Chase Southwest 50000 Mile Bonus is Back — and My Best Travel Credit Cards Lists Are Updated!

Chase Southwest 50000 Mile Offers

The Chase Southwest 50000 mile bonus has returned–but only for three cards out of four: two personal (Plus and Premier) and one business (Premier). The fourth business card is nowhere to be found, so maybe Chase just cut it off. Anyway, the links for all Chase Southwest 50000 mile offers are on my Best Credit Cards for Free Flights page.

If you fly Southwest often, you must get the Southwest awesome Companion Pass. If you apply for all three (I would not do it at the same time), you will get 156,000 miles after meeting the spending requirement, which is 46,000 miles more than you need to be eligible for the Pass. So many posts have been written about the pass from all over the blogosphere that I just can’t bring myself to dwell on this topic again and again. But the points is that the Pass will get your partner a free ticket to wherever you are going–even on an award flight (!)–until the end of the second calendar year! That means if you get the pass within the next couple of months, the two of you are good to travel until the end of 2016! This is insane.

One more thing. Well, two, actually. The merger with Air Tran has turned Southwest into an international airline. They are currently flying to:

• Aruba (AUA)
• Cancun, Mexico (CUN)
• Mexico City, Mexico (MEX)
• Montego Bay, Jamaica (MBJ)
• Nassau, Bahamas (NAS)
• Punta Cana
• Dominican Republic (PUJ)
• San Jose Cabo, Mexico (SJD)

And they are going to add three new international flights in 2015:

• Belize City
• Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
• San Jose, Costa Rica

What’s the second thing? Hawaii. There are rumors that Southwest is to start flying to Hawaii in 2016, although when it happens is everyone’s guess.

Honestly, I can’t believe that Southwest hasn’t killed the Pass for us, credit card junkies. But I’m willing to bet they will–and soon. This generosity is from the days long gone. and it will be gone. So get it while you can.

The AMEX Hilton 60,000-point bonus is no more

Yes, it will come back at one point or another, but for now, the 50,000-point bonus is the best you can get. To find it, though, you’ll have to jump through one hoop–per this Flyertalk thread you need to get on Hilton website and dummy-book anything. On the last page you will see the application for the 50,000-point AMEX Hilton card. Granted, it took me about 90 seconds to get to the application page, but only because I got distracted in the process. And the reason I got distracted was this:

$99 for a night at a good  Times Square hotel? Yes, it’s winter in NYC, but seriously, for $99, I could just make it a night on a town. And the Sunday night before the MLK day is only $10 more. This is a Cat 8 hotel, no less. Hmm…

Anyway, here is that Amex HHonors 50,000-point application you need. It will come after you fill out your name and address and right before you would fill out your payment information. Not too much hassle, really.

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