[south by southwest: my passion for points]

i like to travel. i've always liked to travel. there is nothing better than packing up for an adventure and hitting the open road or the friendly skies to see a new place. i consider myself to be a relatively experienced traveler who has seen a few places lots of different ways:

• Canada à la camper shell
• National Parks à la tent
• Road Trip adventures à la camper
• South Korea à la University 
• Ireland à la honeymoon
• London and Paris à la bad decisions
• Disneyland & Disney World wonders à la hotel

you get the idea. my love for travel has been a part of me for a long time. sadly, real life sometimes keeps me from fulfilling my desire to be wrapped up in wanderlust 24/7. there's the full time job, the two pups, the limited income, etc. actually, it's usually the limited income that's the killer.

living in the midwest has a ton of advantages. the cost of living is low, there's plenty of space, and you can't skip a rock without hitting a farmer's market or a benefit chili "supper". however, for all it provides, it does lack in the "cheap and easy travel" field. KCI isn't exactly a bustling hub, and low cost flights can sometimes be hard to catch. luckily, late last year we made a decision that's helped make our get-a-ways a little more affordable.

enter, southwest airlines. long my favorite to fly: easy to deal with, no hidden fees, flexible refund/rebooking policy, and about as friendly as you can find. in all my flights i've been delayed twice, both times a small enough delay that i still landed on time. i love southwest. consider that your warning for my obvious bias. 

another feather in southwest's cap, in my opinion, is their rewards program. southwest rapid rewards is easy to understand, has ZERO blackout days, and allows you to accrue and use points quickly enough that you actually fell...well...rewarded. you can earn points on your RR account by booking and taking flights, hotels, rental cars, and even by shopping online at many stores where you probably already shop (more on that later). 

one of the fastest ways to earn RR points, though, is through using the RR visa card. we started using this card last december and between this card, our regular points earned for travel, and a few bonus earnings, and shopping with points partners, we've already gotten what we feel is a good value out of the card. i'll show how we've used southwest rapid rewards to our benefit below. maybe it will work for your family, too!

honestly, what have the tangible benefits been?

we started really accumulating points in december of 16. it's july of 17. in that time we have used points to:

• fly kelly and i to chicago for 1/2 price. we're going to see the white sox and the royals play in august. i paid for our outbound flight with points and our return flight with dollars. 
• fly kelly and i round trip to denver for $22. long anniversary weekend in denver just mom and dad? i'll take it. during southwest's 72 hour sale we snagged a pay-with-points trip to denver over our anniversary weekend. denver is usually a pretty good deal from kc. the sale made it sweeter. we paid both ways with points leaving me only needing to pay the 9-11 travel fee of $11 per person in cash. 
• fly all three of us to houston for 1/2 price. same deal as chicago. i paid for the return flight with points and the outbound flight with dollars (it was cheaper). saved us some extra dough for our beach vacation.

so is your points balanced drained all the time?

actually, no. when we first opened the visa card, we got a big jump start on points. we tend to spend points moderately and try to not let our balance get below the 20,000 - 25,000 range. it does take some time to gain points, so while i don't want to horde them (what's the point?), i want to make sure i keep a decent balance in case we ever need a last minute flight. i'd rather use them to help me get deep discounts on flights. 

how do you earn points with the visa card?

the visa card is really straight forward. there's often an incentive going to give you 30, 40, or sometimes even 50 thousand points if you spend a certain amount in the first three months. we had a 40k bonus and earned that almost instantly because this became our "put all discretionary spending on this card and pay it off each month" card. you earn 1 rapid reward point for ever dollar spent, and 2x points on southwest or RR partner purchases. by putting everyday spending on this card and paying it off, we have a steady stream of points every month.

how else do you earn points?

we've also earned points by shopping online through the southwest RR portal. there are tons of retailers that partner with RR to earn you more points. for instance, we have a tradition of sending an edible arrangements basket to ryan's teacher every winter before break. it's a perfect example of something we always buy online anyway. this year i ordered through the RR portal, and earned an extra 92 points. plus, since i used my southwest visa on the portal, it was considered a southwest purchase which got me 2x points. in all i earned just shy of 300 points for something i would have bought anyway. the same goes for hotel rooms and rental cars. i had to rent a car for galveston anyway, so i may as well rent through the southwest portal and score 1,000 bonus points. add my 2x points and i'm suddenly banking quite a bit.

i also recently got invited, through my rapid rewards membership, to join an online survey site for market research. i was awarded 500 points just for signing up, and i've earned about 600 more points just for watching netflix and taking a few surveys. basically 1,100 free points. down. 

are there any downsides to the rr program or visa card?

well, typical credit card warning applies. we purchase and pay off monthly. we're in it for the points, not the payment plan a credit card offers. there is a $100 annual fee, so be aware of that. other than that, i've found zero downside. your rapid rewards account stays open and points don't expire as long as there is activity every 24 months. the monthly dump of points counts as activity so you don't even HAVE to travel every two years to stay active and keep earning. 

okay...so where are you going next?!

that's what i'd like to know! we don't plan on flying anywhere for fun besides chicago and denver the rest of 2017. we have about 30k points in the bank right now. i'm thinking we may stockpile until the spring then buy tickets for a summer trip... maybe down south... some place fun... some place happy... maybe even the happiest on Earth.

PS -- A totally shameless plug: if you decide to give the card a go for your family, let us know! We can earn a little point kickback by "referring a friend". 

[he]