities to earn the Companion Cross.

Sadly, the phrases of the promotion point out that the move will not be awarded to my Speedy Rewards account till Jan. 8, 2024, and solely then can I designate my companion and begin reserving journeys for her.

There’s an opportunity that one (or extra) of the flights I would like shall be offered out by that time, however Companion Cross tickets aren’t topic to stock restrictions. So long as there is a seat — whatever the worth on the time of reserving — I can add my companion for simply the taxes and charges.