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- You can fly a travel buddy with you for next to free when you have the Southwest Companion Pass.
- To earn the Companion Pass, you need to accumulate 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year.
- For a limited time, three personal Southwest cards are offering a welcome bonus of
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card - Intro Bonus - Read Insider's guide to the best travel rewards credit cards.
Traveling can be a great adventure, but it's always better with a friend or loved one. Having a free plane ticket for your favorite travel buddy for up to two years could help you make even more travel memories.
Does that sound too good to be true? It's actually a thing.
The Southwest Companion Pass allows you to choose one person to fly with you on both paid and award tickets for just the cost of taxes and fees, for up to two years (provided your timing is right).
If you can qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass — whether you do so the traditional way, or with the help of one of the limited-time Southwest personal credit card offers — it's a worthwhile endeavor.
How the Southwest Companion Pass works
The Southwest Companion Pass allows you to book a friend or family member's airplane ticket, on the same flight as you, without needing to pay any cash or points for the flight. You will be responsible for taxes and fees, but typically these do not amount to much (about $6 each way for a domestic flight).
After you earn the Companion Pass, you will be able to designate your companion. The good news is that you can change to a different companion up to three times per calendar year. This means that you can bring along different friends for different trips.
Try to earn the Companion Pass early in the year
If you decide you want to earn the Companion Pass, you need to plan out the timing just right. If you're going through the work of getting a pass, then you should maximize the amount of time you have to use it.
The pass will be good as soon as you earn it and for the rest of the year. Additionally, it will be valid for the entire year that follows. For example, if you earn the Companion Pass in 2023, it will expire at the end of December 2024. That means:
- If you earn it in November 2023, you will only be able to use it for a little over a year.
- If you earn it in February 2023, you will be able to use it for nearly two years.
With this in mind, the best time to start planning to get the Companion Pass is toward the end of a calendar year or very early in the new year.
How to qualify for the Southwest Companion Pass
To qualify for the Companion Pass, you need to earn 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points or fly 100 one-way flights per calendar year on Southwest Airlines, which must be earned and posted to your Rapid Rewards account.
However, if you hold a Southwest credit card, you'll receive a "boost" of 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year. You won't actually receive 10,000 redeemable points — this benefit effectively reduces the number of points you must collect to 125,000. You'll receive just one boost per year, even if you have multiple Southwest cards.
You can earn qualifying points by:
- Booking flights
- Earning points issued on Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards
- Earning points from Rapid Rewards partners
You won't earn qualifying points for the following:
- Purchased points
- Points transferred between Rapid Rewards members
- Points transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards®
- Points converted from hotel and car loyalty programs
- Points converted from e-Rewards, e-Miles, Valued Opinions, and Diners Club
- Points earned from Rapid Rewards program enrollment
- Tier bonus points
- Flight bonus points
- Partner bonus points
Earn the Companion Pass with Southwest credit cards
Perhaps the easiest way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass is to earn credit card welcome bonus offers. Southwest has several credit cards, and all their bonuses (and points earned from spending) count toward earning a Companion Pass.
Again, cardholders will also receive a 10,000-point "boost" each year toward qualifying for the Companion Pass (the points aren't redeemable for flights).
You can only have one Southwest personal card at a time. However, you can have one personal card and either (or both!) of its small-business credit cards at the same time. Keep in mind that you may qualify for a small-business credit card — even if you're a freelancer, work a side gig, or occasionally sell things on eBay.
Because of this, it's easy to earn the Southwest Companion Pass by earning the bonus from a personal card and a small business card in the same calendar year. depending on the card bonuses, you could immediately qualify for the pass after earning both bonuses.
Personal Southwest credit cards
The
Each card comes with different perks and annual fees. Here's a comparison of the three Southwest personal cards:
| |||
Annual fee | |||
Rewards rate | 3x points on Southwest purchases 2x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases 2x points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare 2x points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming 1x point per dollar on everything else | 2x points on Southwest purchases 2x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases 2x points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare 2x points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming 1x point per dollar on everything else | 3x points on Southwest purchases 2x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partner purchases 2x points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare 2x points on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming 1x point per dollar on everything else |
Welcome bonus | |||
Southwest benefits | 6,000 points on your card anniversary Earn tier-qualifying points toward A-List elite status Two EarlyBird Check-Ins per year 25% back on inflight drinks and Wi-Fi Boost of 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year | 3,000 points on your card anniversary Two EarlyBird Check-Ins per year 25% back on inflight drinks and Wi-Fi Boost of 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year | 7,500 points on your card anniversary Earn tier-qualifying points toward A-List elite status $75 annual Southwest travel credit 4 upgraded boardings per year when available 25% back on in-flight drinks and Wi-Fi Boost of 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year |
Review |
Southwest business credit cards
There are two Southwest small business cards:
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card —Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card .Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card —Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card
If you earn the
Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two business credit cards:
Annual fee | ||
Welcome bonus | ||
Rewards rate | 3x points on Southwest purchases 2x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car partners 2x points on rideshare 1 point per dollar on everything else | 4x points on Southwest purchases 3x points on Rapid Rewards hotel and car partners 2x points on rideshare 2x points on social media and search engine advertising 2x points on internet, cable, and phone services 1 point per dollar on everything else |
Anniversary points | 6,000 | 9,000 |
Foreign transaction fee | No | No |
Other benefits | Two EarlyBird Check-Ins per year 25% back on inflight purchases Earn tier-qualifying points toward A-List elite status Boost of 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year | Earn tier-qualifying points toward A-List elite status $100 Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee credit 4 upgraded boardings per year when available Inflight Wi-Fi credits Boost of 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each calendar year |
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What to know about earning the Southwest Companion Pass
The Companion Pass is an incredibly lucrative benefit for those who can qualify. It may take some extra work and strategy in your timing of purchases, but it could be well worth it to make precious travel memories with friends and family.
And if you're interested, the beginning of a calendar year is a good time to qualify for this benefit, so you can enjoy it for as close to two years as possible.