Southwest is the main airline Keri and I fly for a lot of reasons. They have a lot of great policies that make them great for families or people who want to make air travel more affordable. But the thing that really sets them above any other airline is their Companion Pass.
The Southwest Companion Pass is a benefit you receive when you earn 135,000 Rapid Rewards points or take 100 Southwest flights in one calendar year. Once you have it on your Rapid rewards account, the companion of your choice will fly with you for FREE until the end of the year you receive the pass AND the end of the following year! That means if you meet the qualifications for the pass in January 2025, your companion will fly with you free until the end of December 2026! That is an amazing deal! Let’s break it down and answer a few FAQ about the pass itself.
How do I get that many points? For most people, 100 flights in a year or 135,000 points in a year is not doable just from normal travel. That is where credit card bonuses come in! Using the two card strategy and opening two Southwest cards in the fall (but not meeting the bonuses until January), you can strategically use the card bonuses of Rapid Rewards points to easily meet that 135,000 points threshold and trigger the pass. Keri will do a long post tomorrow detailing exactly how this works! There are other ways to get smaller amounts of points, but the primary strategy to earn the pass is by opening those two cards.
What happens to the points I earn once I get the pass? Maybe the best part of the Companion Pass is that once you meet the 135,000 points threshold and trigger the pass, those points are just yours to use as you please! You don’t have to “buy” the pass using your points – the pass is simply added to your account and you can use it from then on! That means once you get the pass, you then have about 150,000 RR points to use to book all your flights.
How do I use the Companion Pass? You will book your flight like normal using points or cash but just book a ticket for yourself and anyone else flying who is NOT your companion. Then, call Southwest or use their website to add the companion to your reservation! They will then be linked to your reservation and with you no matter what.
How do I select my companion? You can choose anyone to be your companion (spouse, child, family member, friend, etc) BUT the tricky part is you can only change your companion three times in one calendar year. You also cannot have multiple companions booked on different reservations at the same time. So if you had a trip planned with your spouse in January, a child in April, and a friend in August, after each trip you would have to call/chat with Southwest to add the new companion to your reservations.
Is there a maximum number of free flights where I can have a companion? NO! You can take as many flights as you want with your companion as long as you don’t change who that person is more than three times in a calendar year. If you are trying to save money on flights, this truly is an amazing deal that could get you endless free flights for two straight years. My husband and I will each have Companion Passes for the next two years which means our kids will fly free with us during that entire period!
The main strategy we recommend that most people use to get the pass is a two-card strategy we describe in THIS POST. By strategically opening two Southwest cards in a few months, you can get thousands of dollars worth of free flights! We love Southwest for its free checked bags, great flight change policies, and much more, but the Companion Pass might be the main reason we love them for families.
