Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Explained and How to Get Yours Easily
Edit: The personal card links below are now 40k but only $1k in spend is needed. Open business and a personal version for 100k. Make an additional 6k in spend to get the companion pass. (Links Below)
*no end date rumored or announced for the Business Premier Card
The Southwest Companion Pass is a benefit from Southwest Airlines. It’s something you have to qualify for. Normally, you have to accrue 110,000 miles on Southwest to earn it. The pass means you can designate someone you know as your “companion” and any ticket you book on Southwest, you can also book for your companion for free (+taxes). Your companion can get a free ticket when you book using cash or points. It has to be the same exact flight. The trick behind this is opening up 2 of the 3 southwest credit cards.
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus (Personal)- Annual fee $69 (due first billing cycle)
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier (Personal)- Annual fee $99 (due first billing cycle) (Mileaholic Referal Link..We thank you for using this)
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier (Business)- Annual fee $99 (due first billing cycle)
Right now the sign-up bonus is 60k for each of their 3 cards. You can apply for each one if you wanted to and get approved. You only need 2 to get 120,000 points. Which surpasses the 110,000 qualifying points threshold for the companion pass. If your points hit and you qualify for the pass.. you get the pass for the year you qualified and the year after. So if you opened the cards today (October).. and waited till your December billing cycle to meet your spend, your points hit January. Which means you will have 2 full years for the companion pass and 124,000 points in your account.
Heres the math.. double checked for accuracy.
60k (Bonus) + 60k (Bonus) +2k (Min Spend) + 2k (Min Spend)
=124,000 Rapid Reward Miles worth approx. $2,000*
*There is a debate out there that could argue its worth $4,000 because you double it due to the companion pass.
When the Southwest offers increase, they are usually 50k offers. So you should act quickly as the offer may not come back to 60k. Even at 50k, it is worth it, but you have to spend $10k to reach 110,000 vs only $4k currently.
If the offer drops to 40k or lower, I would hold out as the larger offers come around twice a year. So if you miss the bus this time… hop on the next time around.
Additionally, a hidden benefit to the Companion Pass is that some airlines consider it status and count the pass when you status match. This becomes very valuable if you don't have status elsewhere.
For those single people out there… If this doesn’t motivate you to find a companion… I don’t know what will.
