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Companion Pass
2021 became our bonus year of the Southwest Companion Pass, when it was extended it to June 2021 and then again until December 31, 2021. The only companion pass to ever get 3 years! In the middle of moving and exploring our new home, we didn’t take as many flights as I would have liked when we earned the pass in 2019. But with pandemic changes and the extra year I think we shook out better than I even imagined. We took 3.5 round trip flights in 2021. We earned only an additional 8,529 points from annual rewards bonuses, credit card spending and shopping portals. And we never ran out of points! (Actually I still have 60K points from previous years).
One unfortunate thing that came out of 2021 was the devaluation of Southwest Points by ~6%. I was previously valuing them at 1.7 cents per point and that had since dropped to about 1.4 cents per point.
The only SW card I had remaining in 2021 was the personal Priority credit card. I was offered a discount to stay on in 2021 and it turned out to be a good decision to keep it, especially because I managed to snag a couple referrals for 2022.
- $
149$79 annual fee- $75 Travel Credit
- 4 Free Upgraded Boardings ($70)
- March 22 $40
- August 26 $30
- Anniversary Bonuses ($105)
- Priority Card 7,500 points
- $79-75-70-105 = Earned $171 worth of points and perks
Points Spent: 49,177
Cash Spent: $89.60-$75 Travel Credit = $14.60
Saved: $1,500
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Pay Yourself Back remained the highlight of the CSR again in 2021 and we were able to pull a lot more value from our Priority Pass. But after adding several other cards to our wallets this year, we’re anticipating retiring this one as our daily spender and downgrading it to a Freedom card.
Because many of our expenses this year were related to moving 700 miles away, I didn’t pull points out for trips specifically and took them as “cash back” to erase purchases from Home Depot, Lowes, dining out and the little travel we did.
In 2020 the increased annual fee was supposed to start, but in light of the pandemic they gave a credit to eliminate the increase for those that had already been charged. They continued this into 2021. After adjusting for the $300 travel credit, the annual fee was again $150. Lounges were back open in 2021 and we were introduced Minute Suites via Priority Pass, a literal breathe of fresh air in the covid age. Your own private room for an hour with a guaranteed seat, plugs, TV, internet and no masks, which typically runs $48 an hour.
| Program | Savings |
| Door Dash Credit | $ 60 |
| Lyft Pink | $ 9 |
| 1.5X Bonus Transferred Pts | $ 289 |
| Lounges | $ 144 |
| $ 502 |
We singularly redeemed points via Pay Yourself Back this year. I have a stash of UR points reserved in our Chase account to transfer to Hyatt if need be, but we also got a Hyatt credit card and have a weeks worth of points already built up.
| Redemption | Points | Cash Value |
| Pay Yourself Back | 184,198 | $ 2,763 |
Chase Shappire Preferred
The Reserves little brother, the preferred has a much lower fee but often a very hefty sign up bonus. I thought I was getting a steal with 80,000 points + $50 in groceries. Little did I know the best offer ever was coming at 100,000 points. Still, I had to pay for our moving pods and new carpet and thought an extra $1,200 “off” sounded like a good idea. All points from this card got transferred to the CSR for the 1.5x boost.
Annual Fee: $95
Perks: Not much really
World of Hyatt
Our #1 pick for hotels and our favorite transfer partner for Chase UR points we decided to utilize our purchase of new flooring to get us 5 free nights.
Annual Fee: $95
Perks: Free anniversary night category 1-4
| Redemption | Points | Cash Value |
| Hyatt Place Greenville | 5,000 | $ 100 |
| Hyatt Place Greensboro | 5,000 | $ 200 |
| Hyatt Place SLC/Lehi | 5,000 | $ 175 |
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
If you’re going to spend large amounts of money, might as well get another card! This one came with an up to 50,000 point free night certificate and 125,000 points (worth ~$875).
Annual Fee: $95
Perks: Free anniversary night up to 35,000 points
CapitalOne Venture X
Our new #1 keeper card. We are huge fans of CapitalOne, their cafes and now their premium credit card. What makes this one special? You get 2X on everything you buy to start. No worrying about categories or the things most of us spend on that doesn’t fall into any category (hello car and home insurance!). And if you book flights (5X) or hotels (10X) in the CapitalOne Travel portal you get even more. I have loved the option of booking in the CapitalOne Travel portal. It runs off of Hopper so the prices are always competitive. And even if you see a better price on a hotel within 24 hours they’ll credit you the difference (I’ve tried it and it was super easy!). So I pay cash in the portal, get the 5X/10X points and then erase the purchase. In the Chase portal things are always marked up and I’ve always felt guilty using it. I still evaluate what will get us the best bang for our buck on Chase, but eventually we cap out on how many Hyatt points we need at a time. Here’s the breakdown of the sign up offer we got right when the card was announced.
One time sign up bonus: 75,000 points when you spend $4,000 in 3 months (worth $750) + $200 Airbnb credit
$395 annual fee
- $300 Travel Credit
- 10,000 point Anniversary Bonus ($100)
Without any other benefits you’re already coming out ahead! But don’t worry, there are a lot of benefits that allowed us to replace our CSR.
- Lounge access for you + 2 guests and Authorized Card Users get their own membership
- Priority Pass Membership
- Capital One Lounges (DAL currently, DEN & IAD coming soon)
- Plaza Premium Lounges
- FREE Authorized Users
- $100 towards TSA Pre-check every 4 years
- Cell Phone insurance up to $800
- Hertz Presidents Circle Status
- Visa Infinite Perks Including
- Trip Cancellation / Trip Interruption Reimbursement
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
- Extended Warranty Protection (1 year)
- Lost Luggage Reimbursement
- Visa Infinite Luxury Hotel Collection
- Car Rental Status
- Avis Preferred Plus
- National Emerald Club® Executive
Other Cards
- Chase Freedom Unlimited is still open since it has a $0 annual fee, 1.5x on everything and can combine with other chase cards to transfer to our Hyatt account.
Grand Totals
Annual Fees: $1,209
Value redeemed: $5,540
