Roadmap to 1 MILLION points/miles PLUS TWO Southwest Companion Passes

Does your family want to earn 1 million+ points/miles in a year. PLUS TWO Southwest Companion Passes?
It’s much easier than you think.
So just for fun, I wanted to map out how you can pretty easily attain this…

This plan assumes:

• You are starting at 0/24 – 2/24 with Chase’s 5/24 rule
• That you can get business cards (spoiler alert.. you probably CAN!)
• That you have a Player 2 to work with

This roadmap can be used in sequence, out of sequence, or just partially (EXCEPT the southwest cards, you definitely want to get those Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb to maximize your Companion Pass dates). **If the minimum spend is too high for your budget, remove the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card for now.

January (you don’t need to start in January, consider this month 1 if starting a different time)
Player 1 signs up for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Meets minimum spend of $5K in purchases in 3 months, receives 75K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points.
Player 1 refers player 2 and player 2’s application is accepted. Player 1 gets 15K referral points.
Player 2 meets minimum spend of $5K in purchases in 3 months. Player 2 receives 75K Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points.

Minimum spend required: $5K in 3 months x 2 = $10K total in 3 months
Total annual fee for 2 cards: $190
Total points earned: 165K (including minimum spend)

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March (or month 3)
Player 1 signs up for Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card.

Meets minimum spend of $6K in first 3 months, $750 cash back (75k Chase Ultimate Rewards Points).
Player 2 meets minimum spend and receives $750 cash back (75k Chase Ultimate Rewards Points).

*You will not be able to earn referral points this time due to this new rule: if you refer someone to this card who already has a relationship/card with Chase Business, you won’t be eligible for a referral bonus.

Minimum spend required: $6K in 6 months x 2 = $12K total in 3 months.
Total annual fee for 2 cards: $0
Total points earned: 162K (including minimum spend)

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June (or month 6)
Player 1 signs up for Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card.

Meets minimum spend of $4K in 3 months, receives 75K Capital One miles.
Player 1 refers player 2 for Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. Player 1 gets 10K referral points.
Player 2 meets minimum spend of $4K in 3 months. Player 2 receives 75K Capital One miles.

Minimum spend required: $4K in 3 months x 2 = $8K total
Total annual fee for 2 cards: $790 (but remember, with 2 cards you’ll have $600 credit in the Capital One Travel portal)
Total miles earned: 168K (including minimum spend)

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September (or month 9) –
Player 1 signs up for American Express® Gold Card
Meets minimum spend of $6K in 6 months, receives up to 100K Amex points.
Player 1 refers Player 2 for same card. Player 1 gets up to 20K referral points.
Player 2 meets minimum spend of $6K in 6 months. Player 2 receives up to 100K Amex points.

Minimum spend required: $6K in 6 months x 2 k= $12K total
Total annual fee for 2 cards $650 (rates & fees)
Total points earned: Up to 212K (including minimum spend)

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October/November (the timing is important… starting late year, October/November is recommended)

Player 1 signs up for Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card.

Meets minimum spend.
Player 1 refers player 2 for Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card. Player 1 receives 20K referral points.
Player 2 finishes minimum spend in JANUARY.

December (the timing is important… starting late year, November/December is recommended)

Player 1 signs up for Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card.

Meets minimum spend.
Player 1 refers player 2 for Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card. Player 1 receives 20K referral points.
Player 2 finishes minimum spend.

Using the 1 Million Points

You can TRANSFER the Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points to Hyatt.
If you stay in Hyatts that average 20K points a night… that’s nearly 27 free Hyatt nights!
Some Hyatts are as low as 3500 points per night, so you could stay way more than 27 nights if you throw some of these super cheap ones in.

You can transfer your Capital One miles to Flying Blue (Air France’s loyalty program) for economy roundtrip tickets on Air France to/from Europe. These average 30K – 40K per person (depends on availability & departure airport).

You can use your Southwest points to get your family to Hawaii. Use Southwest’s “low fare calendar” to find flights for 30K – 40K per person round trip to Hawaii. Since you have TWO companion passes, you’ll only be using 60K – 80K for a family of 4 to travel to Hawaii!

**Using points/miles for nearly free travel is only worth it if you pay your balance in full/on time every month and don’t spend more than you normally would just because you are using a credit card. Keep your credit score high by spacing out your applications (as shown above) and keep all cards for a minimum of one year (I keep almost all of mine long term).