Pros: Not locked into one airline (choose from 25 airlines for the international ticket), you can ge

Powered by Kinja Follow Lifehacker Followed Related blogs Hackerspace After Hours Two Cents Workshop Vitals Skillet Shop Talk Blogs you may like Deadspin Gawker discount tickets sea world san antonio Gizmodo io9 Jalopnik Jezebel Kotaku Lifehacker Sploid Username Notifications Discover more Powered by Kinja Follow discount tickets sea world san antonio Lifehacker Followed Related blogs Hackerspace After Hours Two Cents Workshop Vitals Skillet Shop Talk Blogs you may like Deadspin Gawker Gizmodo io9 Jalopnik Jezebel Kotaku Lifehacker Sploid Trending on Kinja 1. Vegas Mother Hunted Road Rage Driver Before Fatal Shooting on Gawker Newsfeed 2. Second Coming: The First HTTP Update in 16 Years, HTTP/2, Is Finished on Gizmodo 3. Everything You Never Knew About The Making of Conan The Barbarian on io9 Written by Melanie Pinola discount tickets sea world san antonio How We Work, 2015: Melanie Pinola s Gear and Productivity Tricks Benchmark Yourself discount tickets sea world san antonio as a Programmer with The Simple Programmer Test Three Small Things You Can Do for Your Partner to Make Love Last Follow Followed In 5 seconds, click here to continue reading... The Credit Cards That Give You Free (or Cheap) Companion Plane Tickets 5 Melanie Pinola Profile Follow Unfollow Melanie Pinola Filed to: travel air travel credit cards free 9/25/14 10:00am 9/25/14 10:00am Edit Delete Invite Invite manually Promote X Dismiss X Undismiss Block for Lifehacker Hide Share to Kinja Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest Share to Twitter Go to permalink
You're probably already familiar with typical credit card rewards , cash back or miles for travel or other purchases. One benefit not so popular (but possibly very valuable): discount tickets sea world san antonio free or deeply discounted airline tickets for the people you travel with. This perk could save you hundreds of dollars every year.
With flight prices on the rise these days and frequent flier miles getting harder to earn, many people are ditching the airline loyalty programs and airline-affiliated credit cards. In some cases, though, travel rewards credit cards can net you a big benefit: two-for-one airline tickets.
The free airline companion ticket you get from these cards can come in handy if you and your significant other or friend take yearly trips, for example, to visit family and friends. Depending on the card's policies, the free ticket could also be used for last-minute, emergency travel needs. With airfare costing hundreds discount tickets sea world san antonio of dollars (depending on when and where you're flying), the companion tickets might well be worth the hoops you have to jump through to get them. And there are quite a few hoops:
There are only a few cards that offer this anymore. US Airways Premier World MasterCard, which allows up to 2 guests to travel with you on any US Airways flight for just $99 each (plus taxes and fees) every year, is being discontinued discount tickets sea world san antonio in 2015 when US Airways merges with American Airlines. The companion ticket benefit will no longer be available on the rebranded card. Delta similarly discount tickets sea world san antonio axed its free companion ticket benefit on its Gold SkyMiles Amex card last year, as did Citibank with the Citi Prestige. There are still a few cards that offer companion tickets, though (see the next section).
Most of these credit cards charge annual fees and/or taxes and fuel surcharges. The credit cards' annual fees will eat into the savings you get from the free companion ticket(s), so you'll have to calculate whether it's really worth it. You'll also have to pay taxes on the companion ticket, which usually range from $28.20 to $69.20 within the US—but could be very high for international travel.
Lots of restrictions apply. Again depending on the card, you might have to book within a certain time period, the companion tickets would have to be assigned to a specific person, blackout dates might apply, and/or you'd have to book your trip through a specific agency. discount tickets sea world san antonio Reading the fine print is especially important if you're going to apply for a credit card for this benefit.
This card was among Lifehacker readers' favorite travel rewards cards . If you travel Southwest often , it's definitely worth a look because of the 2 points per dollar rewards on Southwest travel and 6,000 annual points bonus. Southwest's companion ticket works a little differently than the others: Instead of giving discount tickets sea world san antonio you a free ticket each year, you can earn unlimited free travel for a companion discount tickets sea world san antonio (even if you get your own ticket via award points) when you reach 110,000 points or fly 100 one-way flights. That free companion travel counts for the rest of the year in which you meet the points requirement plus one year—so if you qualify for the free companion travel in January, that's almost two years of free companion discount tickets sea world san antonio flights. Sign up bonuses (usually discount tickets sea world san antonio 50,000 Rapid Rewards per credit card) make it easier to earn that free companion pass the first year.
