BONUS: Fly Smarter: Unlocking the Power of $100ish Airline Cards

Our bonus episode this week talks all about 5 major air carrier credit cards that give you a lot of bang for your buck! I had to break it up because I’m long-winded (oboe joke).

United Explorer Card

I love love love using this card for all of my Naples travel.

First Year Annual Fee Waived. Right off the bat, a great thing about this card is that the annual fee doesn’t kick in until year 2, so you get all the fantastic benefits for free the first year!

This card is only $95 a year. And while that may seem steep if you’ve never had a credit card annual fee, this is relatively cheap considering all the card offers (see below).

You can book Basic Economy and get most of the Economy ticket perks. Yes, you have to sit in a stranger-sandwich on flights but, honestly? I don’t mind.

You get all the bags you could ever want for free. Okay, bit of an exaggeration but you get one free checked bag, one free carry-on, and one free personal item when you book with this card.

If you paid for a checked bag on ONE TRIP without this card it would cost $25 less than the card’s annual fee. United charges $35 one-way if you pre-pay your checked bag, or $40 at the airport before you fly. That means bags for a round-trip flight will cost you between $70-80!!!! If you pay $95 for this card, you get a checked bag for free all the time. Kinda a no-brainer, amirite?

You get a free carry-on in Basic Economy instead of having to pay for it. As I said about the free bags, it’s worth noting that the carry-on would typically be $35 (or $65 at the gate!!!).

You board way earlier than most people. When you book flights with this card, you automatically get bumped to Zone 2 for boarding. That means it’s you and a bunch of rich people (and babies?) on the plane first. You’ll have plenty of room to stow your instrument case above you! If you booked Basic Economy without this card, you’d be in the LAST zone and there would be no room for that instrument above you – trust me.

The costs you save by booking Basic Economy tickets more than make up for the annual fee. On average, one-way Basic Economy tickets cost about $49 less than Economy tickets. So if you take even one round-trip flight on Basic Economy with this card, the cost of the annual fee can be negated by the savings.
A true win-win! 😀

You get 25% off in-flight purchases. This includes WiFi, food and drink.

You get two United Club passes annually (a $100 value!). Remember how we talked about the benefits of lounges in our airline episode? Well you can eat and drink to your heart’s content for $0 thanks to these passes that would normally be $50 a piece! Considering one meal at a sit-down airport restaurant can cost $50, this is a great deal!

You have a better shot at earning a free flight’s worth of points every year. I rack up over 30,000 miles annually by using this card for my travel. The card offers increased category bonuses on United spend to help you get there faster. 30,000 miles is a free round-trip flight to and from basically anywhere in the US, and some overseas destinations too! This is how putting all your airline spend in one program can pay off rather than spreading your points across too many airlines.

Don’t forget the sign-up bonus! This card typically offers a 60,000 mile sign-up bonus if you spend $3,000 in 3 months. That means multiple trips if you know how to strategize (by listening to this podcast)!

Earning Structure:
– 7 miles per dollar on United flights
– 2 miles per dollar on all other United purchases
– 4 miles per dollar on hotel stays booked through United Hotels
– 2 miles per dollar on all other hotel stays
– 2 miles per dollar on dining
– 1 mile per dollar on all other purchases

If you want to help me be less poor, consider using my referral link to apply for the card. We always appreciate your support of this podcast! 😀

Choose any United MileagePlus® credit card that is right for you. I can be rewarded too if you apply here and are approved for the card. Learn more.
https://www.referyourchasecard.com/215n/TYIRYCR0KU

SUMMARY: This card is great for anyone traveling on United even a few times a year because of the very long list of benefits it gets us musicians. I get so much value out of this card that I feel like I’m getting away with something. Scandalous.

Southwest Plus Card

The nice thing about Southwest is that you don’t need a credit card to fly two checked bags, a carry-on and a personal item for free. So if that’s your main carrier, the cards I’m discussing are basically point accrual and benefits cards.

This card is only $69 a year, our lowest on the list. If you want to ease your way into annual-fee cards, this is a great option.

You automatically earn 3000 points every year on your cardmember anniversary to use on future flights. Considering the lowest redemptions are 4,600 points, this gets you really close!

You get 25% back on inflight purchases. It’s similar to the United card, where you’ll get a few dollars off food/drink and internet.

You automatically get an annual 10,000-point boost of Companion Pass qualifying points. Those are not points you can book flights with, it’s only for meeting the companion pass threshold. Southwest’s companion pass program is one of the most highly valued flight deals in travel today. If you complete the requirements, you can fly a companion for free (plus like $6 in taxes/fees) the entire year. In fact, if you strategize correctly you can get this benefit for over TWO YEARS.

You get 2 EarlyBird Check-Ins per year. EarlyBird Check-In automatically checks you in before the typical 24-hour check-in. It doesn’t guarantee an A boarding position, akin to Group 1 on other airlines, but you will be ahead of anyone who has to check-in at the 24-hour mark, giving you an earlier boarding position, a better opportunity to select your seat, and earlier access to overhead bin storage for your carryon.

Don’t forget the sign-up bonus! That’s it! Just don’t forget it!

