Update: This offer is no longer available.
If you’ve been following this blog for awhile, you are probably already aware that the Southwest Companion pass is my favorite benefit in the entire travel world! With this pass, a companion can fly with you an UNLIMITED number of times for the calendar year it is earned plus the following calendar year. While there are many ways to earn the pass, the easiest way is by signing up for their credit card (if you are okay with that).
Fortunately, through October 4, 2017, ALL three Southwest credit cards are offering an increased sign up bonus of 60,000 points:
Key Links:
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Card: Earn 60,000 points after spending $2,000 on the card within the first 3 months; $69 annual fee. This card will earn you 3,000 bonus points on your account anniversary.
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Card: Earn 60,000 points after spending $2,000 on the card within the first 3 months; $99 annual fee. This card will earn you 6,000 bonus points on your account anniversary.
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card: Earn 60,000 points after spending $3,000 on the card within the first 3 months; $99 annual fee. This card will earn you 6,000 bonus points on your account anniversary.
*If you have any questions on which credit card to apply for, feel free to email me!
As of today, the 60,000 points DO COUNT towards the 110,000 points required to obtain the pass. Apply for two different Southwest cards (yes, you are allowed to have two Southwest credit cards in your wallet) and that will give you 120,000 points – more then the required amount for the companion pass! That means you’ll automatically receive the pass once the points post. Now, if you call Southwest to inquire if the points count towards the companion pass they will most likely tell you no. Do not be discouraged, in my experience they have no idea what they are talking about (Sorry Southwest!).
So lets say you apply for the two cards now. Since you have 3 months to meet the minimum spend, you will want to wait until January 1, 2018 to actually spend that last dollar. Technically, you can meet the minimum spend after your December statement closes, but you have to be 100% certain you are aware when that happens. The 60,000 points per card will not post to your account until a few days after your statement closes. So let’s say you were to apply for the card on October 1, 2017 and you have a statement close date of the 3rd of every month. Any money you spend on your card from December 4th on will count towards your January statement close. The points will then post a few days after your January statement close date, so if it were to close on the 3rd, for example, the points will post to your Southwest account somewhere between January 5-10. You can still put spend on the card before your December statement close date, but do not go over that minimum spend amount. If you want to be 100% certain you do not mess it up, wait until January 1, 2018 to meet the minimum spend. That means, do not apply for the card until October 3rd.
Southwest Companion Pass FAQs
Flying limitations: With the companion pass there are no black out dates or seat restrictions – if there is a seat available for purchase, it is available for your companion. The companion pass can even be used if points were redeemed for a free flight. This can result in both passengers flying for FREE (plus the taxes/passenger)!
Number of times the companion pass can be used: Unlimited! There is no cap on the number of times the pass can be used.
Who can be a companion: Anyone can be your companion – friends, family, a complete stranger. However, the companion pass can only be switched up to three times per year. Since you need to allocate your companion when getting the pass, this allows you 4 people to use the pass per year (those people can be repeated and put back on as the companion as well but counts as one of your allowed changes). To change your companion pass, call Southwest Customer Service (1-800-IFLYSWA) and they will easily assist you on the spot.
Companion pass expiration: The companion pass is valid the remainder of the year it was earned plus the following calendar year. For example, if you earn the pass January 2018, you will have it for the rest of 2018, plus all of 2019.
My Experience with the Southwest Companion Pass
I’ve had the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass for over 10 years now. It’s been a really long time so I’ve completely lost track on the exact number of years! I’ve used it for flights to Orlando, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa, Costa Rica, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Aruba, Cancun, Washington DC, Denver, Salt Lake City, etc. I love that I can use the pass for my husband or my daughter while redeeming points for my flight. And Southwest flights can be canceled with no fee!! If you use points, the points go straight back into your account. If you pay for the flight, you receive a voucher for the amount paid to be used within a year of the date purchased.
Let me know if you have any questions!
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
If you are only approved for 1 SW card, what is your recommendation as to how to best get the remaining 50k points required for the companion pass? Most of the articles that come up when I google this are out of date. Any current methods you can steer us to? What about transferrable points such as chase membership rewards, club carlson pts, etc. Any good value ways to use those toward the companion pass?
Thanks!
@LKS – great question! Just posted a new post to answer your question.
Just to clarify, if I am trying to earn the companion pass by opening two accounts then I need to open 2 different credit cards? Are the points automatically tied to the same rewards account? I would open a business account and a premier with my name. Just want to be sure I am opening the cards correctly since I can only get approved by 2 cards in a year.
