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.

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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 one to two Chase co-branded credit cards.

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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.

Current offers and strategies

There are currently elevated offers on Southwest’s personal cards (ending September 17th, 2025). These offers are for 100,000 points when you spend $4,000 in the first five months from account opening. This means that you can potentially earn the Companion Pass by opening one of these cards and then either putting some extra spending on the card and/or referring people to the card to earn extra points.

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 in the year as possible. This first strategy is taking the current elevated offers into account. The other strategies are more along the lines of earning it the “traditional” way with standard offers.

Card Strategy #1 – One personal card and spending/referring

The explanation below assumes that you want to wait to earn the pass for 2026 and 2027. However, you could absolutely follow this same strategy starting right away, and you’ll have the pass for the rest of 2025 and all of 2026.

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card in mid to late August – you have five months to meet the spending requirement, which gives you until mid to late January.
• Work on the spending requirement and track your spending closely so you do not meet it too early! Do not meet it before January 1st if you want your pass for 2026-2027.
• After January 1st, refer your player two to the same card. This will earn you 20,000 additional points.
• After you’ve earned the welcome offer, continue spending on the card. Remember, the card comes with 10,000 points toward a companion pass, so at this point, you will just need an additional 5,000 points. The card earns 2X at gas stations and grocery stores for up to $5,000 spent, so focus on those categories to earn points the quickest.
• Once you’ve reached 135,000 points earned, monitor your email for your official Companion Pass email notification!

Card Strategy #2 – 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!

<All information about the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus 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.>

Card Strategy #3 – 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. Note – Chase has been cracking down on the amount of business cards they’ll let you have open at one time. So, if you have any Chase cards older than one year, I recommend closing those first. It’s best to have less than three open.
• 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 #4 – 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:

Personal

• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card

<All information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority and Premier Credit Cards has been collected independently by The Traveling Hansens. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.>

Business

• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

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

Southwest card eligibility

Here are a few important things to be aware of. These rules apply to both ways of earning the pass:

• 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.

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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.