I am very excited to see that the Southwest Business Premier credit card is now offering a 60,000 point sign up offer! This is up from the previous 50,000 point offer. With this offer, you’ll need to spend $3,000 on the card within the first 3 months of card membership. It also comes with a $99 annual fee that is NOT wavier the first year. You can learn about all Airline credit card offers here.
The other two Southwest Airlines Rapid Reward credit cards, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Card and Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier Card, are offering 50,000 points after meeting the same minimum spend requirement. The BEST THING about these offers are that the points earned from the credit card sign up currently count towards the 110,000 point required for the Southwest Companion Pass. For those new to the Southwest Companion Pass, I want to quickly point out that this pass allows another passenger to fly with you for FREE an UNLIMITED number of times! This means that if you get the business card offering 60,000 points and one of the personal cards offering 50,000 points, you’ll immediately earn the companion pass after the points from the sign up offer post to your account. Points post to your account a few days after your statement closes after you meet the minimum spend.
If you are looking to earn the Companion Pass for 2017 and 2018, now is the perfect time to apply. Ideally you’ll want to hit the minimum spend on the card as quickly as possible so you can get the companion pass sooner then later. Getting it quickly can allow you to have the pass for approximately 22-23 months, which is amazing!
I’ve included the links on where you can find the 50,000-60,000 point offers. Be careful when googling or looking up the offer on the Southwest site as they are offering a lower 40,000 point offer.
Unfortunately, these cards are not available to those that have received a bonus within the past 24 months. However, if you applied for one card recently, you are still eligible to earn the bonus points for another card as they are three separate products. Also keep in mind that the Southwest credit cards are subject to Chase’s “5/24” rule.
What are the sign up bonus points worth?
For those who are new to Southwest, 50,000 points is worth a cut and dry $714 and 60,000 points is much worth a cut and dry $840 towards a future “Wanna Getaway” fare. Although, Southwest did implement some changes to the program almost a year ago, on some peak fare flights, you might get a slightly less value when using your points (related post). As mentioned above, there are three versions of the card and you are able to apply for more then one card offer. Remember, the 50,000-60,000 points earned from the credit card sign up after meeting the spend requirements count towards reaching companion pass status, which is by far my favorite aspect of the Southwest program. Also you are not actually redeeming your points for the companion pass, but you are receiving the pass ON TOP of the points earned to redeem for free flights!
Quick recap of the companion pass
The best part of the pass is that a companion is allowed to fly with you on ANY flight. As long as there is one seat available, you can book your companion a ticket. There are NO restrictions and NO blackout dates. Not only that, even if the main passenger is flying on a free ticket with points, you can still use the companion pass! So that means on your first few flights, you can use the sign up bonus points earned from the credit card PLUS a companion can fly with you. So while 110,000 points are worth approx $1,154, if a companion flies with you on these flights, then that is essentially doubling the value of the sign up bonus!
Some things to keep in mind:
- Once you accrue the necessary 110,000 points to earn the companion pass status, the pass will be available for you the entire year it was earned PLUS the entire following calendar year. So if you earn the pass now, your pass with be active for the rest of 2017 and all of 2018
- You cannot combine points between two accounts to count for the companion pass.
- Transferring Chase Ultimate Reward points to Southwest DO NOT count towards the companion pass, but transferring hotel points DO count (through March 31, 2017)
- Your companion can fly with you an UNLIMITED number of times during the life of the pass. You can change your companion 3 times per year.
- The only amount your companion pays is the tax which is $5.60 per one-way. International flights are more and depends on where you are flying to/from.
- You CAN use the companion pass when the main passenger is flying on a free ticket!
Related Posts:
- Getting the Southwest Companion Pass
- Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Blog Series
- Southwest Rapid Reward Program Blog Series
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.
How do you get the business card if you don’t have a business
@Cathy – Many people are trying to either start a business, or have an eBay business. There is some grey area too and you can just use your social security number, you do not need an EIN.
Hi. I’ve applied for Business & Premier personal card and have spent the required 3K on each card since March 5, 2017. So my companion pass should come as each card’s statements are printed, correct? Does the companion pass cost ‘my’ earned 110,000 points, or do I get the companion pass AND retain the 110,000 points to redeem for flights, etc.? Thank you!
@Nancy – The points will post within a few days after your statement close date. You do not need to redeem your points for the companion pass! You retain the 110,000 points to redeem for flights AND get the companion pass. It really is an awesome deal!
