✈️ Southwest: Big offer, Big rewards

Good morning ☀️ from Booked It On Points: A curated collection to keep you traveling for less money and more know how 👊🏽

Let’s dive in.

✈︎ Flight Deal

Fly Blue Promo: Business class on the cheap 💸 

📉Flying Blue is the loyalty program for AirFrance and KLM airlines. Each month they come out with a new promo where you can snag some really discounted deals. This month they’ve opened up business class to Europe for under 50k 🤯 US→Europe for 48k is an incredible opportunity to experience luxury in the sky!

✈︎ Points + Miles

Southwest card with an elevated offer 🎊

What a month! Another worthy elevated offer I want to share 📣 

Remember, if you’re looking to use points + miles for (nearly) free travel, signing up for elevated welcome offers is the most optimal way to make it happen.

Southwest has announced a really impressive welcome offer (50k points 85k points!) on their personal cards: this guy and this guy! Sorry I can’t give them their proper names, it feels ick, but the banks have stupid rules.

This offer ends on June 26th 🚨 and is certainly something to consider if you’re:

1) A frequent SW flyer
2) Have an upcoming trip in mind

Each of these personal cards have a low annual fee and will be coming in strong with a hefty welcome offer of 85k points.

Real life example→ this low fare calendar below shows one of countless ways you could fly FREE by opening just one of these cards 🎉 

✈︎ Travel News

Online option for passport renewal services

Before heading to the post office, check to see if you’re eligible to renew your passport online. The US Department of Transportation has re-opened the option for online passport renewal after being indefinitely paused in March 2023. While this is a beta testing option for now, there is high hopes that gone are the days of scheduling in person to renew a passport.

Traveling on a budget: Cheapest airlines to look at in 2024

Looking for ways to find cheap flights? One way to start is knowing who offers the cheapest airfare. While this is generally led by budget airlines, don’t be fooled by their initial price listing. It’s important to add up the additional costs such as carry on fees and additional taxes. Other ways to save on flight costs? Keep flexibility in your destination and dates of travel, and don’t forget to set a price alert in Google Flights to keep watch of changes. When an alert comes in for a price drop, jump on the opportunity!

✈︎ The Informed Traveler

6 things I love to pack in my carry on

As a family, we travel light. I think it started when I was younger. I remember arriving in Guatemala for a 6-month stay and the person picking me up didn’t have enough room in their micro trunk for my luggage. I was mortified; an over consuming American who had packed too many pairs of shoes to be considered appropriate for an extended stay in a dusty, low resource town in a third world country. Gross.

These days, I air on being prepared, but with a low luggage footprint. And here lies the philosophy behind these 6- fit in the palm of your hand- carry on items 👏

1) Magnetic portable power bank 4) Portable sound machine
2) Lightweight packable backpack 5) Fast dry travel towel
3) Collapsable silicone water bottle 6) International plug adapter

Everything you need to know about getting through TSA:

TSA really helping us out with their attention to detail on this PSA. But in all seriousness, there isn’t a crystal ball to predict how long TSA will take on any given day. TSA pre check can still be helpful and there are several travel rewards cards that come with a $100 TSA credit like this no annual fee card.

✈︎ Poll Results

For a trip >7 days, do you go carry on? or checked?

Newsletter Results:

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Carry on every time 🙋🏽

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Checked bag for me 🧳 

Instagram Results:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩⬜️ Carry on every time 🙋🏽

🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Checked bag for me 🧳 

It’s a draw! We have conflicting results: Newsletter readers prefer to check while those hanging on Instagram are all about the carry on. Interesting.

To note for those checking bags: 5 of the 6 major US airlines have increased their checked bag fees.

Thanks for being here and have a great Tuesday!

Allie