Airline Credit Cards

On Southwest, get the card now, spend the money, get the 75,000 free points on your account in January. Keep spending and once you hit 125,000 points, your spouse flies free the rest of the year under the companion pass. I haven't paid for my wife's flight in over 5 years.

I can't tell where you live, but I greatly prefer non-binding travel cards like Chase Ultimate rewards, which can be transferred to different airlines. They all offer similar sorts of sign up bonuses. And don't underestimate the ability to get Priority Access which is a lounge program not tied to a specific airline. You might transit through a place that doesn't have a United lounge, but does have an Air France lounge, which you wouldn't be able to get into with a United Club card, for instance.

Let's take a Star Alliance (*A) example (all airlines mentioned are in *A, like United). If I have United points, I can book a business class ticket for one adult IAH-FRA-CDG through United (but on Lufthansa aircraft) for 155k points. However, if I book the *exact same flights* through Lufthansa's Miles and More, they may only need 110k points.

Versatility is king. If you're talking about mostly domestic and Caribbean travel, you can use the same basic example of booking on United vs. booking on Copa or Avianca. Hell, you can book through TAP Portugal for a flight from Houston to Colombia that would probably be on United metal or on Copa.

Also consider that airlines devalue their awards charts on a regular basis. You might have been able to get from New Orleans to Nashville for 25k in June 2022 most of the day, but in July 2023 most of the rates may be 35k, except for the flight that leaves at 6AM. Points are a by-product, and not of much value. If you're going to pay more than $50 of interest to get 100k points, it's not worth it. It's least worth it on an airline/hotel specific card, more useful on an airline agnostic card.

You're getting these offers because of where you live; particularly United knows you're likely located near a hub. If you took your same consumer profile and moved to Valdosta, Georgia, it would be Delta offering you instead of United.