Travel Smart, Give Smart: Southwest Companion Pass and Charitable Giving Strategies

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 665 Ratings

🗓️ 2 December 2024

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Learn how to maximize Southwest Companion Pass benefits and how to plan effective charitable giving to make your donations count. How can you get and use the Southwest Companion Pass? What’s the best way to plan charitable giving to make the most impact? Hosts Sean Pyles and Sara Rathner discuss travel savings and effective philanthropy to help you understand how to maximize rewards and make thoughtful donations. Sean begins by talking to travel Nerds Meghan Coyle and Sally French to discuss the Southwest Companion Pass, with tips and tricks on earning it through points and flights, timing it for maximum value, and using it strategically for travel savings. Then, Sean and Sara talk to Grace Nicolette, Vice President at the Center for Effective Philanthropy, about planning and optimizing your charitable giving. They discuss how to align donations with personal goals, avoid common pitfalls like over-focusing on nonprofit overhead costs, and ensure your contributions have a meaningful impact. More information on how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass and which credit cards might help you earn it: https://nerdwallet.com/southwest. In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: Southwest Companion Pass strategy, charitable giving tips, holiday travel tips, maximizing travel rewards, effective philanthropy, Giving Tuesday ideas, Southwest Airlines perks, earning travel points, best travel credit cards, Companion Pass requirements, year-round giving strategies, maximizing donations, family travel savings, tax-deductible donations, nonprofit giving tips, planning holiday flights, Companion Pass benefits, travel rewards strategies, frequent flyer perks, credit card offers, holiday travel deals, donor best practices, saving on flights, using credit card rewards, domestic travel discounts, maximizing nonprofit impact, and credit card signup bonuses. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [email protected]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, this is Ava from Vanta.
0:02.0	In today's digital world, compliance regulations are changing constantly,
0:07.0	and earning customer trust has never mattered more.
0:10.0	Vanta helps companies get compliant fast and stay secure,
0:13.0	with the most advanced AI automation and continuous monitoring out there.
0:17.0	So whether you're a startup going for your first SOC two or ISO-27,001, or a growing
0:22.1	enterprise managing vendor risk, Banta makes it quick, easy, and scalable, and I'm not to say
0:27.2	that because I work here. Get started today at banta.com. Holiday travel season is in full swing,
0:33.7	and as anyone who's done a lot of travel can attest, travel can be a lonely experience.
0:39.6	This episode will give you some tips so you can bring a buddy with you on your travels for free.
0:50.0	Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast. I'm Sean Piles.
0:53.7	We are in the thick of the holiday travel season right now.
0:57.2	But for people who love Southwest Airlines, we are in a special season as well. I invited back our travel nerds Megan Coyle and Sally French to tell us about it.
1:06.2	Later in the episode, we'll talk with the Center for Effective Philanthropy about how you can make your charitable giving go even further. But Megan, Sally, you are at first. Always good to see you, Sean.
1:16.8	Thanks for bringing us back. We're talking about one of my favorite ways to save money on travel.
1:21.7	All right, give us the scoop. This segment is all about all things Southwest Companion Pass.
1:27.3	And this is a perk that is so different from anything other airlines offer.
1:32.0	With this companion pass, if you meet the minimum requirements to actually earn one,
1:36.2	you'll be able to bring a designated companion with you on all your flights for at least a year.
1:41.5	The duration of how long you hold it kind of depends on when you get the pass,
1:45.6	but once you have it, the best part is you will not need to pay full price for your companion's ticket.
1:51.7	All you pay is the taxes and fees. In most cases for domestic flights, that's $5.60.
	...

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