Southwest/Rapid Rewards

AirTran Credit Card

AirTran Wendy’s Cup Deal is Back

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AIRTRAN AIRWAYS WENDY'S FLY-THRU DRIVE-THRU

Wendy serves a meal to a pilot as AirTran Airways, The Coca-Cola Company and Wendy’s International, Inc., today conducted the world’s first fly-thru drive-thru with the airline’s Boeing 737 aircraft at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. (Credit: (www.sawfnews.com/Lifestyle/3805.aspx))

Back in late 2005, AirTran and Wendy’s fast food chain ran one of the greatest promotions that I have ever taken part in. You simply collected specially marked Wendy’s drink cups, and for each 64 coupons, you received a free roundtrip airfare ticket anywhere AirTran flies. Therefore, after collecting 128 cups, one could earn 2 free flights. The madness of the promotion caused people everywhere to dumpster dive and collect as many free cups as they could. One man’s trash is another man’s ticket to paradise.

As soon as I heard of the promotion, I carefully crafted a plan with my sister and brother-in-law to drive around to each of the Wendy’s locations around us and legitimately purchase cups. Some of the locations looked at us weird when we wanted to purchase hundreds of cups. Some even said they could not sell us just the cups and would have to fill each of them with a beverage. Luckily, we all put on our thinking caps and headed down to the lower income neighborhoods during the evening hours, where workers would be more lackadaisical.

All in, I think we spent maybe $75 each on our 64 cups/flight, resulting in hundreds of dollars in value of free flights. Those credits were later used for a Las Vegas trip and a flight to Florida for a cruise with my soon-to-be wife. Oh, the loveliness of travel and how it connects us all!

So now that I have told you the history of the AirTran/Wendy’s program, you want to know the details of the return of the program. Well actually, the new version of the program is changed a little bit. No longer will you need to cut out cup coupons. Instead, it all comes in the form of a piece of plastic.

AirTran Credit Card

The AirTran credit card, offered by Chase, is currently offering 32 free credits (enough for two free flights) after $2,000 in spend within 3 months. The $69 annual fee is not waived the first year, making this cheaper than buying the Wendy’s cups.

The AirTran offer is important for two reasons.

1) The typical offer for the AirTran credit card is only 16 credits (one flight), making this offer a significant improvement.

2) AirTran is in the process of being merged with Southwest Airlines. While there will significant work done to combine the brands in 2013, Southwest does not plan to be fully integrate with AirTran until 2014. However, this means that eventually, the AirTran products could go away. So it is up to you when will be the perfect time to pull the trigger on getting the AirTran branded cards.

So while the Wendy’s offer is not back in the traditional sense, the credit card is offering the same benefits as the cups. Which would you prefer, dumpster diving or smart credit management?

Southwest is also currently offering 50,000 Rapid Reward points (enough for two free flights, or over $800 in Wanna Get Away fares) after spending $2,000 in 3 months via the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards® Premier Card ($99 annual fee not waived the first year) and the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card ($69 annual fee not waived the first year). Add in a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card ($99 annual fee not waived the first year) or Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Business Card ($69 annual fee not waived the first year). This means you can earn over 200,000 Rapid Reward points just from the Southwest credit cards.

TIP: Want your partner to fly with you for free all year? Then earn a total of 110,000 Rapid Reward points in a calendar year, and earn a free companion pass. The Companion Pass is valid from the date you earn 110,000 Companion Pass qualifying points up to the end of the following calendar year. So if you earned the Companion Pass right now, it would be valid until the end of 2014.

Did you know you can now redeem your credits for flights on both AirTran Airways and Southwest Airlines?

The combined benefit of using both AirTran credits and Southwest points towards travel is huge. When Continental was being combined with United, and we could freely move our miles back and forth, it became a big benefit at times during the merger.

However, there are some important conversion benefits to understand between the different programs.