Earning Structure:
– 2 points per dollar on Southwest purchases
– 2 points per dollar on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
– 2 points per dollar on internet, cable, and phone services
– 2 points per dollar on select streaming
– 2 points per dollar on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners
– 1 point per dollar on everything else

SUMMARY: This card would be great for someone who mainly travels on Southwest metal, and is interested in a low annual fee for racking up points for free future flights.

Southwest Premier Card

This card is $99 a year. So far our most expensive by $4, lol, and a $30 increase from the Plus card.

You earn 6000 points every year on your cardmember anniversary. That’s a 100% increase on the bonus points you earn by doing nothing compared to the Plus (except pay for the card).

You earn 1,500 tier qualifying points towards A-List status for every $5,000 spent annually. The benefits of being an A-List Member are: Priority boarding; Priority Lane and Express Lane access at the check-in counter and airport security checkpoints where available; You earn 25% bonus points on every qualifying flight you buy; Same-day change/standby; a dedicated A-List member phone line. In order to get A-list status, you need to purchase 20 one-way segments or earn 35000 tier qualifying points (AKA you can’t just outright buy the points). These are both doable if you fly a lot, but that bonus 1500 points would sure help get you there faster!

You get 25% back on inflight purchases. It’s similar to the United card and same as the Plus card, where you’ll get a few dollars off food/drink and internet.

You automatically get an annual 10,000-point boost of Companion Pass qualifying points. Same perk as the Plus card. Those are not points you can book flights with, it’s only for meeting the companion pass threshold. Southwest’s companion pass program is one of the most highly valued flight deals in travel today. If you complete the requirements, you can fly a companion for free (plus like $6 in taxes/fees) the entire year. In fact, if you strategize correctly you can get this benefit for over TWO YEARS.

You get 2 EarlyBird Check-Ins per year. Same perk as the Plus card. EarlyBird Check-In automatically checks you in before the typical 24-hour check-in. It doesn’t guarantee an A boarding position, akin to Group 1 on other airlines, but you will be ahead of anyone who has to check-in at the 24-hour mark, giving you an earlier boarding position, a better opportunity to select your seat, and earlier access to overhead bin storage for your carryon.

No foreign transaction fees. If you only have this card, then this is useful. There are a lot of cards that offer this now, so make sure you use those cards when abroad.

You earn one extra point per dollar on Southwest purchases compared to the Plus. Earning 3 points instead of 2 makes your dollar go that much further! The rest earns the same 2X as the Plus.

Earning Structure:
– 3 points per dollar on Southwest purchases
– 2 points per dollar on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
– 2 points per dollar on internet, cable, and phone services
– 2 points per dollar on select streaming
– 2 points per dollar on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners
– 1 point per dollar on everything else

SUMMARY: For just $30 more than the Plus card, you earn double the amount of points on your cardmember anniversary, one extra point per dollar on SW purchases, plus the ability to get to A-list status faster. I’m not sure it’s 100% worth it to get this card unless you’re looking to do just that. You’ll have to weigh your options, but I think if you’re looking for the other perks, stick with the Plus card.

Southwest Priority Card

Alright I’m breaking my rule in the title of this episode about cards under $100 but bear with me, you’ll see why.

This card is $149 a year, our most expensive card before you factor in ~THiS oNe TrIcK!~

This card comes with a $75 annual credit, effectively bringing this card down to $74 a year! If you fly as much as we do, or even half as much as we do, or even a few times a year, or even (just kidding), you’re gonna use that $75 credit. Obviously you have to use it with Southwest but if you’re looking into this card, chances are that you fly Southwest more than once a year! I will argue that this card is undoubtedly better than the card below it, the Premier, for the following reasons:

Once you factor in using that credit, this card costs less than the Premier and barely more than the Plus. Like, $5 more.

You earn 7500 points every year on the card anniversary. That’s 4500 more than the $69 card for $5 more or 1500 more than the $100 card (again, that’s basically the most expensive card if you subtract your flight credit from this card). 7500 points is enough to get you to a fair number of places, so it’s fair to say that is at least guaranteeing you one free one-way flight every year.

You get 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available instead of 2 early bird check-ins. This means you get upgraded to A1-15, the first people on the plane other than really young and really old people. Not only do you get 2 more of these than the $69 card’s 2 early bird check-ins, you’re guaranteed to be one of the first people on the plane. That kind of security can put you at ease if you have a bulky case for that overhead compartment.

You get all the other benefits of the Premier card (obviously minus the early birds, tweet tweet)

SUMMARY: Southwest’s top tier Priority credit card is the best choice for us musicians because of the $75 credit, all the bonus points, early boardings, etc. If you really can’t stomach that $149 annual fee, I recommend getting the $69 Plus card because it’s getting you 2 points per dollar on SW flights, which is better than no card at all, with some extra benefits and ways to earn miles faster, all for the lowest annual fee in this episode. It’s just a nice way to get more bang for your buck until you decide whether you’re going to stick to SW as your main airline. Then you can think about upgrading.

Helpful Links

https://www.southwest.com/customer-experience-enhancements/