The last tip here is take advantage of the Southwest Companion Pass. It's one of the best hacks out there because you can earn it without having to even fly the airline. Obviously, if you don't fly Southwest, it doesn't do you any good. But you can earn it entirely from credit cards, from credit card welcome bonuses, from shopping portal spend, and stuff like that.

And if you hold a Southwest card, you automatically get 10,000 points towards that status without any spend. So normally, it would take 135,000 Southwest points. With a credit card, it takes 125,000 points. And once you hit Companion Pass, in the year you hit it and the following year, you can nominate a person that you can change, I think, up to three times.

And that person can travel for free with you. You can confirm it at booking. And they just have to pay the taxes and fees on the flight. So we've had this in the past. And it's not quite two for one because obviously, you have to pay the taxes and fees.

Though domestically, those taxes and fees are $5.60. So it's pretty close to two for one.