Southwest Rewards, prior to March 1, 2011, used to issue Rapid Rewards in the form of credits, just like AirTran does currently. After the above date, the new program issued Rapid Rewards in the form of points. So it is possible that you could have both credits and/or points sitting in your account.

Now that Southwest and AirTran are merged, you can combine your accounts to link to each other, allowing easy moving back and forth of credits and points. So how does all of that convert between accounts?

  • 1 Rapid Rewards credit = 1 A+ credit
  • 1,200 Rapid Rewards points = 1 A+ credit
  • 1 Southwest Standard Award (two one-ways) = 16 A+ credits
  • 1 A+ credit converts = 1 Rapid Rewards credit
  • 32 A+ credits or 32 Rapid Rewards credits = roundtrip ticket with either partner

This is where it pays to pay attention to how much tickets cost by purchasing them outright versus using points or credit. With some simple comparisons of using credits versus points, one can convert and actually come out ahead compared to buying the ticket outright.

We have no financial relationship with Chase. These are the best current offers we are aware of, and think they can greatly benefit families looking to stretch their travel dollars.

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1,000 Southwest Rapid Reward Points with Turbo Tax Filing

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Update: The Turbo Tax and Southwest Airlines bonus mile offer from last year proved to be very, very popular, and is once again back for 2013. I love seeing that Southwest and Turbo Tax are on top of their game, because I just checked last years link for this offer a couple days ago, and here it is already January 3, and they have the 2013 promotion live. Great job!

Everyone needs to pay their taxes anyway, so why not earn some free miles in the process!? I have been using TurboTax.com online for the past 4 to 5 years, and have loved it. Even when I sold off some stocks a couple of years ago, I was able to easily upgrade to a more advanced version of the software, all online, without having to install any secondary party software program. Then last year, after our first year of being landlords, the Turbo Tax software made doing our taxes a breeze. My favorite part of everything being online is I can access the information from any computer in the world. If I had any downtime at work, I could log in and double check my return. When I am at home, I can perform the data entry. Online access from anywhere is one of the undervalued or discussed advantage of the internet. I also grew up in an era trusting the system and have no problems using respectable companies and websites to do business with online; others still have reservations about entering in their credit card information online.

Typically, I would go through a shopping portal to earn cash back with Turbo Tax, which can amount to anywhere from 8-15% currently. Shop Discover, as usual, looks to be the biggest cash back option as of this posting. However, there are some other options for earning rewards when filing taxes with TurboTax.

Southwest Airlines sent me an email yesterday to earn 1,000 bonus points in your Rapid Rewards account when using TurboTax, even the Free addition.

Offer Details

File your Federal Tax Return with TurboTax Online and get 1,000 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Points.

To be eligible for this offer, you must (1) click the offer from this e-mail which will direct you to the Rapid Rewards Shopping site, (2) login with your Rapid Rewards account information and click on the TurboTax offer, and (3)and complete your federal taxes with TurboTax Online on or before April 15, 2013. Please allow six to eight weeks from the date of filing your taxes with an approved TurboTax Online 2012 Federal product for your Rapid Rewards account to be credited with 1,000 points. Points will not count toward A-List or A-List Preferred qualification. All Rapid Rewards rules and regulations apply.