Pros: Anniversary bonus, unlimited flights for one companion, ability to name a different person for the companion up to three times, earn 2 points per $1 on Southwest partners' hotel and car rental, card has no foreign transaction fees
The Delta SkyMiles Platinum card is the one I've been eyeing because in addition to the free yearly companion ticket, the card also gets you priority boarding, a free checked bag, discounted lounge access ($29 per person; usually $50 for a day pass), and in-flight purchases discounts. These benefits combined might be worth the $195 annual fee if Delta flies the routes you'd want to travel.
Every year on your credit card renewal date, Delta will issue a companion certificate for a free round-trip domestic flight. There are no blackout dates, but the free ticket has to be used for flights within the 48 contiguous United States and your companion has to fly the same round-trip flight as you. The free companion ticket, according to reports around the web, expires in a little over a year from when they're issued. As with the other cards, you'll also have to pay taxes on the companion ticket.
Cons: Miles earnings are flimsy (1 mile per dollar purchase); discount tickets sea world san antonio most fares require advance purchase of 14 days, a 3-night minumum stay, and 30-day discount tickets sea world san antonio maximum stay; seats are only available on L, U, and T classes (discounted discount tickets sea world san antonio coach); Delta is also notorious for having lower award seats availability
Even though this card doesn't give you free companion tickets, but rather a $99 coach companion fare (about $118 with taxes and fees), it may well be worth signing up for if you travel in the areas Alaska Airlines covers—the west coast and even Hawaii. You'll get the pass when you open the account and then each year on your card renewal date.
Instead of a free or set-price companion ticket, these credit cards give you a yearly discount of $150 off a companion's round-trip ticket when traveling with you on the same itinerary. It might not be as attractive as a free ticket, but with a $49 annual fee (for the Signature card) and benefits discount tickets sea world san antonio like free bag checks for you and your plus-one, it's still worth considering if you fly on Virgin America, which happens to be one of the most comfortable airlines for flying in coach .
Pros: Get the companion discount after you get the card and every year after; cards come with flight benefits (checked bags, savings on in-flight purchases); Premium card offers 15,000 points each year and no change or cancel fees
British Airways' Travel Together Ticket has a steep spending requirement: You need to spend $30,000 every year on the card to earn the voucher. Also, your flight has to be a reward flight (using Avios rewards points) for the companion to come with you. And, to cap it all off, taxes, fees, and carrier charges are expensive. From the fine print: At time of this publication all reward flights and travel together tickets discount tickets sea world san antonio are subject to taxes, fees, and carrier charges of approximately $682-$1250 per adult in economy or $1,250 in business class based on travel from Seattle discount tickets sea world san antonio to London.
The Platinum Card from American Express has a hefty annual fee, but does come with a host of travel benefits: complimentary lounge access (worth around $500 a year), $200 airline fee credits, Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status, unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi, and more. However, the free companion ticket is good only for international travel on business or first class, so this perk is really for those international jetsetters.
Pros: Not locked discount tickets sea world san antonio into one airline (choose from 25 airlines for the international ticket), you can get a refund if you need to change plans, your ticket discount tickets sea world san antonio can be paid with membership rewards points, card has many elite benefits
This card from Barclays gives you 2 miles per $1 on tickets you spend with Miles More airline partners (Lufthansa, Austrian Airlines, Brussels discount tickets sea world san antonio Airlines, SWISS, Star Alliance airlines, and other partners) and 1 mile per dollar for everything else. The companion ticket is good for economy international flights, but, as with the British Airways and American Express Platinum cards, fuel surcharges and taxes would likely negate the free companion ticket benefit.
Cons: Companion ticket is only available for economy class tickets between US and Europe, the Middle East, Africa, discount tickets sea world san antonio and the Far East, and must be booked in H class or higher on Lufthansa-operated discount tickets sea world san antonio flights—so the first ticket might be more expensive than you'd usually go for. Again, high fuel charges and taxes may mean you won't really save any money using the companion ticket
It's hard to say for sure whether credit cards that offer companion airline tickets are worth it, because every traveler's situation discount tickets sea world san antonio is different and these cards also vary in their benefits. It also looks like these companion tickets are going the way of the free peanuts and meals on flights. However, in certain situations they could be a big boost for your travel budget.
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