May 2026 Newsletter

🚀 Southwest News 🚀

Southwest reported positive Quarter 1 profits. This may mean the assigned seat, higher fare, and paid bag changes are here to stay, but its also positive news because if they are not desperate to improve profits, they may not need to touch the companion pass program. Fingers crossed!

Southwest chedule update:

- - The current schedule is open until Jan 5. On Jun 4th, 2026, the schedule will open for sale through March 10, 2027. (Date is subject to change).

🛍️ Current noteworthy shopping portal finds 🛍️

*As of May 1, offers change often

- Stitch Fix is offering 350 points per signup (Terms and conditions here)

- Earn 150 points for new Lyft customers when you take your first ride (Terms and conditions here).

- Under Armour is now offering 5 bonus points per dollar! (Terms and conditions here).

How does the shopping portal work? Use Southwest shopping to link to all of your favorite stores and make a purchase! You will then be awarded the bonus points listed on the offer directly into your Southwest account. *Note you cannot combine shopping portal offers, so do not click on Rakuten or any other portal if your intent is to earn southwest points.

🏨 Southwest Hotel Spotlight 🏨

Southwesthotels.com

A 7 night stay at this hotel for a trip to Hawaii in August will earn you 45,200 points for ~$394 per night! That is an earn rate of 16.3 points per dollar. Fantastic!

A few notes about hotels:

It is not recommended to bundle hotel and flight with Southwest unless you are getting a much lower price than booking separately. It is much easier to make changes to your flights if they are not bundled.

Southwest uses Booking.com as their booking system, so your hotel will see the booking as a booking.com reservation.

I always confirm my reservation with the hotel to be sure they got it.

Make sure to check your Southwest Account for credit card offers!

Here is how.

1. Visit Southwest.com

2. Log into “My account”

3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page! Make sure to register for any offers you like!

For folks on the FAST TRACK for 2026:

You should have begun your 2026 companion pass journey! If you have not yet started I would consider waiting for next year unless you have at least 3 southwest trips planned after July of this year.

For folks using the HYBRID method for 2026:

You should have hit your signup bonus but this point. If you have not opened a new card yet, you can use our links jgoot.com/cards but this time of the year it may be better to switch to the fast track method or wait until next year.

For those following the slow and steady method:

You should have 60k points already toward companion pass for next year. Start with any hotels you need to book since these have the highest earn rate.

Do you have hotels you need to book? *points will post after checkout.

Check out some shopping portal deals.

Don’t forget about Southwest dining.

- Stephanie