How To Earn The Southwest Companion Pass

May 11, 2023

First off … what the heck is the Southwest Companion Pass?! Arguably one of the greatest flight perk travel tools on the market. We have dozens of videos on TikTok, FB and IG talking about WHAT this thing actually is! Or, you can read below 🙂

The Southwest Companion Pass is a highly sought-after benefit offered by Southwest Airlines to its frequent flyers. It allows a designated companion to fly with the pass holder FOR FREE on Southwest flights, excluding taxes and fees. The Companion Pass essentially doubles the value of the pass holder’s Rapid Rewards points, as the companion can travel without using any additional points. Think of it like a BOGO on every Southwest flight you purchase, whether that be with cash, vouchers or points.

Here are some key details about the Southwest Companion Pass:

Designated Companion: The pass holder can choose a designated companion who can travel with them for free on both paid and award flights. The companion can be changed up to three times during the validity of the pass.
Unlimited Use: The Companion Pass has no limit on the number of times the companion can fly with the pass holder during its validity. As long as there is an available seat on the flight, the companion can fly for free.
Flexibility: The Companion Pass can be used with any type of fare, including promotional fares and award tickets. The pass holder can book a flight using cash or Rapid Rewards points, and the companion can still fly for free.
Validity: The Companion Pass is valid for the remainder of the year in which it is earned, plus the entire following year. For example, if the pass is earned in June 2025, it will be valid from June 2025 until December 2026.

At first glance … it seems almost impossible to earn. Most people think you need to spend $135,000 in a calendar year or fly on 100-one way Southwest flights to qualify. BUT … that’s why you are reading this. Courtney and Austin have had this little card twice now: June 2018 – December 2019 and March 2022 – December 2023. We would have gone for it in 2020-2021 but we all know what was going on in the world during that time period!

To earn the Southwest Companion Pass, you need to accumulate a specific number of Rapid Rewards points within a calendar year. Here’s how you can earn the Companion Pass:

Earn Rapid Rewards Points: Rapid Rewards is the loyalty program of Southwest Airlines. You can earn Rapid Rewards points by flying on Southwest Airlines, booking hotels, renting cars, shopping through their partners, or using Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Cards.
Accumulate 135,000 Rapid Rewards Points: To qualify for the Companion Pass, you need to accumulate 135,000 Rapid Rewards points within a single calendar year. This includes all points earned through Southwest Airlines and its partners.
Base Points and Bonus Points: It’s important to note that not all Rapid Rewards points count toward the Companion Pass. Base points earned from flights, partner transactions, and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Cards count, while bonus points, such as promotional or purchased points, do not count.
Timing: Once you earn the required 135,000 Rapid Rewards points, the Companion Pass is valid for the remainder of the year in which you earned it and the entire following year. For example, if you earn the pass in June 2025, it will be valid from June 2025 until December 2026.
Choose Your Companion: After earning the Companion Pass, you can designate a companion who can fly with you for free (excluding taxes and fees) on any Southwest flight, whether you booked with cash or points. You can change your designated companion up to three times during the life of the pass.

As you can see above, on January 1st, 2023 they increased the points required from 125k to 135k. HOWEVER, that’s not a big deal at all because if you are a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card member then you automatically get 10k points which brings us back down to needing 125k points to qualify. Having a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card (or multiple) makes earning the Companion Pass a million times easier!

Timing is critical for the Companion Pass, especially when factoring in credit cards. We are going to use the bonus of a credit card to help us get there. We want to MAKE SURE that the minimum spend bonus hits in 2026 and not 2025. You have to earn the 125k points in a calendar year. We’ll explain below!

Here are the 2 ways we could earn the Companion Pass for 2026 and 2027 and another way to earn it randomly:

Option Number 1: Personal CC + Hotel Bonus

To take advantage of the Companion Pass for the longest period of time, you would want to apply for one of the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Cards in December of 2025. Each of the 3 cards offer varying welcome bonuses that will change throughout the year depending on current promotions.

For the sake of this explanation, let’s pretend the current welcome bonus is an 85,000 point bonus after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months of the account opening. This is a pretty good bonus amount, but we have even seen 100,000 point bonuses after spending $3,000-$5,000 in 3-6 months, so keep an eye out for those great offers! We would put our monthly living expenses on the card in December 2025 and in January 2026 after our statement closes, we will earn the bonus + 1-3 points per dollar spent which will leave us with around 90,000 points, but we still have another 35,000 points to go! Here’s how we would earn the remaining 35,000 points … by booking hotel rooms through Southwest!

Southwest has preferred hotel partners, and some of these hotel partners offer significantly more Companion-Pass-Qualifying points than just the normal 1-3 points per dollar spent. Check out this Marriott in Myrtle Beach for $122/night earning 5,000 points in 3 nights. If you do some serious digging you’ll be able to find places that offer 10k points for just a single night! This was the first hotel I came across and hopefully it helps clarify the strategy here but we can take it even a step further!

Once you click “Select Your Room” you’ll be prompted with another option to boost your points! We don’t always recommend this but if you are trying to get to the Companion Pass as quickly as possible and you know you’ll be saving more money having it in your possession then you will be boosting your hotel … then by all means this is worth it! Even after you boost it, you’ll see another option at checkout to boost it again!

Take some trips in early 2025 using this method and you’ll hit the 135k points by spring or summer, which will give you 18-22+ months with the Companion Pass!

Option Number 2: Personal and Business Combo

Option number 2 is a way to avoid having to use the hotel trick. If you own a small business or LLC, you can open up a Southwest Rapid Rewards® Business Credit Card.

For the sake of this explanation, let’s say the business card is offering a 60,000 point bonus after you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months. Pair this bonus with any of the personal cards 80,000 point bonus and BOOM you’ve got the Companion Pass immediately. This could happen as soon as February or March 2025 even. Giving you 22 months of the Companion Pass!

Option Number 3: Promotional Companion Pass

Every once and a while Southwest will run a promotion that can help you easily earn the Companion Pass for a fixed amount of time. For example, back in April 2023, they ran a promo which allowed you to purchase a single roundtrip flight and travel before 5/24 and then you’d earn a Companion Pass for 6 weeks in the Fall. If you took a short and cheap domestic flight in May you could take 2 international trips to Puerto Vallarta and Costa Rica in the Fall with a free +1. Below is another example of a promo from 2019. Keep your eyes peeled and be prepared to act quickly when they go live!

In closing … it’s definitely not EASY to get the true Companion Pass (not the promotional one, that’s normally pretty easy!) … BUT it is easier than most people think. You do not have to fly 100 times or spend $135,000. Here are all of the trips we took when we had the Companion Pass … Puerto Vallarta (x4), Costa Rica, Cancun (x3), Aruba, Grand Cayman (x2), Denver, Las Vegas (x2), Baltimore (x10 – Austin’s hometown is Annapolis), St. Louis (x6 – Courtney’s hometown is nearby), West Palm Beach (x12), Fort Lauderdale (x4) and many many more. We’ve saved thousands of dollars, especially considering that we book most of our flights with points, so we both end up flying free (minus the taxes).

Hope this was helpful and see y’all in the sky! – Austin and Courtney

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