After my trip last week to Nashville, I was awarded A-list status from Southwest. What does this mean? I get to go through a special security line at some airports, 25% bonus on points earned, priority standby, a dedicated check-in and phone line, and most importantly….. priority boarding! So basically it’s just like being Gold with American Airlines. Which is great, especially as I don’t feel like I flew Southwest that much this year.

They recently changed their reward programs, so that now you can get status (and free flights) by either flights or points. The thing that’s cool (or at least, that I think is cool) is that you get points not based on length of flight, but how much the flights cost. Even though I only flew Southwest maybe 10-15 times this year, my travel isn’t determined until a week or two prior, so the flights were more expensive and I got more points.

Next step? Companion pass.  DealsWeLike wrote a post that got me all fired up about the Companion Pass, so I will definitely be looking for ways to get that next year. Basically, after 110,000 points you get one, and any flight that you buy one ticket on, you can have your companion fly with you for free. Doesn’t matter if the ticket was paid for or a reward ticket, or if you purchase it on their website or you go through your company travel agent. Chase has a regular 50k point bonus for card sign up, so I will be on the lookout for that in the new year. Another cool thing? You don’t redeem the 100k points for your pass—you still have them to use toward reward tickets. Awesome!

(As a bonus to A-list, Southwest sent me this nice luggage tag with my name and Rapid Rewards number on it. Nice!!)