@Abbie – Yes, you’d need to open two different credit cards and make sure to tie them to the same Southwest Rapid Reward number. When you apply it asks for your Rapid Reward number.
I had heard that once you hit the $2000 spend, that it immediately triggers the points and even if you return things, it won’t matter.
Important note: these cards fall under the 5/24 rule
@Veejay – That is correct.
If I have 70,000 points now, do I need to make sure that I don’t exceed the 110,000 until after January 1?
yes
disregard, I had not paid attention, the expiring points was addressed in another post.
If you are a couple, what is the best way to do this? One person apply for two cards and add the other as an authorized user (would that count toward 5/24?) to meet minimum spend and the next year the 2nd person applies for both cards?
@Ruth – Exactly. Although you do not need to add on the other as an authorized user, unless you’d like that person to have a card in their name to help meet the minimum spend.
Any advice on applying for both cards? Is the best approach to apply for both on the same day?
I would also like to know this 🙂
I thought I asked a question earlier but I don’t see it. I have about 70,000 points. So do I need to make sure I don’t exceed 110,000 before January 1?
@Jan – If you have 70,000 points NOW, you’ll want to earn the remaining 40,000 points before December 31, 2017. Come January 1, 2017, the number of points required towards the companion pass will reset and those 70,000 points will not carry over. Does that help?
@dealswelike, Regarding “yes, you are allowed to have two Southwest credit cards in your wallet”, aren’t you allowed to have one of each (total 3) cards?
@Jan, all 110,000 points must have been received in the same calendar year. If some of your 70K points were received before 2017, they won’t count.
@Miles – Yes you are, but Chase typically will only approve you for 2 Chase cards within a 30 day period.
Hi! Great article. Is the companion pass only for economy or will it also apply for business/first class?
thanks!
@tina – Southwest does not have business/first class.
Can you achieve the minimum spend requirements for two cards, $4,000 total, by purchasing visa gift cards or store/restaurant gift cards? Or does it have to be specific product purchases?
@Trent – Usually visa gift cards or store/restaurant gift cards are 3rd level data when it is sent to the credit card companies. Typically, the credit cads do not look into the 3rd level data when counting minimum spend requirements. While I wouldn’t advise purchasing directly from Visa, but if you purchase from Staples (or another store that sells Visa gift cards) you should be good.
Do you “buy” the companion pass with 110K points? Or the 110K points are still available to redeem after you receive the companion pass? Thanks
@RL – No you do not. Once you earn 110,000 qualifying points, you automatically earn the companion pass. And you still have those 110,000 points to redeem for free flights.
Got an email today from southwest stating the offer is going to expire October 1, 2017. Where did you guys find the Oct 4th date?
@PV – Do you mind posting that saying it will expire October 1st (or forwarding it to me)? There have been many dates floating around.
Was there a resolution on this? Timing this out and would be important to know 🙂
@Gabe – both dates are floating around, but you can always apply Oct 1 to be better safe then sorry.
Some people have been applying and approving on Sept. 15th and messaging Chase about the date to reach the minimum spend requirements. Chase is replying with a 115 day time period, instead of 90. Have you heard anything on this?
I just signed up for 1 card today and plan to sign up for a 2nd card card tomorrow. Do I have until January 2nd for the 1st card and January 3rd for the 2nd card to earn the minimum spend?
I signed up for 2 cards within minutes of each other, got instantly approved for high limit on one and $2,500 on the other. The high limit one matched my existing Chase IHG Reward card limit.
I looked today 10-5-17 and SWA is still showing 60,000 on website, I wonder when it will drop off or update?
I figured, what the heck, as long as a companion pass is a potential outcome, I’ll give it a go.
I have all winter off so I can take a friend traveling and they can buy food and booze I’ll provide the airfare.
I am going to look closer at Gift cards to hit the minimum spend, the versatility of Visa gift cards is tempting, I just am not sure they would count towards the spend. But walmart gift cards can be used at Sams club gas, and online. And I can pre-pay my verizon and cable bills etc. for a year, maybe even my car insurance for a year or 2.
I was approved for a business cc on 10/12 and received today, 10/21 which offers 60k points if spend is met. I plan on applying for a second card whenever I can find a code to give me higher bonus (currently it’s 40k on SWA website). I want to be sure to do this properly and am afraid to mess up! How should I spend in order to earn companion pass? I don’t completely understand about the statement drop date (I read others posts above). Can someone plz advise? Thank you!!!
