My family hoarded credit card points during the pandemic, and earned enough to take a big trip when we were ready to travel again
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Stephen M. Keller/Southwest Airlines
- Over the pandemic, my family and I continued to earn tens of thousands of Southwest points.
- Even though we weren't traveling, we used Southwest credit cards for our everyday purchases.
- We accumulated enough points to book six award flights for a family trip to Charleston.
- Read Insider's guide to the best rewards credit cards.
Normally each year we fly Southwest airlines to someplace warmer than Minnesota in March with my husband's side of the family. Luckily because of the timing, 2020 was no exception. Were still able to fit in our trip to Hawaii in early March, hearing about the pandemic a few days before we were heading home. We made it home with no snafus, but it was still stressful flying home with so many unknowns.
Once we returned home the pandemic started to become more real, and we weren't sure when we would return to travel again with everything going on. Like everyone else we were grounded in our home state, saving money we normally would have spent traveling. But that's not the only thing we saved. After not utilizing our Southwest credit card reward points for nearly a year we were ready to start thinking about redeeming points and traveling again in early 2021.
How we returned to travel using Southwest points
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Before the pandemic, my father-in-law traveled both domestically and internationally on a regular basis for work, flying Southwest airlines whenever he could. Because of the number of points he would rack up booking and using his Southwest credit card for travel, we typically fly Southwest airlines when we travel with my husband's family.
I had never flown Southwest before I met my husband, but now love the lower fares, free checked bags, and no fuss check-in that Southwest offers. While Southwest doesn't allow you to pick your seats beforehand, we've never had an issue being able to sit all together on our annual trips. Southwest also gives you two free bags, which is great for when you're traveling with young children as we do.
Read more: 3 Southwest personal cards are now offering 65,000 points
Because of these reasons, I started utilizing Southwest credit cards a few years ago, especially for business. As a freelance writer, I choose to fly Southwest airlines to conferences and use my Rapid Rewards credit card to book hotel stays for while I'm there. Then while I'm at the conference, I use one of my Southwest credit cards to pay for food, beverages, entertainment, and souvenirs to bring home to the kids.
Between my father-in-law's points and my own, we always have an abundance of Southwest points to use for our yearly family vacation. And with limited travel in 2020, we had even more Southwest points than normal. We decided in early 2021 that we still wanted to take our annual family vacation, but because of the pandemic and some scheduling conflicts, we ended up going in May instead of March.
My husband and I have been to Charleston, South Carolina several times, once before our oldest was born and once with friends, and thus knew it was where we wanted to go. We couldn't wait to share the city we love with my husband's family.
Read more: The pandemic isn't over, but here's why I'm hoarding Chase Ultimate Rewards points again
While none of us were flying Southwest after March of 2020 because of the pandemic, we were still able to rack up points by using our Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card credit cards for our regular purchases. My husband's family primarily uses their Southwest credit card for all everyday spending since they mainly travel with that airline and like to travel as much as possible. My husband and I on the other hand have fewer Southwest credit card points – partly because we also like to fly Delta and thus use our Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card, and partly because we utilize other credit cards that earn transferable points. In the past, we've used credit cards that have given us points to redeem on the Citi ThankYou, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Capital One travel platforms.
Despite my love for other airlines and travel points, I still have two Southwest Cards, one for business and one for personal use. Although in the past I've considered closing one of them, the points you get at each card anniversary, as well as the relatively low annual fees, have made it worth it to hold onto them. I also use my Southwest cards when they are running promotions to earn bonus points in certain categories for a limited time.
Even though Southwest doesn't fly direct from Minneapolis to Charleston, we still knew it was a no-brainer to book through them. Booking through Southwest versus another airline, such as Delta, allows us to only redeem a fraction of the points we would on another airline. When we went to book the Southwest trip we realized we had over 250,000 points combined between my husband's family and our own. We had more than enough to pay for six people to go to Charleston, redeeming roughly 138,000 points total, or 23,000 points per person.
Southwest is one of my personal favorite airlines to travel with because of their low fares which means fewer points to redeem for each flight. This makes it a great option for larger family or group trips, as you can book a lot of flights for a relatively low amount of points.
Katie Oelker is a financial coach, personal finance writer, and podcaster. When not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, practicing yoga, and planning her family's next adventure.
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