What people were doing before was signing up for both the personal and business cards when they have a 50,000 or 60,000 point bonus each, which pretty much gets you to the 110,000 points needed.

With a 40k bonus, you still need to come up with 30k points to get the companion pass. Your family on a flight doesn't get you any closer to the companion pass, only your flights (and credit card bonuses). So 3 flights isn't going to get you there.