Earn The Southwest Companion Pass
The Southwest Companion Pass is the single greatest travel perk available. If you regularly fly Southwest with another person, it can be worth planning your 5/24 applications to earn this valuable perk. Timed correctly, you can hold the Companion Pass for almost 24 months. Fall is the ideal time to shoot for the Southwest Companion Pass, and we will show you exactly how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass.
**Some offers may have changed since the time of this writing. Click on the card name for the most up to date offer information.
What Is The Southwest Companion Pass?
The Southwest Companion Pass allows you to bring a companion for free on as many flights as you want. You can earn the Companion Pass in one of two ways. You must either earn 135,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points or fly 100 qualifying one-way flights in the same calendar year.
Once you earn the Companion Pass, it's valid until December 31 of the following year. So if you earn the Companion Pass at any time in 2024, it's valid until December 31, 2025! If you earn the Companion Pass in January, you can take advantage of it for basically two years. You would get to fly with your companion for half off on as many flights as you want over the next 18+ months!
There are no gimmicks or tricks. Any time you want to fly your companion with you, the only cost is the taxes ($5.60 each way for domestic flights – more in taxes for international flights). You cannot book a companion to fly by themselves. Your companion must fly with you on your same flight.
The one restriction is that you can only change your companion 3 times per calendar year. This is now even an option online, but there have been some issues with that.
You Get Your Cake & Get To Eat It Too
Here is how this perk gets even better: earning the Southwest Companion Pass doesn't cost you 135,000 Rapid Rewards points. Once you earn 135,000 points and receive the Companion Pass, those 135,000 points are still yours to use. You can use those points to book flights for yourself and then add your companion for free! These 135,000 points are worth about $1,800 in travel ($3,600 once you tack on your free companion).
If you travel so much that you use up all 135,000 points booking flights, you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards to Southwest (at 1:1) for more free flights for the two of you.
How to Earn 135,000 Rapid Rewards Points
Assuming you are not flying 100 flights in a calendar year, the easiest way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass is by earning 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year. And as always, the fastest way to earn points is through credit card welcome offers.
Southwest credit card holders receive 10,000 non-redeemable, but Companion Pass-eligible miles. This reduces the requirement for the Companion Pass down to 125,000 miles.
Keep in mind that points transfers do not count towards earning the Companion Pass. You cannot earn the Companion Pass by transferring points over from Chase or Marriott. Buying points also does not count towards earning the Southwest Companion Pass.
Southwest offers the following co-branded credit cards, all issued by Chase (business cards bolded):
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card ($69 annual fee)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card ($99)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card ($149)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business ($99)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business ($199)
Note: All of these applications require you to be under 5/24. The business cards do not add to the 5/24 count.
Generally, you can take one of two paths to accumulate the required 125,000 points and earn the Companion Pass. Chase does not let you hold multiple Southwest personal cards. So either option involves opening a Southwest business credit card.
Not sure whether you qualify for business cards? Check out this post.
How To Earn A Southwest Companion Pass: Option 1
The first (and better option generally) is to open a Southwest business credit card and a Southwest personal credit card. Typically, the welcome offer on either of the business cards is high enough to get you most of the way towards the Companion Pass. Offers for the Performance Business card ($199 annual fee) have gone as high as 80,000 points, and for the Premier Business ($99 annual fee) have been around 60,000 points.
After opening one of the business cards, you could then apply for one of the personal cards. Welcome offers for the personal cards typically range around 50,000 points, but have been higher in the past. It also may be possible to get better offers via personal referrals.
With this approach, we recommend waiting at least 30 days after being approved for one of the business cards to apply for one of the personal cards.
These two welcome offers alone should get you way over the 125,000 points you need, which earns you the Companion Pass. And you will still have all those points to actually redeem for Southwest flights.
How To Earn A Southwest Companion Pass: Option 2
This second option is for folks who do not want to open a Southwest personal card. Unlike with the personal cards, Chase does let you hold the two Southwest business credit cards. This means you can reach 125,000 points just by earning the welcome offers from the Performance Business and the Premier Business card.
This method looks really easy, and it can be, but opening two Southwest business cards for the Companion Pass is not helpful in the long-term. Chase will only approve you for so many business cards. This second Southwest business card will essentially take the spot of what could be another Chase Ink Cash, Cash Ink Unlimited or Chase Ink Preferred card.
Put another way, you would forego earning another Ink card welcome offer to earn a Southwest Companion Pass when you don't need to because other methods are available.
How To Earn A Southwest Companion Pass: Credit Card Application Rules
Chase has a few rules for Southwest credit cards. First and most important of course is 5/2–Chase will not approve you if you have opened 5 or more personal credit cards (and certain business cards) in the last 24 months. Make sure you are confident in your current 5/24 status.
Next, for each of the Southwest personal credit cards, you cannot hold more than one Southwest of those at a time. So if you already have any of the three Southwest personal cards, you must cancel that card if you want to apply for a new one. Also, you will not qualify for a welcome offer for a Southwest personal card if you've earned a welcome offer from any Southwest personal card within the past 24 months.
Chase's rules for Southwest business cards are slightly more lenient. You cannot open a Southwest business credit card if you already have that same card. This means you can have one of each of the two Southwest business cards. You just cannot have two of the same card. Meanwhile, you will not qualify for a sign-up bonus for a Southwest business card if you've earned a sign-up bonus from that same Southwest business card within the past 24 months.
If you do not meet Chase's rules for card and bonus eligibility above, you will not be able to get the Southwest Companion Pass through credit card welcome offers.
Timing of the Southwest Credit Card Applications & Meeting Minimum Spend
October through December is the time to apply! You will then have about 105 days to meet your minimum spend. (Chase typically gives extra time to complete the minimum spend.)
Do NOT put much spend on your new Southwest credit card in 2024. Do NOT get close to the minimum spend in 2024. Chase is notorious for awarding Southwest welcome offers early if you get close to the minimum spend amount. Sometimes Chase grants the welcome offer even if you are as far away as $1,000 from meeting the minimum spend. Plan to wait until AFTER your December 2024 statement cuts to hit the minimum spend. Ideally, you should wait until January 1, 2025 if you can, just to be safe.
We see dozens of horror stories every year where people lose track of their spending and hit the welcome offer too early. Remember, BOTH welcome offers must hit your Southwest account in the year you want your CP to begin. If one welcome offer posts on December 31 and the other posts on January 1, then you won't get a CP with those welcome offers.
Also, once you have your business card and your first statement closes, we recommend changing your statement close date. Ideally, you should request sometime between the 7th and the 10th of the month. You can do this by sending a secured message to Chase. This means your third statement will close on January 7-10, 2025. So as long as you start spending after your December 2024 statement, your welcome offer will post after the January 2025 statement.
While you're at it, you can also ask Chase to confirm the deadline for meeting the minimum spend requirement. This way you have a firm deadline in writing.
How To Earn A Southwest Companion Pass: ToP Thoughts
The key to getting the Southwest Companion Pass for as long as possible is organization. Know and understand your 5/24 status. Check when was the last time you received a welcome offer for a Southwest card. Make sure you're ready and eligible for applying for a Southwest business card. Have a good plan for meeting minimum spend on both cards. And, most importantly, do not come close to meeting your minimum spend until after January 1!
Do you plan to earn the Southwest Companion Pass this year? Join the discussion in our ToP Facebook group!