@Bev – You want to earn the companion pas for 2018 and 2019, correct? Then wait till January 1, 2018 to meet the minimum spend.
Yep! I want to earn 2018/19. I know I shouldn’t spend my last bit until after Jan 1 (right?) but is it ok to try to break it up over the next 2 months or so? And can you explain about statement dates? Moving them to be more advantageous? I am so excited about this and seriously don’t want to screw anything up LOL!
@Bev – You can spend $1,999 up until December 31st, but make sure to not spend that last dollar until January 1. You should not need to move statement dates. I recommend calling Chase and/or sending them a secure message through your Chase.com account to find out the exact date when you need to meet the minimum spend. If that dates is after January 1, 2018 then you do not need to worry about moving the statement date. Let me know!
Hi, my wife and I have a joint Southwest card currently. Do you recommend that we both apply for our own cards when SW offers the 60,000 point deal again? And I’m assuming we can use the same RR number?
Thanks! We’ve never taken advantage of the Companion pass — and we would LOVE TO!
@Matt – I have read reports that applying for a card in your name but using another Southwest account number has worked, but cannot speak from personal experience. If you want to do it the “right” way, then just one of you should apply for two Southwest credit cards and have the points post in 2018. That will get you the companion pass for 2018 and 2019.
Hi! I appreciate your very helpful article! I know I’m asking questions that have already been asked and answered, but I just want to make sure I’m doing this right. I applied for both personal and business cards in September. I was approved for the personal card right away, but it took what seemed forever for them to finally approve the business card. I had to fax more documentation and proof of the business. I finally received the business card this week.
I think I may have already messed up being able to get the companion pass for the two-year time frame though. I spent enough on the personal card that I will be getting the 60,000 points posted on my Dec. 15 statement according to what I see online. I think that is where I erred: meeting the $2,000 spend requirement before the end of this year. I just received my business card which, when at the time I applied, was also supposed to also give me 60,000 points. Do I need to spend the required $3,000 before the end of 2017 so that I can at least have the companion pass in 2018? Or if I spend the $3,000 at the beginning of 2018 will I be able to have the pass for both 2018 and 2019?
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer. 🙂
@Teresa – When did you meet the $2,000 spend for the personal card? And how much did you spend? Can you return whatever you purchased, or return something else and have it be put back on your Southwest personal card to get you under the $2,000 spend? If so, you can then wait until after your December statement close date and before your 3 month period ends (send a message to Chase to see your exact date). Then those points will post in January 2018. And you can then have your business card points post in 2018.
IF the above cannot happen and those 60,000 points from the personal card post in 2017, then you’ll want the business card points to post in 2017 as well. You’ll want to meet the minimum spend prior to your december close date. It usually takes 2-5 days for the points to post after your statement close date.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions.
Thank you for the quick reply! 🙂
My statements close on the 15th. The Nov. 15 statement that just closed shows that the bonus points posted. I actually purchased Wanna Get Away flights for me and three family members on that statement ($1,039 total). If I cancelled those flights, it would certainly help in getting my account close to $2,000 total *if* they credited my account back. But they probably wouldn’t, would they? In that they would keep that charge and just allow me to book future flights? If that’s the case, I think I’m out of luck because I can’t return enough other transactions to get me below the $2,000. 🙁
I had heard that even if you do get it credited back it won’t matter because once you hit the spend amount, it triggers the points to post to your account
@Ruth – Points post a few days after your statement close date. So if you make the purchases and then return within the same statement, you won’t have yet him that minimum spend.
@Teresa – Since the statement already closed unfortunately any returns will not help you out. You would have had to make those returns and get under the $2,000 minimum spend by November 15th. I am sorry.
I figured I had messed up. 🙁 It was taking so long to get all of the business card paperwork accepted to their satisfaction, and we were planning an upcoming trip, that I went ahead and put the trip on the personal card. Lesson learned! At least I’ll have the companion pass for all of 2018 after I pay one of our business bills tomorrow. 🙂
My statement closes on the 25th. I’m gearing up to earn CP as early in 2018 as possible so I’m putting off any and all charging until 01/2018. There is a payment for college tuition due before 12/31/17. Will the charges made 12/26/17-12/31/17 count toward 2017 or 2018, since the statement will post in 01/2018? Thank you for the fantastic article!
@Stephanie – Charges made 12/26/17-12/31/2017 will post in 2018! Enjoy the companion pass.