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Ready to earn the Southwest Companion Pass through to the end of 2024? Yes, we've hit that time of year when it's time to start developing your Southwest Companion Pass strategy for the coming year!
The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best deals for domestic and regional travel. Once you earn this perk, your chosen companion can travel with you on any Southwest flight — both paid and award flights — for the year in which you earn the pass, plus the next full calendar year.
You only have to pay the taxes and fees associated with the flight — generally just $5.60 each way. This makes the Companion Pass as close as it gets to an unlimited buy-one-get-one-free offer!
Today, we cover an easy strategy to earn the Southwest Companion Pass for up to two years by signing up for one or more Southwest co-brand credit cards.
We’ve covered the Companion Pass in much more detail in another post, including other strategies to acquire it outside of credit card rewards. If you plan to use additional methods to obtain your Companion Pass, we recommend reading that post too.
Southwest Companion Pass Key Terms
Earning the Southwest Companion Pass
- Get the Companion Pass by earning 135,000 Rapid Rewards points or flying 100 segments in a calendar year (an increase from the prior requirement of 125,000 points)
- Points earned from welcome bonuses currently count towards qualification (although this could change).
- The Companion Pass is good for the remainder of the calendar year in which it is earned plus the entire following calendar year.
Using the Southwest Companion Pass
- You can add a companion to both award flights (booked with points) and revenue flights (booked with money).
- Payment of taxes and fees is still required on a companion ticket (taxes start at $5.60 each direction within the U.S.)
- You can only have one companion at a time, but you can change your designated companion up to 3 times per year.
- The Rapid Rewards member with the Southwest Companion Pass must travel with his or her companion.
Leverage the Current Southwest Offers to Earn a Companion Pass
The easiest way to earn points toward the Southwest Companion Pass is to leverage credit card sign-up bonuses. In the past, Chase has run sign-up bonus offers on its credit cards in the lead-up to Companion Pass season. Unfortunately, Chase is not running increased offers on the Southwest credit cards right now.
Still, earning a sign-up bonus through one or more co-brand Southwest cards makes it much easier to earn the Companion Pass than trying to fly the required segments or earning bonus points on spending alone.
The debate is between waiting to apply to see if Chase will increase the offers on these cards in the lead-up to the new year, or applying now and giving yourself more time to meet the spending requirements.
Personal Cards
Southwest offers three personal credit card options. However, you can only have one Southwest personal card. If you already have one of these cards, you will not be approved for another card. That means you won't be able to accumulate the entire 135K points required for the Companion Pass solely through personal credit cards.
We recommend the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card thanks to a ton of ongoing benefits that are far more valuable than the annual fee.
- Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 7,500 anniversary points each year.
- Earn 3X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming.
- $75 Southwest® travel credit each year.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Member FDIC
- 3X points per $1 spent on all Southwest® purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on all Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
- 2X points per $1 spent on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming services
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 6,000 anniversary points each year.
- Earn 3X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Member FDIC
- 3X points per $1 spent on all Southwest® purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on all Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
- 2X points per $1 spent on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming services
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 3,000 anniversary points each year.
- Earn 2X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
- Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
- Member FDIC
- 2X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases and Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on local transit and commuting, including rideshare
- 2X points per $1 spent on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming services
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Business Cards
Southwest currently offers two small business credit card options. You can have both Southwest business cards. However, you can’t have more than one account with either card — even if it is for a different business. If you have one of these cards already, you'll need to sign up for the other card.
- Earn 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- 9,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 4X points on Southwest® purchases.
- Earn 3X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners.
- Earn 2X points on rideshare.
- Earn 2X points on social media and search engine advertising, internet, cable, and phone services and 1X points on all other purchases.
- 4 Upgraded Boardings per year when available.
- Member FDIC
- 4X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 3X points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car partners
- 2X points per $1 spent on social media and search engine advertising, Internet, cable and phone services
- 2X points per $1 spent on rideshare
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
- Earn 60,000 points after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- 6,000 bonus points after your Cardmember anniversary.
- Earn 3X points on Southwest Airlines® purchases.
- Earn 2X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners.
- Earn 2X points on rideshare.
