Southwest Companion Pass

Oct 4

All five of the Southwest Rapid Rewards credit cards.

The Southwest Companion Pass lets you bring a companion with you for just the price of taxes EVERY time you book! This companion can be anyone and is a great way to capitalize on free travel.

What are the requirements?

The companion pass is received when someone has earned 135,000 qualifying points or has taken 100 flights in a single year. Once the companion pass has been received, it is valid for the rest of the year you earned it, plus the entire next year!

Therefore it is most beneficial to earn the companion pass in January of one year, to make use of it for nearly two full years!

But how can I earn it January?!

Thankfully, points from welcome bonuses count towards the 135,000 points needed! This means that with opening two credit cards and meeting the spend requirement as early in the year as possible, will get you the companion pass. In addition, you can use those same earned points to redeem flights and use your companion pass with it!

That is so much free travel from just 1 or 2 credit cards!

Okay, tell me how to do this!

This can be done at any time of year, but it is beneficial to wait until one or more of the 5 Southwest branded credit cards have an elevated bonus. It is also best to wait until October or later to start this process as it will help you earn the companion pass in the beginning of the year!

Option 1

If you spend a lot of money (for example if you have a small business or just have a lot of spending power) you can get the companion pass by only opening one credit card. The best time to do this is with an elevated welcome bonus which can often be 85,000 points! Most of the Southwest cards have a $3,000 spending requirement which will get you to 88,000 points. The remaining 47,000 points can be from normal spend if you can do it!

Option 2

Let’s face it - most of us cannot do option 1 so this option utilizes the 2 credit card method. This is also best to be done when there are elevated welcome bonuses or at the end of a year. The first card you open will be one of the three personal cards (with elevated welcome bonuses):

Pick the card whose benefits help you the most!

Then the second card you open will be one of the two business cards:

By getting one personal and one business card, you will easily reach the 135,000 points (you can easily get 151,000 points just meeting the spend requirements) and earn the companion pass.

I don’t have a business…

I can almost guarantee that you can qualify for a business card. In short, if you sell anything at a garage sale, Facebook Marketplace, eBay or any other channel, then you have a business!

For more detail, ready my “Everyone Can Qualify For Business Cards” blog post!

Personal Card Application Requirements

There are some specific application rules for getting this bonus. The rules are:

1) Cannot currently have ANY Southwest personal card.

2) Cannot have earned any Southwest personal card bonus in the last 24 months. All 3 cards are considered a family. So, if you have one, then you cannot get approved for another.

3) You cannot be at 5/24 or above.

Note: If it’s been more than 24 months since your last SW personal card bonus, you can close it, wait at least a week (more if possible), then re-open a new SW personal card in order to earn the bonus.

Business Card Application Requirements

There are some specific application rules for getting this bonus. The rules are:

1) Cannot currently have EITHER Southwest business card.

2) Cannot have earned any Southwest business card bonus in the last 24 months. Both cards are considered a family. So, if you have one, then you cannot get approved for another.

3) You cannot be at 5/24 or above.

Matthew Erickson