Using the Southwest Companion Pass for Caribbean Travel

Everyone already knows that the Caribbean is one of my favorite destinations. And for those living close or on the East coast, we can take advantage of the British Airways distance based award chart. With a big network of non-stop flights on American Airlines and US Airways, we can fly to the Caribbean pretty cheaply as shown in my post:

How to Visit the Caribbean from 4,500 British Airways Avios Each Way!

The best city to be in for cheap miles trip to the Caribbean is Miami as that’s the hub with a ton of flights to various islands under 650 miles that will only cost 4,500 British Airways miles each way. Those on the West Coast are, unfortunately, not so lucky. If they can find award availability to the Caribbean, they usually end up having to pay the usual 17,500 miles each way that most miles programs such as United Airlines, American Airlines and US Airways charge. For two people, it would cost 70,000 miles total plus departure taxes for both tickets. Even then it’s tough. Award availability from the West Coast to the Caribbean is tough to find, even for those that have the miles. So, in this post, we’ll explore how those in the Midwest and on the West Coast can take advantage of some good Caribbean deals.

Using Southwest Rapid Rewards and Companion Pass

Once you’re in Miami, you’re pretty much golden. It’s the getting there from the West Coast that’s the tough part when award availability to Miami is sparse. And that’s where Southwest Rapid Rewards points come in. Southwest points are a lot easier to use for award flights on Southwest than usual miles as you can just redeem them for any public Wanna Get Away fares at 1.43 cents per point. Moreover, those that have the Southwest Companion Pass (which I explained how to get in this post) can bring along a previously designated companion on the flight and only have to pay taxes.

Southwest Airlines itself flies to or plans to fly to a limited number of international cities, some of which are in the Caribbean. You can check out this post by Giddy for Points with some nifty maps of when service to these destinations will be launched from various cities.

• Aruba
• Montego Bay, Jamaica
• Nassau, Bahamas
• Cabo San Lucas
• Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
• Cancun
• San Juan, Puerto Rico (not international, but in the Caribbean)

To these cities, you can simply book a ticket on Southwest for one companion and bring the other along getting a two for one deal with the Companion Pass. Not a lot of destinations, but still a few good ones. However, does that mean that outside the above destinations, Southwest Rapid Rewards points or Southwest miles are useless for travel to the Caribbean? Of course not.

Getting to Fort Lauderdale and to Miami

If you can just use Southwest points and get to Miami, then you’re almost in the Caribbean already. Once there, you can book your onward trip to the islands for as little as 4,500 British Airways miles each way. Fortunately, Southwest airlines flies between Fort Lauderdale and much of the rest of the country.

Train to Miami

The other helpful thing is that it’s really not very difficult to get from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. There’s a Tri-Rail that goes from Fort Lauderdale Aiport Station to Miami Airport Station and the trip takes about 40 minutes on the train with tickets costing $5. Of course, you’d need at least a few hours (or perhaps a day cushion in case of a misconnect) to make the connection, but if you can piece it all together, you may have just found yourself a great deal.

You can find a full Tri-Rail schedule between stations here. On weekdays, it runs every 30 minutes or every hour, depending on time.

A Working Example: Costs of a Trip

Let’s take as an example someone who lives in San Francisco and wants to visit Grand Cayman, my favorite Caribbean island.

• A round-trip flight on Southwest Airlines, with my estimate, will usually cost about $400-500 round-trip or 28,000-35,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points. For those that have the Southwest Companion Pass, those Southwest Rapid Rewards points would cover two people.
• The train from Fort Lauderdale Airport to Miami Airport will cost $5 and the travel time will take about an hour.
• Low level award seats on American Airlines will cost 4,500 British Airways Avios each way plus departure taxes from the Caribbean. These can range from $40 to $90 per person depending on the island. Going back and forth for both people would cost 18,000 British Airways Executive Club Avios.

In terms of total cost, the trip would cost about 28,000-35,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points plus 18,000 British Airways miles and Caribbean island departure taxes. That’s around 50,000 miles total plus taxes, which is far better than the 70,000 miles we’d usually use from the West Coast or the Midwest. The other advantage here is that award availability is far easier to find when Southwest points are involved. Instead of searching for award space all the way from San Francisco, you’d just have to find a decently priced flight to Fort Lauderdale.

So those with the Companion Pass… a lot more destinations are open to you than just where Southwest flies.

Summary

• The Southwest Companion Pass can be extremely useful for travel to the Caribbean for those not well served by American Airlines’ or US Airways’ Caribbean flights.
• One option is to simply use the Companion Pass to travel to one of Southwest’s expanding destinations.
• Another option is to use the Companion Pass to travel to Fort Lauderdale, take the train to Miami and book a flight to the Caribbean using British Airways miles. For a tutorial on how, read this post: How to Visit the Caribbean from 4,500 British Airways Avios Each Way!