Live Free Travel Free

Chase Cards

Chase Bank has some of the best reward cards there are, at the moment.  This is a good thing and a bad thing.  The good thing is, you can choose from lots of different programs for the card that suits you best.  The bad thing is, you can’t get all of them because they are all with the same bank.  I’m going to see if I can get a little bit of the best of both worlds, though…

I currently have the Chase British Airways Visa and the Sapphire Preferred Visa.  I like the BA Visa because once I get $30,000 spend on it this year, I’ll earn a 2-4-1 companion ticket for Jessica.  That way, I can purchase one ticket abroad with miles and get the other one with the 2-4-1 pass.  We’ll both ride in First class, and the trip will be incredibly cheap (taxes only).

I like the Sapphire Preferred card for two reasons.  I currently have 137,574 CO OnePass miles.  Once CO and UA merge, I will have 137,574 UA miles.  I also currently have 66,948 Sapphire Preferred points, with more on the way.  Sapphire (Chase Ultimate Rewards) points transfer to United at a 1:1 ratio.  Once transferred, I’ll have a total of 204,522 United miles.  Add a United card signup bonus in the future, and we’re nearing 270k.

In a nutshell, the first reason I like the Sapphire Preferred card is because it’s adding so much to my (future) United balance.  My goal is to get enough miles to take me and Jessica somewhere far away in first class (or business class).  I’m getting dangerously close to that goal, and I like that.  The second reason I like the card is a bit childish.  It is made of some sort of metal composite, and it feels really cool.  It’s also quite heavy.  Awesome.  Childish, yes?

Enter Southwest

When Jessica and I travel domestically, we usually travel on Southwest or JetBlue.  Mainly Southwest.  I was just reading on Mommy Points’ blog that the signup bonuses for the Southwest Personal and Business RR cards are still counting towards the necessary miles for a companion pass.  Once you earn 110,000 RR points, you earn a companion pass for the rest of the calendar year and the following year.

I realized that if I can get both of these cards within the next month, get a 50,000 point sign-up bonus for each of them, and spend $10,000 extra on them using Live Free Travel Free techniques, I can earn a companion pass for the remainder of 2012 and all of 2013.  Jessica and I will be able to take about 6 trips without paying a dime, and as many more as we want after that for the price of one ticket (purchased on super sale only, of course).

The last time I applied for cards was on September 28, 2011, when I applied for the Citi AA personal and business cards.  I was denied both of them since I already had the personal AA card and I mistyped my business’ EIN.  Oops.  No worries, though, as I don’t really want to fly on American anyway.

When I applied for the Sapphire Preferred card, I was denied because I just received the BA Visa not a month prior.  I called the reconsideration line, and they reallocated some credit from the BA card to the Sapphire.  They were incredibly nice about it, and I’m counting on that again this time around.  If need be, I’m ready to cancel my Sapphire card, as it’s really not helping me with immediate goals.

I should hear back within 10 days, and I will report my progress back.  If all works out as planned, I will have a Southwest Companion Pass for Jessica by the end of February.  Exciting stuff!