My first experience flying with Southwest was a good one, mainly because our flights from BWI to Denver were FREE! A while back, I started becoming proactive in the travel rewards programs arena to make all of my travel dreams come true. One of the things I did was apply for a Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card which scored me 50,000 points (enough for more than 2 roundtrip flights). Note: This credit card is currently only offering a 25,000 point sign-up bonus, so it might be best to wait for the bonus point offer to go up again. In addition to receiving the bonus points, I also received several Southwest vouchers for free alcoholic beverages on future Southwest flights. Score!

Since Southwest doesn’t reserve seat assignments, I checked us in online 24 hours prior to our flight. The day of our flight, we were running a bit behind schedule, which of course, gave me anxiety about our luggage not making it onto the plane in time and then not arriving at our destination. (I was meeting several members of Rob’s family for the very first time and it would have been hard to make a good impression without clean clothes!) To ease my anxiety, Rob dropped me and our luggage off at the terminal so that I could get our bags checked while he parked the car in the long-term parking lot. On any other airline, I would have had to pay to check a bag on a domestic flight. But Southwest gives travelers the option to check TWO bags for FREE, which meant I was able to check my luggage and Rob’s luggage without incurring any additional costs while he was parking the car. Thank you Southwest.

The flight itself was also good. The fact that I had two FREE Bloody Mary’s during the flight, made it even better! Not only were they free, but they were also really good. In addition to the free booze, Southwest also provided more snacks than any other airline would have done for such a short flight. I will definitely fly Southwest again and luckily for us, Southwest is adding a DCA to Denver route starting at the end of this month!

We had a great time in Colorado and I hope to have the details of our trip posted over the weekend. I still haven’t downloaded the pictures from my camera, but I am hoping that we got some good ones. Stay tuned…

P.S. If you are interested in maximizing points in travel rewards programs, check out The Points Guy.