As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, the Southwest Companion Pass is my all time favorite perk in the entire travel industry. It allows another person to fly with you for FREE (plus minimal taxes) an UNLIMITED number of times during the life of the pass. Once you earn the pass, it is available until December 31st of the following calendar year. So if you were to earn the pass January 15, 2018, for example, the pass will not expire until December 31, 2019! That will give you over 23 months of free travel!
Since I write about this companion pass quite often, I receive a ton of questions regarding the number of points required to earn the pass. To earn the pass, you need 110,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. Points earned do NOT carry over year to year and do expire December 31st of that calendar year. One thing to note is that qualifying points towards the pass is different then the points you have in your account. If you currently have 50,000 points in your account that you earned in 2015, those points are NOT qualifying Companion Pass points for 2017. While you still have them in your account to redeem for free travel, they will not count towards the 110,000 points required.
Steps to check on your qualifying points
Checking the number of qualifying points in your account is quite easy. Sign into your Southwest account, go to My Account, and Snapshot — or here is the direct link.
You’ll then see the number of points you’ve earned towards A-List Status and the Companion Pass. The blue semi circle shows how far along you are with earning the Companion Pass. From the screen shot above, you’ll see that I currently have 101,338 points earned in this calendar year!
If you want to see your activity, go to Recent Activity –> Activity Details. This will give you an entire list of your activity – including points earned, points redeemed, and points refunded. If you want to see all points earned that count towards the pass (qualifying points), in the “Points Type” drop down menu, select “Companion Pass Qualifying Points.” Qualifying points include points earned from flying, credit card spend, shopping portal. Bonuses from those activities, however, do not count.
So if you are not sure how many points you currently have in your account, definitely take a look.
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I was declined for the Southwest credit card that offered 60,000 miles. They indicated because I had already opened an account. I do have a companion pass for my husband which will be finished 12/17.
I have about 90,000 & am lacking 20,000 to get pass again. Any suggestions how I can get this done quickly without applying for a credit card??
HELP!!
Not sure the best thread to leave this on as you have many that topic, the SWA companion pass being achieved with bonus points from charge card sign up. Feel free to repost in the best thread(s)
I received my welcome e-mail after signing up for 2 cards, it has this in the fine print: (cut and pasted exact)
2) Companion Pass qualifying points are earned from your revenue flights booked through Southwest®, your points earned by making purchases with a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, and your base points earned from Rapid Rewards partners. Purchased points, points converted from hotel and car loyalty programs, and e-Rewards, e-Miles, Valued Opinions and Diners Club, points earned from Rapid Rewards program enrollment, tier bonuses, flight bonuses, and partner bonuses (excluding bonus points earned on Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Cards from Chase) do not count toward Companion Pass.
As you can see it clearly says the bonus points don’t count.
Not sure if this fin print is the same as your previous experience with actually earning the pass through some portion of bonus points? Perhaps it’s in the fine print but the system counts them anyway, or perhaps its new verbiage?
I might keep cards and see as the 60,000 is worth the yearly fee, then I’ll drop cards after the bonus is permanent if the companion pass does not come through.
Wait, disregard, I think I read that too fast, my coffee is still ineffective.
Noting the parentheses I think it means the bonus points DO count. derp’
delete if you wish 😛