Thank you. If Southwest can do this, why cannot other airlines follow suit? Crazy good!
Hi, I want to make sure I understand your scenario. You applied for two cards and spent the required amount to get your bonus points for each card. I assume you add 50K points for the premier card with 60K points for the business card to get 110K points. My question is – from item 2 of the list of things to keep in mind above – “You cannot combine points between two accounts to count for the companion pass.” Isn’t that referring to what you are trying to do?
Thank you.
No, david. Nancy has a SWA Rapid Reward #. That’s considered her “account” as used in the tips above. She applied for both credit card products as the primary cardholder, using her SWA Rapid Reward #/account. Therefore, all 110K points are placed in her Rapid Rewards account and she earns the Companion Pass.
Problems occur when two people each apply for a SWA credit card thinking they can combine the points they earn in their two separate SWA Rapid Reward accounts. For example, if Wife applies for a personal SWA card as the primary cardholder and earns 50K points and Husband applies for a business SWA card as the primary cardholder and earns 60K points, those points can not be combined as they are in two separate SWA Rapid Reward accounts. If one of those two people “gifts” their bonus points to the other, placing them in their partner’s account, those points do not count toward the Companion Pass (and there is a fee to “gift” RR points).
I Love this SW offer. I am currently on my second time of applying for and receiving credit cards for my companion pass. So four years of free companion flying with me. You just have to cancel your cards at some point so you can re-apply after the 24 month waiting period. Also, the 24 Months is from the time you received the bonus, not from the time you applied. Perfect time to signup the first time is Oct/Nov timeframe, making sure you don’t hit your spend limit prior to the December billing date. That way you earn the pass on your January Billing cycle. Then 2 years later you can apply in January and get it as soon as you hit the spend limit
How do you keep the Companion pass going year after year? What is the threshold of spend you have to put on the card?
I have a legitimate business. I file a Schedule C and receive 1099s from clients. I just applied for a Southwest Business card but was scared away when the fine print said I could only use the card for business purposes, not personal. It would definitely be used for personal almost exclusively. Should I go ahead and apply for it and use it for personal? I have an Aadvantage business card and haven’t had an issue using it for personal expenses. Thank, Sherry
@Sherry – In my experience, I’ve never had an issue with business cards being used for non-business spend.
If I’m already A_list preferred (which gets me double points when booking Southwest), and the Business card gets double points, do I get 4x the points?
or does the business card offer no benefit in terms of points if I’m already A-list preferred?
We have 80,000 points on our SW Visa towards a companion pass. Our billing cycle ends Dec 10, 2017.
Do you think it ‘s worth spending $5000 on a SW trip booking business class and a vacation package in order to gain the remaining 30,000 pts to qualify for the Compainion Pass?
Or
Should one of us apply for the SW Visa Business card (60000) and a Premier Visa (40000) earning 100,000 points and then spwnd $10,000 to qualify for the Companion Pass?
@Rose – Do you earn the 30,000 points when you book the trip or take the trip? I know with flights you do not earn after you take the flight, not sure about their vacation packages (not sure how they are billed). If you earn it now, it will only be good for 2018. If you do the two credit cards it will be good for 2018 and 2019, although you need to be approved for both.
Thanks for your response. I believe you earn the points after the trip is completed.
I will apply for both credit cards. Hopefully it will be approved.
Rose…you may want to reconsider hitting your ‘eligibility’ for companion pass in January 2018 statement. If indeed you have everything in order, you would get companion pass for 2018 and 2019. If you hit your eligibility in Dec., your companion pass would be good just for a couple weeks in 2017 and then they 2018.
Suggest you talk with cc set-up specifically about options. At minimum, I would suggest you get only Premier Card whose 40,000 points (with your 80K you currently have) can make you get that companion pass. Just check it out carefully…as to when points post…etc.
I did the two credit cards and purchases…and got my companion pass this last spring. I figured it cost me 110K points…but duh! I still can use those 110K points for my ticket and take my companion for free! Win-win in my opinion! Good Luck!
I currently have a Southwest RR Plus Visa card with about 75,000 points. I applied for it in early 2017 when they were offering the 50,000 point bonus. If I apply and get approved for the Premier card, will those bonus points merge with my current points to reach Companion Pass status?
@Susie – If you apply now and even if you meet the minimum spend immediately, the points will still post in 2018. There is a good chance that there is no way you’ll get to move the statement date to close in December (although I could be wrong). Points post a few days after your statement closes.
Points earned in 2017 do not carry over to 2018 unfortunately.