Southwest Companion Pass FAQ

WHAT IS SOUTHWEST COMPANION PASS?

It is essentially, a 2 for 1 on Southwest flights. Buy one, get one…
Once you earn the Southwest Companion pass, you will designate a “companion”.
That companion can fly with you for the cost of taxes ($5.60 each way for domestic flights). 
It doesn’t matter whether you’ve paid for your ticket with points or cash, you’ll still be able to add your companion to your flight, for taxes only (as long as there’s even 1 seat available on the plane, doesn’t matter the cost/category).

HOW CAN I EARN THE SW COMPANION PASS?

• Fly 100 qualifying one way Southwest flights
• Earn 135,000 tier qualifying Southwest points within one single year {This is the “easy” way}

HOW IS EARNING 135K POINTS IN ONE YEAR EASY?

By using the 2 card sign up bonus strategy to get 135K points from the sign up bonuses from just two cards…

• option 1: Sign up for 1 Southwest personal credit card + 1 Southwest Business credit card
  
• option 2: Sign up for TWO Southwest business credit cards
  
  **Depending on current sign up offers, you may need additional spend to hit the 135K points mark**
  

How to earn Southwest Companion Pass for nearly TWO years

• The Companion Pass is good for the REST of the year you earn it PLUS the following year
• So you want to earn the 135K points as early in the year as possible

Personal Southwest Cards:

Business Southwest Cards:

CAN I HAVE 2 PERSONAL CARDS? 2 BUSINESS CARDS?

PERSONAL CARD RULES: You can only hold ONE Southwest personal card at a time.

If you do already have a Southwest personal credit card… Chase allows you to get a new sign up bonus on the Southwest cards every 24 months. Therefore, if it’s been more than 24 months since you earned your last sign up bonus on a Southwest personal card, you can cancel your current personal Southwest card and reapply for a new one 2 weeks later. You won’t be approved for a new Southwest personal card IF you already have a Southwest personal card open.

BUSINESS CARD RULES: You may hold EACH of the Southwest business credit cards at the same time, but you can’t hold two of the same one.

Chase allows you to get a new sign up bonus on the Southwest cards every 24 months. Therefore, if it’s been more than 24 months since you earned your last sign up bonus on a Southwest business card, you can cancel your current Southwest business card and reapply for the same one 2 weeks later.

I AM 4/24… WHICH CARD DO I GET FIRST?

If you are 4/24, you MUST get the business card first. That will NOT take a spot on your 5/24. Therefore, you’ll still be able to be under 5/24 when applying for your personal Southwest card.

(What is 5/24? If you have opened 5 or more personal credit cards (from ANY issuer) in the last 24 months, Chase will almost certainly not approve you for another personal or business card.)

CAN MY PARTNER/SPOUSE AND I EACH EARN IT?

Yes! Absolutely!

CAN I CHANGE MY “COMPANION” WHO FLIES FREE WITH ME?

Yes! Once you get the Companion Pass, you’ll designate your initial companion. But you can change your companion up to THREE times a year. You’ll just call Southwest to request the change. One really important thing though… any flights you have booked for your current companion will be canceled when you add the new companion.

WHAT IF I’ ONLY WANT TO OPEN 1 CARD, HOW DO I GET THE REST OF THE POINTS TO GET TO 135K?

I’d try to earn those points by using the Southwest shopping portal and by maximizing spend on your Southwest Card.

DO I GET TO KEEP THE 135K SOUTHWEST POINTS IT TAKES TO EARN THE PASS?

YES!! Absolutely! The Companion Pass is a reward to reaching that milestone. The points you’ve earned to get there are yours!

HOW DO PEOPLE GET THIS YEAR AFTER YEAR?

2024 will be my 7th year holding the Companion Pass. It has saved us MANY THOUSANDS of dollars. So I always leave space in my 5/24 to get Southwest credit cards. Because I have to wait 24 months from getting my last bonus, I won’t get the pass until mid spring.
I usually earn the Companion Pass by getting 1 personal card & 1 business card.
I will keep each card about 18 months. I will then call and cancel them a couple months apart. That way the cards are canceled way before I hit the 24 month mark of being able to apply for them again.

A lot of people ask me about closing/reopening cards…Southwest are the only cards I do this consistently with.

CAN I USE SOME OF THE POINTS WHILE TRYING TO GET TO 135K OR DO THEY ALL NEED TO BE IN MY ACCOUNT AT ONCE?

You are free to use them as you earn them. Southwest will keep a tally for the year for you. To see your points tally for the year, login to your Southwest account, click “view account”, then you’ll see a graphic that shows of where you stand in earning the companion pass. It will show the exact number of points earned for this calendar year.

HOW ARE POINTS COMBINED FROM THE SIGN UP BONUS I EARN ON MY PERSONAL CARD AND MY BUSINESS CARD?

You will have ONE Southwest Rapid Rewards account (this is your Southwest frequent flyer account). ALL points earned go into this ONE bucket. So whether you earn on card A or card B, whether you earn from spend or from a shopping portal… it all goes into your ONE Southwest Rapid Rewards account.

**Once you earn the Southwest Companion Pass once, it’s really easy to understand and earn again and again. But the 1st time you do it can be confusing. If you have ANY questions at all, please don’t hesitate to reach out!