First, start earning points!
The Southwest Companion Pass is a unique and highly sought-after benefit offered by Southwest Airlines, a major U.S. airline. It allows a designated companion to travel with the passholder for free (except for taxes and fees) on both paid and award flights.
The tax for a one way ticket is $5.60 and a round trip is $11.20. It's a really good deal and can save you thousands of dollars every year if you travel frequently.
How it works
The Companion Pass allows you to choose a designated companion who can travel with you for free on all your Southwest flights. Even better, you can change your designated companion up to three times per calendar year. This applies to the year you receive it and the following year as well.
How do I earn this awesome opportunity?
There are two options to accomplish this goal.
As of January 1 of 2023 you have to earn 135,000 rapid reward points in order to earn a companion pass. The first option is actually very difficult and not the way that I recommend earning a companion pass. You have to fly 100 one-way flights with Southwest in a calendar year.
The other option is by far the easiest and faster. Simply open up a Southwest business card and one of the Southwest personal credit cards and you have to keep it open for one year and follow the requirements below. Right now the business card will give you 80,000 rapid reward points, and the personal card will give you 60,000 rapid reward points.
With the Sign-up bonus on the personal card there are a couple rules that you definitely want to keep in mind to make sure that you are eligible. First, you have to have not earned a bonus on another Southwest personal card within the last 24 months and you cannot currently have a Southwest personal credit card. Does not apply to the business card so you could get one or the other, or both!
The Requirements
Spend $3,000 on the card within the first three months of opening it in order to earn the points. *There is generally a fee anywhere from $95.00 to $350.00 depending on the card you chose.
From opening both of those cards you’ll be at 140,000 rapid rewards which is more than enough to earn you a companion pass.
Another pro tip: if your short on points try using their shopping portal. There are a ton of popular brands to shop from and you can earn points! Some of the items offer big chunks of rapid reward points simply by buying something or doing a trial run of a product or one of their meal delivery services. Last year I signed up for Turbo Tax through the portal and earned many reward points. When you shop make sure that you look for items that will just give you two points per dollar.
When you earn the 140,000 rapid reward points and you earn the companion pass, what happens to all those points? That is a question that we get pretty frequently, well nothing. You get to use them just as you normally would have in your rapid rewards account. You use these points to book your trip and once you register your companion’s info on your account, simply go back in and click on add companion. Your companion will then automatically get put on your exact itinerary.
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