¹2012 TurboTax Online Federal Products Qualifying for 1,000 Rapid Rewards Points are TurboTax Online Federal Free, Basic, Deluxe, Premier, and Home & Business. Excludes any other product or offer. Limit one redemption per Rapid Rewards account. ²Maximum Refund Guaranteed: If you get a larger refund or smaller tax due from another tax preparation method, TurboTax will refund the applicable TurboTax federal and/or state purchase price paid. TurboTax Federal Free Edition customers are entitled to payment of $14.99 and a refund of your state purchase price paid. Claims must be submitted within 60 days of your TurboTax filing date and no later than June 15, 2013. E-file, Audit Defense, Professional Review, Refund Transfer, and technical support fees are excluded. This guarantee cannot be combined with the TurboTax Satisfaction (Easy) Guarantee. ³Live tax advice service is free and available yearround by phone or live chat for questions on 2012 U.S. Federal and State tax returns (restrictions apply). Free Edition customers only receive live chat; Business Edition customers only receive phone. Service, experience levels, hours of operation, and availability vary and are subject to change without notice. Tax Attorneys are not providing legal advice and are authorized under IRS Circ 230 to provide tax assistance and tax advice. See TurboTax.com for full details. Fastest Refund Possible. 4Fastest refund available with e-file and direct deposit; refund timeframes will vary. Approved TurboTax Affiliate. TurboTax and TurboTax Online, among others, are registered trademarks and/or service marks of Intuit, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Other parties’ trademarks or service marks are the property of the respective owners.

All other cashback portals are typically based around your spend, and therefore, if you use the Federal Free addition of TurboTax, you more than likely will not get anything back. The Southwest promotion looks like it does award for free filings. Therefore, this may be your best option, but as always, it is up to the user to determine the best cashback or mileage award based on their specific situation.

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We are an affiliate with Turbo Tax, but the Southwest promotion is not commissionable. If you decide to use our links, thank you.


1/4/13- Updated.
4/11/12- Updated.
2/2/12- Originally published.

Save $25 on Flights to Florida via Southwest Airlines Promotion

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Southwest Florida $25 Promo 2012

Last year Southwest Airlines and Visit Florida teamed up to offer a $25 discount on Southwest flights to/from Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Key West, Orlando, Palm Beach, Panama City Beach, Tampa Bay. Well turns out the promotion is available again for 2012.

The official Visit Florida page highlights the promotion, which then directs people to the Share a Little Sunshine Facebook page and app.

After Liking and allowing access for the app, you select your favorite team and follow the process of sending invites to your friends. Unless you have a dummy Facebook account, which many due for these type of promotion, you will need to send the invite to a friend that will give you the code. In other words, I could send an invite to my wife, and she could do likewise for me.

Fortunately, this year there is no waiting around for an email with a promotional code. This time, your friends automatically receive their discount code via the app. After sending the notice to my wife, she instantly received the code, and likewise for me.

The official terms of the Visit Florida promotion state the following:

– The unique discount code (valid for one-time use) is required to be used in the Promo Code box in order to receive $25 discount on the valid travel dates listed below. City pair exclusions apply (see below)
– $25 discount valid for one-time use on a single reservation which can include up to eight people and is only valid if purchase is made on southwest.com or SWABIZ.com.
– Discount is valid only on new reservations and purchase must be made 9/1/12 – 1/5/13 for travel 9/8/12-2/28/13.
– Blackout dates apply on 11/21-11/26, 12/21-12/24, 12/26/12-1/2/13, and 2/15-2/24/13
– $25 discount code is valid for the Wanna Get Away Fares only and is applied before taxes and fees.
– Roundtrip Required.
– Discount is valid for Southwest Airlines flights to/from Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Key West, Orlando, Palm Beach, Panama City Beach, Tampa Bay.
– Discount will apply only on the valid travel dates. If one direction of the trip is outside the valid dates and one is within the valid travel, only the portion of travel falling within sale dates will be discounted.
– To obtain discount on existing reservations meeting all requirements of this discount offer, the reservation must be cancelled and a new reservation booked using the discount code (fare rules apply).
– The discount is only valid with the provided Promotion Code and is not combinable with other Promotion Codes or fares available exclusively through the web tool DING!
– Discount is not valid on reservations made using Rapid Rewards points.
– Discount is not valid on Jackpot or Southwest Vacation package deals
– Changes made to the itinerary after purchase will eliminate qualifications for this promotion

Contest

We are unable to use our discount codes, so we would like to offer them up for two lucky readers. Simply respond to this post with where you would use your discount code. We will randomly select two winners. Entries will be accepted until Wednesday, November 14, 2012 at noon.

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