Southwest 60,000 Point Offers Going Away
We previously reported that the 60,000 point offers for the three Chase Southwest cards will be going away on October 4, 2017. There has been some rumors that the 60k offer on the Southwest Plus ($69 annual fee version) will go away on October 1, 2017 because of this post on Reddit. I believe that this is a targeted offer and does not change the October 4th date but it is something to keep in mind. There are also rumors that the Business Premiere version will stay at 60,000 points even after October 4, 2017.
See our review on all 3 cards here!
Why 60,000 Point Offers Are Important
You need 110,000 points earned in the same calendar year to earn the companion pass. You are able to easily earn this by signing up for two Southwest cards and earning 120,000 points for the sign up bonuses alone. In the past the highest offers were only 50,000 points so you would have do earn another 6,000 points somehow even after getting two sign up bonuses. This is as easy as it gets!
How to earn the Companion Pass for Two Years
The optimum strategy is to sign up for two cards in early October, before the increased offer ends on October 4th. You then need to wait until AFTER your December statement closes to complete the minimum spend.  This is important because all 110,000 points need to be earned in the same calendar year.  This means you want to earn the 110,000 points as early in the new year as possible.
The best Southwest cards to apply for would be the Business Premiere and the Personal Plus.
You should sign up for the Business Premiere version first since business cards do not count towards your 5/24 tally. Â You still need to be under 5/24 in order to be approved but it would not add to your total. Â So if you are 3/24 before your application you will still be 3/24 after approval. Â This is especially key if you were at 4/24 because applying for the personal card first would put you at 5/24 and make you ineligible for any more Southwest cards.
The next Southwest card you should sign up for is the Personal Plus. Â This card has the lowest annual fee and therefore offers the best value/return of the three cards.
If you were approved for both cards on October 1st and met the minimum spend requirement AFTER your December statement closes you would earn your Companion Pass when your January statement closes.  Make sure you complete the spending before your 3 month clock is up in early January as well.
You do not need to do the entire $2,000 or $3,000 in spend after your December statement closes. Just make sure you do not complete the minimum spend until after it closes.
Example: you could spend $1900 on the Personal Plus card from October 1st until your statement closed in December.  You would then spend the remaining $100 after the December statement closes. Doing this would ensure the bonus points would post in January and would count towards next year’s Companion Pass status.
Conclusion
Earning the Southwest Companion pass from credit card sign up bonuses is the best deal in travel, in my opinion. If you are able to take advantage of this offer, and you fly Southwest often, then it is a no-brainer.
The question you need to ask yourself is should you apply before October 1? That is a personal decision that you need to make based on your risk tolerance. I think the October 4th date will hold up but I would probably apply before then just to be safe. Chase, from multiple data points, gives you 115 days to complete sign up bonuses even though the terms say 3 months. Send Chase a secure message after getting your cards asking what date the spend needs to be completed by. They should give you a date sometime in January. Print and keep this response for your records.
Remember to complete the spend AFTER your December statement closes….I can not stress this enough!
If you are considering signing up for these cards and would like to support the site you can find the offers under our Airline Rewards cards link on our providing value for value page. Thanks in advance if you decide to use our links.
Are you going for the companion pass? When will you be signing up? Let us know in the comments!
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If I applied for the SW Business and Personal today (10/1) and the response said they were reviewing it, may take 30 days — will I still receive the bonus since I applied before the bonus expired even if not approved at that point? Thank you for your help.
Also, I did not see the link for the SW Business on your page. I did find the link for the other.
You should still get the 60k offer. Take pictures of the offer when applying to be safe. Thanks for letting us know on the SW Business card and for using the links – I will look into it :).
Thanks for the great post.
I made a mistake and obtained the Southwest business card on September 1. Should I apply for both personal cards before October 4? Or, should I apply for one now and wait until November for the other? I will risk the decrease in the sign-up bonus, however. I’m 3/24 with Chase.
Many thanks.
Send Chase a secure message and ask when the spend needs to be completed by (unless you already did it). You may still be good – just complete the spend after the December statement closes and before the date Chase gives you. You can then sign up for one of the personal cards.
Appreciate the response, and guidance.
My pleasure – good luck!
Thanks. Good news. I have until 12/29 to complete spend, and have not yet received a statement, so think I’m okay. I will pull the trigger on SW Plus today or tomorrow. Thanks again!
Great news! Yeah just complete the spend after your Dec statement closes but a few days before 12/29 and you should be good.
I’m sure I can find some day-after-Christmas bargains to complete spends. 😉
Looks like first statement just closed on 10/4, so December statement should also be on the 4th. I think I’m safe for my final spend in late December to not hit until Jan statement. Please advise if I’m missing something, or if I should try and change statement close date. Thanks.
No that should be good – just hit the spend after 12/4 and you should be good to go!
Thanks!
I made a mistake and acquired the Southwest Business card on 9/1. Assuming it won’t count, I’m still at 3/24. What are my chances of getting both personal cards on the same day? Would it be better for me to risk what will, hopefully, just be a lower signup bonus and apply for one before 10/4 and another in November? Many thanks.
Send Chase a secure message and ask when the spend needs to be completed by (unless you already did it). You may still be good – just complete the spend after the December statement closes and before the date Chase gives you. You can then sign up for one of the personal cards.
I just signed Mortgage documents (first home yay!) on 9/29 (friday) and wondering if i should apply for this – I sure don’t want to miss it. The bank says wait at least a week because they made me sign an authorization for credit check which is valid for 90 days. Also, never done a business card application, not sure what it takes to have a business application without having a business.
I wouldn’t want to mess with a mortgage. I would maybe call your broker on Monday and see what he says.
As for the business if you sell on eBay etc. you can sign up as a sole proprietor and use your soc # as the tax id.