Is Your Trip Several Months to a Year Away? Get the Southwest Credit Card.

The first thing I always recommend to people is get the Southwest Credit Card. When you sign up, you will receive free points! I have seen anywhere from 25,000 to 75,000 in their free point offers. I have also seen where they have given a free companion pass when you sign up. I recommend getting the card at the end of November. Don't spend the required amount to earn the points until after your December statement so it will reflect on your January statement. Then you have all year to earn the rest of the required points to earn a companion pass for the remainder of that year and all of next year. You have to earn the total points between January and December because the points will all be erased on January 1st and you will have to start over.

To use these points, you will need a Rapid Rewards account on Southwest.com. The points will automatically transfer to your Rapid Rewards to be used like money when purchasing a flight. The only cash payment you will have to make is a $5.60 Government Security Fee for each one-way flight.

There is typically a $69-$99 yearly credit card fee for the Southwest Credit Card, which if you add up that and the $5.60 per on-way flight, you will still come out way ahead.

Final tip: After one year, you will see the credit card fee added to your statement. They will also automatically add the anniversary points to your rapid rewards around that time. If you cancel the credit card, you will get credited for your fee, but the added points will remain.

***You will want to make sure that Southwest flies out of your desired airport before looking in this.

Example of offer, not necessarily current offer.

Example of offer, not necessarily current offer.

Chase Sapphire Card

The typical offer for Chase Sapphire is 60,000 points, which is well worth the $95 fee. Those points can be sent to travel partners such as Southwest! They will not count towards a companion pass, however.

Example of offer, not necessarily current offer.

Chase Freedom

Do you have points already saved from using a Chase Freedom card? To use these points on Southwest flights you will need both the Sapphire card. Transfer your points to your Sapphire card and from there you can transfer them to your Southwest Rapid Rewards. Like the Sapphire card, these points will not count towards a companion pass. If you don't already have a Chase Freedom card, I don't recommend it as a way to collect travel points.