All About The Southwest Companion Pass

The Southwest Companion Pass is a valuable travel benefit that lets a designated companion fly free (excluding taxes and fees) with a Rapid Rewards member on all Southwest flights. It effectively doubles the value of your points and makes travel more affordable.

Let’s go over everything you need to know so you can get BOGO flights for you and a loved one.

What is the Southwest Companion Pass?

The Southwest Companion Pass is a great perk from Southwest Airlines that lets you bring a friend or family member for free on all of your Southwest flights. You just have to pay the taxes and fees, which are usually $5.60. The pass can be earned easily with just two credit card welcome offers, and it is good for the rest of the year in which you earned it, plus all of the following year.

How to earn it

To earn the Southwest Companion Pass, you must collect at least 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in one calendar year. Southwest cardholders automatically get a 10,000-point boost each year, which means that you technically only need to earn 125,000 Rapid Rewards points to qualify for the pass. This can be done by opening two Chase co-branded credit cards.

A note on timing

As I mentioned, when you earn the pass, it’s good for the rest of the year in which you earned it and all of the following year. This means that it’s possible to have the pass for nearly two years if you earn it very early in the year. Because of this, the timing of opening cards and hitting the minimum spending requirement is very important. The points have to be earned in the same calendar year to count toward the pass.

All of that being said, these strategies can be done at any point during the year. You will just have your pass for less time if you earn it later.

Here are a few example card strategies for how to earn the pass, plus the timing if you’re trying to earn it as early as possible.

Card Strategy #1 – Business and personal card

• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card in late October to early November. Begin working on the spending right away, but DO NOT meet the spending requirement until early January.
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card in late November – at least 30 days after your previous card.
• Continue working on the spending requirements for both cards and track your spending closely so you do not meet it too early!
• Complete the spending on both cards as early in January as possible so you can get the most use out of your pass.
• Once you’ve hit the spending requirements, monitor your email for your official Companion Pass email notification!

Card Strategy #2 – Two business cards

• Either Southwest business card in late October to early November. Begin working on the spending right away, but DO NOT meet the spending requirement until early January.
• The other Southwest business card in late November – at least 30 days after your previous card.
• Continue working on the spending requirements for both cards and track your spending closely so you do not meet it too early!
• Complete the spending on both cards as early in January as possible so you can get the most use out of your pass.
• Once you’ve hit the spending requirements, monitor your email for your official Companion Pass email notification!

Card Strategy #3 – Two passes

This uses a two-person (or “player”) strategy to earn two passes with a combination of cards and referral points.

• Player One opens a Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card sometime in November or December and works on the spending requirement but does not hit it until January.
• Player One then refers Player Two to the same business card sometime after January 1st. P1 will earn a 20,000-point referral bonus.
• P2 will work on the spending requirement and hit it as early as possible.
• Once P2 has met the spending, P1 refers P2 to the second Southwest business card OR a Southwest personal card.
• At this point, P1 will have received 40,000 points in referral bonuses plus their welcome offer, which is enough for one pass.
• P2 completes the spending requirement on their second Southwest card and earns enough points for a second pass.
• Monitor your emails for your official Companion Pass notifications for both passes!

Card Options

Here are the cards that earn Southwest Rapid Rewards:

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card*
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

The Plus and Premier cards currently have offers for 40,000 points plus a $400 travel credit when you spend $3,000 in the first four months. Overall, this is a good offer, but it makes the timing a tad trickier for earning the pass. Because you earn fewer points with the welcome offer, you need your spending to count toward earning your pass. This means that you should save the majority of your spending for January so that all of your points hit in one calendar year.

*All information about Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card has been collected independently by The Traveling Hansens. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

How to earn the companion pass with just one card

Another way to meet the requirements for the Companion Pass is with just one card plus a combination of organic spending, earning points for cash flights on Southwest, the Southwest shopping portal, and/or referral bonuses.

This strategy will take longer and require much more spending, but it is an option if you do not want to open multiple cards or are not eligible for business cards. If you choose this option, I recommend applying when the cards have elevated bonuses.

Southwest card eligibility

Here are a few important things to be aware of:

• What if I currently have a Southwest personal card? If you currently have a Southwest personal card and you want to earn the Companion Pass, you will need to cancel your current card at least 30 days before reapplying for a new one.
• What if I currently have a Southwest business card? If you currently have a business Southwest card, you can still open the other business card. You can have both at the same time.
• Am I eligible to open a business credit card? It is much easier to be eligible for a business credit card than you think! You do not need a registered business; you can apply as a sole proprietor using your SSN. Any side hustle income counts – photography, Facebook Marketplace sales, dog walking, freelance writing, tutoring, rideshare, etc. Learn more about business cards here.
• What if I’ve earned the bonus on one of these cards before? You can earn the bonus on a Southwest card again if it has been at least 24 months since you last earned the bonus and you no longer have that card open.
• Can I apply for multiple cards so close together? 90 days is a good general guideline, but it is not a hard and fast rule. In cases like this, it is totally fine to open multiple cards close together, just make sure to space out your next card applications more.

Wrapping Up

The Southwest Companion Pass is a fantastic travel perk that lets you get BOGO flights for up to two years, effectively doubling the value of your points. There is some strategy involved in opening the right cards at the right time, but it’s totally doable and well worth the effort.

If you’re a visual learner and prefer to hear this explained to you with graphics to look at while you listen, you can grab our Southwest Companion Pass Workshop and complete guide here.