February 2026 Newsletter

🚀 Southwest News 🚀

Its *Officially* Southwest SEASON! What does this mean? It is now okay to start applying for new card sign up bonuses if you are on the fast track for a companion pass in 2026! Remember to use our links if you need to! jgoot.com/cards.

(Wait 2 weeks to re-apply if cancelling an old card, and use 30 days between applications if applying for both business and personal cards)

Assigned seats and new boarding groups have begun! A few observations from flying this week:

• If you purchase an extra leg room seat, especially the first 3 rows, do not expect your bags to be in the overhead bin above your head. This was the case when there was open seating too. Since Southwest does not have a First Class, there are more people in the first 3 rows than bin space allows. This downgrades the value of these seats, so decide accordingly if you would like to purchase.

• You can buy priority boarding for a low price (It was $16 on my flight) if you are concerned about your bag being in a bin behind you.

• On the larger, newer planes (the upgraded Max 8s) there are larger bins and bin space was not a concern. On the planes with smaller bins, your bag may end up in a bin behind you if you are boarding group 4+.

• There is no rhyme or reason to the boarding groups. Status, credit card and fare class to do not guarantee you a better boarding group than 5 and there may be people without status that board ahead of you.

All in all I think the outrage on the web has been a bit overblown, but if you are worried about the new process it is easy and affordable to purchase priority boarding.

-Steph

💡 Southwest Schedule update💡

- The current schedule is open until Sept 30. On Feb 12th, 2026, the schedule will open for sale through Oct 31st, 2026. (Date is subject to change).

🛍️ Current noteworthy shopping portal finds 🛍️

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*As of Jan 29, offers change often

- New UberEats customers can earn 100 points on their first order. (Terms and conditions here)

- Earn 4 points per dollar at Supergoop! (skincare) (Terms and conditions here).

- Keds is now offering 4 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 Winter Break Ski Trip in Colorado will earn you 37,000 points for ~$499 per night! That is an earn rate of 10.5 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! Apply for the business card to start with. If you already have a business card and need to close it, start that process now and wait at least 2 weeks before applying for a new one. Start spending as soon as you get your card. *Beware in Feb they sometimes offer a temporary companion pass instead of a larger sign up bonus. If this happens, wait until the promo changes in March to earn your companion pass for ~2 years instead of the 1 year temp one.

For folks using the HYBRID method for 2026:

You can start spending on your new card! If you have not opened a new card yet, you can use our links jgoot.com/cards. Try and do this before they announce a new card bonus for February.

For those following the slow and steady method:

Start planning out how you will earn your 135k points this year. It is good to go into the new year with a plan. 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