This week we’re sharing everything you need to know about the Southwest Companion Pass. The coveted Southwest Companion Pass is an elite travel benefit that’s almost too good to be true! 

The companion pass allows another passenger to fly with you for free (plus taxes) an unlimited number of times for the life of the pass. It’s basically a buy one, get one for southwest flights. It can be a huge savings if you fly Southwest a lot within a year.

There is SO much detail in this episode + hacks to get 2 round trip flights for just $22 using the Companion Pass. Give the 15 minute episode a listen to learn it all!

To qualify for a traditional Companion Pass, you’ll need to do one of the following:

• Fly 100 qualifying one-way flights in a calendar year, 
• Earn 135,000 Qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year. These points can be earned in three ways: paid flights booked through Southwest, base points earned from Rapid Rewards partners and points earned on Southwest credit cards.
• If you meet either of those criteria, you’ll earn the Companion Pass for the rest of the year in which you qualified and the following calendar year. So if you earn the Companion Pass in, say, January 2024, it will be valid through the end of December 2025. You’ll need to re-qualify every year to hold on to your status. 

Other non-traditional ways to earn Companion Pass:

• Southwest sometimes has special promos that allow you to earn companion pass for a certain amount of time- usually just a few months if you book a flight in the window that they are offering 
• Southwest also sometimes mails out credit card offers that include companion pass for a limited amount of time. They will not send this offer if you have a credit card with them already.
  • We’ve qualified this way three times and the companion pass has been valid for just shy of a year each time. If we already had flights booked, then we re-shopped the flights and if they were cheaper, we just cancelled our original flights and banked the flight credit for another time.

Southwest Companion Pass – Episode Transcript

0:35

Travel Squad Podcast is back with Just the Tip, today you have me Brittanie as your host and I’ll be sharing with you everything you need to know about the Southwest Companion Pass.

So the coveted SW Companion Pass is an elite trap benefit that’s almost too good to be true.

1:07

Jamal and I have had the opportunity to earn it a few different times, and so we’re going to dive into the different ways you can earn it and what it is.

So if you haven’t heard of it before, the Southwest Companion Pass allows another passenger to fly with you for free.

1:23

All they have to pay is the taxes, which is a $5.60 each way, so $11.20 round trip, and they can fly with you in an unlimited number of times for the life of the past.

So basically it’s like a BOGO for Southwest flights, which can amount to a huge amount of savings if you fly Southwest a lot within the amount of time that you have the companion pass for.

1:50

So I’ve mentioned that we’ve had the past a few different times.

Jamal and I have earned it about three times in the past and we’ve saved thousands of dollars by using it.

So there’s a few different ways on how you can earn the pass, so we’ll get into those.

So to qualify for the traditional companion pass, you’ll either need to fly 100 qualifying flights in the calendar year.

2:11

And this is probably not realistic for most people unless they’re traveling for business a ton.

That’s like one round trip flight per week.

So probably not super attainable.

Another way you can earn the traditional companion pass is to earn 135,000 qualifying rewards points in a calendar year.

2:28

So for the qualifying Rapid Rewards points, you can earn those in three different ways.

You can pay for flights booked through Southwest.

You can earn a base points earn from Rapid Rewards Partners, and you can also earn points on Southwest credit cards.

2:45

So no matter which way you earn it, whether you’re flying the 100 flights or you’re earning the 135,000 points, once you meet the criteria, you’ll earn the companion pass for the rest of the year for which you qualified and the following calendar year.

So let’s say that you earn the pass in January 2024, then it’ll be valid through the end of December 2025.

3:07

So that’s almost two years of hitting BOGO flights, which is amazing, but you’ll need to re qualify every year to hold on to your status.

There are some non traditional ways to earn the companion pass.

Sometimes SW sends out special promo emails that allow you to earn the companion pass for a certain amount of time.

3:27

Usually it’s just a few months if you book a flight in the window that they’re offering.

So just recently they had a deal that if you book either 21 way flights or one round trip flight by a certain time, then you would earn companion pass for two months in future months.