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
- Member FDIC
- 3X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on Rapid Rewards® Hotel and Car Rental Partner purchases
- 2X points per $1 spent on local transit and communting, including rideshare
- 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases
Timing How you Earn the Southwest Companion Pass
Before you take action on this strategy, one aspect is critical to understand: Every year on January 1st, your progress towards the Companion Pass resets to zero. So, you'll want to wait to earn as many points in 2023 as possible if you want to earn the Southwest Companion Pass through 2024.
The welcome bonuses on the Southwest cards will post to your Rapid Rewards account when you hit the minimum spending requirement on the card. So, if you hit the minimum spending requirement in December, you will only earn Southwest Companion Pass points for 2022.
However, if you hit the minimum spending requirement in January 2023, you give yourself a shot at enjoying the Southwest Companion Pass for the better part of two full years.
Our Take
The Companion Pass is an amazing benefit for couples and families. If you go down the traditional path to acquire a Companion Pass, you earn it for the remainder of the year you reach 135,000 points and the entire year that follows. So timing your applications and knowing exactly when you will complete the minimum spending requirement is critical to ensuring your points post in the correct month to start your Companion Pass campaign.
Check out our Ultimate Guide to the Southwest Companion Pass for more details on:
- Eligibility rules for the Companion Pass
- What points other than credit card rewards count towards the Companion Pass
Are you planning to jump on these offers? Let us know in the comments.
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
I’ve seen a better strategy for getting the companion pass than what’s stated here.
Step 1: Apply for Southwest Premier Business card on September 4th (last day of offer).
Step 2: After you receive your card, change the statement date to the 1st of the month.
Step 3: Don’t spend enough to reach the first bonus on or before December 1st.
Step 4: Between December 2nd and December 4th make sure that you cross the $3000 spending threshold and start working for the second bonus. The points won’t be deposited into your Southwest account until the closing date on January 1st.
Step 5: Receive companion pass for most of 2024 and all of 2025 with only one credit card signup (120,000 Rapid Rewards in bonuses + 15,000 Rapid Rewards for the credit card spend).
Hi Barry, that could be a good strategy if it works. It’s dependent on a few factors beyond your control (Chase changing statement closing dates and following it effectively to make your points not post until after New Year, though this gets messed up for several people every year).
I think your logic is faulty. If you earn 60000 points in 2023 it only counts for 2023, not 2024
I hope I’m wrong
I saw somewhere else a strategy of delaying enrollment until September (a possible special link) and then changing the date cycle on the card.
(made my head spin)
Hi Paul, as mentioned, you could earn the full bonus now and get the Companion Pass for the rest of 2023 and 2024. Alternatively, you could earn the first part now then delay earning the 2nd half of the bonus until next year, giving you a big head start toward the Companion Pass for 2024-2025.
You state “The welcome bonuses on the Southwest cards will post to your Rapid Rewards account when you hit the minimum spending requirement on the card”.
In the past, the bonus has posted on the statement Closing date. So if your closing date is the 3rd of the month, you could hit the spending requirement after Dec 4th and receive the bonus miles on Jan 3rd. HAS SOMETHING CHANGED? This makes a big difference in spend planning.
Hi Tobin, yes, that’s correct. It will post after statement closing when you finish the spending requirement.
I’m sorry but your long-term strategy described above is completely wrong. You are misguiding readers into thinking they can spend on their card in 2023 and in 2024 and still earn the companion pass. Here is your language:
But, the second part of the bonus gives you 9 months to reach the spending requirement. This means you can time your spending to complete it after the new year starts, ensuring those points count towards the 2024/25 pass.
Here are the requirements from Southwest to earn the Pass:
Earning the Companion Pass requires accruing 135,000 qualifying points or taking 100 qualifying one-way flights in a calendar year.
The key point in Southwest’s terms is “calendar year”. I don’t see how its possible to sign up for the card by August 28, 2023 and spend such that the initial 60K points lands in January 2024. Any initial spending to reach the first 60K points would credit in 2023. Then you would spend again in 2024 to get the second 60K but that is not the same calendar year obviously.
Your guidance makes it sound like if somebody just times this right they can get the Companion Pass for 2024/2025 and I don’t see how that is possible.
Hi Greg, as mentioned in the planning strategy section of the post, the first 60,000 points would land in your account in 2023. The second set of points can land in your account in 2024, giving you a big head start toward earning the Companion Pass next year. Alternatively, you could earn the full bonus now and enjoy the CP for the rest of 2023 and all of 2024.