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Earning a companion pass with your favorite airline is one of the most valuable perks in travel loyalty. Like Southwest, Delta, and even Frontier, Alaska Airlines offers a Companion Fare to eligible co-branded credit cardholders.
As Alaska Airlines continues to grow its route network and airline partnerships, this neat perk can take you further than you might expect. With the acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, the Companion Fare (formerly known as the “Famous Companion Fare”) became even more useful. It's also valid on select Hawaiian Airlines flights.
Most recently, Alaska has removed a restriction it put in place in October 2025. Travelers can once again book multi-city tickets using the Alaska Companion Fare. We cover how to do so below.
Here's everything you need to know about the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare, and how to use it for maximum value.
Page Contents
What Is the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare?
The Alaska Airlines Companion Fare lets co-brand credit cardholders book a companion coach ticket for $99 (base fare) plus taxes and fees. The pass can be used once per calendar year and must be purchased with another guest on a paid published coach fare on the same itinerary.
Tickets purchased as an Alaska Airlines Companion Fare cannot be paid for with Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards points. However, both the primary passenger and the companion are eligible to earn Alaska points. These are paid tickets, after all.
Related: Alaska Atmos Rewards Award Chart Sweet Spots
Earn a Companion Fare with the Alaska Credit Card
Alaska's Companion Fare is available to Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® card and Atmos™ Rewards Visa Business Card cardholders after meeting a minimum spending requirement each year. At one time, this was an automatic card benefit, but unless you've been grandfathered in, you'll have to earn it by spending $6,000 on your card each year.
Even after meeting all spending requirements for Alaska's Companion Fare, it can still take a while for the pass to post to your account. According to the terms and conditions, the Companion Fare will be posted to Atmos Rewards accounts six to eight weeks after your account anniversary.
- Earn unlimited 3 miles for every $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines purchases
- Earn unlimited 2 miles for every $1 spent on eligible gas, EV charging stations, cable, streaming services and local transit (including ride share) purchases
- Earn unlimited 1 mile for every $1 spent on all other eligible purchases
The premium Atmos™ Rewards Summit Visa Infinite® Card offers a benefit with a similar name, but it's notably different, so don't confuse them. Cardholders can enjoy a 25,000-point Global Companion Award each year, which allows you to take 25,000 points off a companion award ticket. You can earn a 100,000-point Global Companion Award after spending $60,000 in a calendar year.
Related: Ultimate Guide to Companion Fares & Passes
How to Use The Alaska Airlines Companion Fare
The Alaska Airlines Companion Fare comes in the form of a code that you use when buying airfare on Alaska's website.
As the screenshot below shows, on Alaska Airlines' homepage, there's a space to use a discount code when searching for flights. If you don't have your discount code handy, navigate to the “Discounts and Companion Fares” section in your account. Or, click here.
You can enter your Companion Fare code in the discount code section before clicking “Search Flights.” Make sure to select a search for two travelers, or the search will return an error. You will see Alaska Airlines-operated flights that are eligible to use the Companion Fare code on the results page. They're denoted by a green checkmark.
Once you find a route you like, you can go through the booking process as normal. When you head to check out, you'll see your discount code applied, along with the total cost of your companion fare (including taxes and fees).
Using the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare for multi-city bookings
When the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare first came out, you were able to use it on multi-city or open-jaw bookings. In October 2025, when Hawaiian Airlines was integrated into the Atmos Rewards system, members lost the additional flexibility and could only use their code on one-way or round-trip bookings. If you want to extract maximum value from your Companion Fare, using it on as many flights as possible is the best way to do so.
Fortunately, it appears that you can again use your code on multi-city bookings. On the initial search page, select “multi-city,” enter your desired cities and dates, and enter your code.
Once you press “Search flights,” you will be taken to the flight results for each segment of your trip. Now, you'll see the entire price of your itinerary upfront. As you select each flight option, you can see how the total trip cost changes depending on the flight you choose. Once you select each flight in your itinerary, you'll be taken to the summary page where you can see the cost breakdown.
In the example below, you can book four nonstop flights, each about two weeks apart, and qualify for the Companion Fare. Fly from New York (JFK) to Seattle (SEA), Seattle to Salt Lake City (SLC), Salt Lake City to Honolulu (HNL), and Honolulu back to New York and pay $820.80 in airfare for the first passenger, and $176.90 for the second passenger ($99 Companion Fare + $77.90 in taxes and fees). That means you'd save $643.90 across your four flights.
Restrictions of the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare
- One use per year: You can only use your Companion Fare once per calendar year.
- Code issuance timing: Codes post 6–8 weeks after your card anniversary if you spend $6,000+ in a cardholder anniversary year.
- Travel after expiration: While you must book by 11:59 pm PST on the expiration date, travel can take place afterward (within 12 months of the date of issue).
- Restricted to Alaska flights and select Hawaiian Airlines flights: Only valid on Alaska- or Hawaiian-operated flights within North America.
- Booking for others: You can also use your Companion Fare code for other travelers, even if they aren’t the primary cardholder. However, the cardholder must pay taxes and fees.
- Upgrade eligibility: Companion Fare tickets remain eligible for upgrades.
For more information, you can find the full terms and conditions of the Alaska Airlines Companion Fare in your account profile under the discounts and codes section.
Related: Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards Status Match: How It Works
Bottom Line
The Alaska Airlines Companion Fare is great for Alaska Airlines loyalists or anyone who flies the airline frequently enough to earn the pass through credit card spend. This is even more worth it now that you can earn status points through credit card spend.
With that said, other airlines have more flexible companion fares or passes. For example, there aren't any rules about how many times per year you can use a Southwest Companion Pass or a Frontier Companion Travel Pass. Both can be used as many times as you like. Similar to Alaska Airlines, you can only use the Delta Air Lines Companion Certificate once per year, but you'll only pay taxes when you use your Delta certificate.
- Earn unlimited 3 miles for every $1 spent on eligible Alaska Airlines purchases
- Earn unlimited 2 miles for every $1 spent on eligible gas, EV charging stations, cable, streaming services and local transit (including ride share) purchases
- Earn unlimited 1 mile for every $1 spent on all other eligible purchases
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