3:45

So for the most recent criteria, I had to book in September of 2024 and there was only like a three day spread of which I could book.

And then I had to take those flights by November of 2024.

And then the companion pass worked between like January and March.

4:04

And so for this one, it’s only a 2 month companion pass, which isn’t the best deal we’ve had before.

But I was like well, what can I book with that?

And we could actually go round trip to Hawaii and Jamal would just be paying the taxes by me earning this pass.

So it would be worth it because I already had a trip planned that I needed to book anyways.

4:25

And so I wasn’t really spending any extra money to earn this.

I was just adjusting my flights and things so that I could earn this and then adding on an extra trip.

SW also sometimes mails out credit card offers that include companion pass for a limited amount of time, but they will not send you this offer if you already have a credit card with them because it comes with a credit card.

4:45

And so if you already have a card, then there’s no incentive for them to send this offer to you.

And by sending out the mailings in the mail that we’ve qualified for the companion pass three different times in the past and then this last time, so I guess technically four Times Now the pass has been valid for just shy of a year each time when we’ve redeemed the credit card offers with the companion pass.

5:07

So a little tip for you guys, if you already have flights booked, then what I do is just reshop the flights and if they’re cheaper or at the same price, I just cancelled Jamal’s flight portion of it and then bank those flight credits and then add him on as my companion for the 560.

5:27

So that in the future once we don’t have companion pass, he at least has flight credits for future flights.

And recently they actually made them so that they don’t expire, so you’ll never lose the value, which is amazing.

So one of the rules of Companion Pass is that there must be at least one seat available for sale in any fair class on the flight for which you’ve purchased your own ticket.

5:50

And you can purchase your own ticket with cash or Southwest points.

And on a standard link Companion Pass, you’re allowed to change your companion up to three times per year, not including your initial companion.

This means theoretically you can have as many as like 7 people as your companion over like 2 calendar years.

6:08

But it’s very tricky to do so because if you already have a flight purchase with your current companion, you can’t switch that companion and book another flight and have two flights booked with two different companions at the same time.

You would actually have to wait for your first flight to be over and done with, switch your companion, then make that next booking.

6:30

And so it makes it a little bit more complicated, but you know, if you’re a couple or you have a best friend and you’re not really switching a lot, it’s an amazing deal.

Another little tricky thing about the Southwest companion flight is if you need to alter or edit your current flight, you do actually have to cancel the companion flight for for the person first, then change your flight and then re add your companion back on.

6:55

I’m not sure if it’s the same way if you actually call Southwest, but that’s the process online.

I know I’ve done it a million times, so that’s how it’s been, but I’d be interested to know if you could avoid that by calling them.

So we kind of talked about the different ways to earn Companion Pass, but the fastest and probably the easiest way to earn Companion Pass is to earn the 135,000 Rapid Rewards points to get you to that status.

7:24

And you might be thinking like how much do I have to spend to hit that amount?

But realistically, the quickest way to get that pile of points is probably by earning the sign up bonus on at least one of their 3 SW personal credit cards.

So they have the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card, the Premier credit card, and the priority credit card.

7:46

I currently have the priority credit card.

And honestly, you would have to go online, compare these three cards, their annual fees, their rewards, and their perks.

And of course, you do have to be able to qualify for the credit card itself.

And when we do talk about credit cards, I just do want to put a disclaimer out there that if you’re not in a position to get a credit card, we’re not encouraging you to.

8:05

We always pay our balances off in full.

And our goal is not for anyone to go into debt.

Like we’re always trying to promote responsible spending on things that we would use anyways.

But while we’re talking about those three credit cards that SW offers for personal use, each of them earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. 1000 bucks, super easy to spend.

8:29

So you’ll easily hit the 50,000 bonus points and you’re part way there to 135,000 points.

Then on top of that, there are also two business credit cards and which you can earn up to 120,000 points.

These are the big points.

8:46

So they had the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card, which you’ll earn 60,000 bonus points after spending 3000 on purchases in the first three months, and then you’ll get an additional 60,000 points when you spend $15,000 in nine months.

9:03

So by meeting both of those criteria, that would make the 120,000 points.

And then they also have the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Credit Card, which has a sign up bonus of 80,000 points after you spend 5000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening and an additional 40,000 points when you spend 15,000 and nine months.

9:27

So that’ll also take you to 120,000 points if you meet both criterias.

So if you earn the 120,000 points from the business credit card plus also open a personal credit card, then total you will surpass what’s needed to get the 135,000 points because that would put you at about 170,000 points.

9:52

If you do plan to open both a personal credit card as well as the business credit card, obviously you’re going to the points faster.

But if you do plan on doing this, we suggest that you strategically sign up for the cards.

I would say sign up for them in about mid-october or later 2024, but you actually don’t want to hit the criteria until January 20, 2025.

10:17

And the reason why you don’t want to hit the criterias in 2024 is because if you earn it at the very end of 2024, your companion pass is only going to be valid through December 2025.

But if you meet the criteria in early January 2025, then you’ll have the Companion Pass available to you until the end of December 2026.

10:43

So instead of a year of the Companion Pass, you would get almost two years of benefits, any ongoing rewards and sign up bonuses.

All account towards traditional Companion Pass, as do travel anniversary points that you get with any of the Southwest credit cards.

11:00

Let’s say you’re not interested in opening up both a personal Southwest credit card and a business Southwest credit card at the same time.

You can, you know, pick and choose which one works better for you.

And then you can see if you can meet the difference in points in other ways.

11:15

And there are a few different ways for you to meet those points.

So you can fly Southwest and use your Southwest credit card to pay for the tickets.

Every SW card earns 2 points per dollar spent on Southwest flights.

So if you spend $100 on a flight, then you’ll earn 200, 100 points.

11:31

You can book a hotel or rental card with a Rapid Rewards partner and pay with your card.

And these are big name companies like Hyatt, Marriott, Hertz, Budget.

So you’ll earn points on that.

You can also shop online through Southwest Bonus Mall and spending money through the Rapid Reward Shopping Partners can net you some extra points for your regular spending that you’re going to spend anyways.

11:58

And then they also have a Rapid Rewards dining member option.

And so when you dine at participating restaurants and you pay with your card, then you earn more of those qualifying points.

There’s a few things that you want to think about not doing, but you might be tempted to see if it would work.

12:13

And these are things that don’t work.

So if you do transfer points from another card like let’s say the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or the Reserve card, those points you can transfer to Southwest, but they’re not going to count towards your companion pass eligibility.

12:33

You also can’t really buy your way to a companion pass, so points that you purchase directly typically don’t count, nor will points that you transfer between members or from hotel or car loyalty programs if you’re applying for the cards.

12:49

Also, don’t forget that Chase has a 524 rule, which means that you can’t have opened five cards in the last two years or else they’re not going to approve you.

So we’ve talked about what the pass is, how to earn it, and some things not to do, but overall, I really think the companion pass is such a great perk and one of the best companion pass offers out there.

13:11

So some other companies advertise a companion pass, but it’s usually only valid for one round trip flight, and sometimes it’s just a discounted price.

So they’re definitely not as good as this companion pass.

So I’m going to end this episode on a real fucking hard piece of info.

13:28

So the companion pass works for flights that are booked with points and miles.

So if you can actually book your flight with points and miles, you do have to pay the 560 per flight for the taxes and fees.

But then you add your companions and they pay 560 per flight for their taxes and fees, then you’ve essentially gotten four flights total for a round trip situation for a total of $22.40.

13:56

Literally the cost of taxes.

There is no better deal than this.

So just wanted to end on that, that you can just really get them good right there.

So thank you so much, Squatty for tuning in to just the tip.

Please make sure to subscribe, leave a review and follow us on all the socials at Travel Squad podcast and have fun traveling this weekend.

14:17

Bye, Squaddies!