Southwest Companion Pass Complete Guide [2024]

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best deals in the entire airline industry. Some airlines offer a companion ticket as a cardholder benefit that’s valid for one trip. However, Southwest takes it up a notch by allowing you to select one person and fly as much as you want to, only paying taxes and fees for the second ticket.

Here’s how to get the coveted Southwest Companion Pass — and a few tips for using it.

What is the Southwest Companion Pass?

The Southwest companion pass essentially allows you to get buy-one, get-one flights for almost two full years, depending on when you earn it. You just have to pay taxes and fees on the companion flight. There aren’t any restrictions or limitations on when you can use the companion fare, so you could potentially get dozens of free flights for a companion. You also don’t have to pay cash when using your companion pass — award flights count.

Once you earn the pass, it’s good for the remainder of the current calendar year and the next calendar year. If you time it right, you can get the benefit for almost two full years, potentially saving thousands of dollars. For example, if you earn the pass in February 2025, you can use it through December 2026.

How to earn a Southwest Companion Pass

There are two ways to earn the Southwest Companion Pass: Fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 135,000 tier qualifying points per calendar year. Unless you plan on taking 50 vacations throughout the year, you’ll likely be better off attempting to reach the tier qualifying point threshold.

Rules

Keep in mind that Companion Pass points are different from Rapid Rewards points. Some double-count, others don’t. You’ll earn Companion Pass qualifying points on the following:

• Revenue flights booked through Southwest
• Points earned on Southwest credit cards
• Base points earned from Rapid Rewards partners (including car rentals and hotels)
• Points earned with select shopping, dining, home, and lifestyle partners

Qualifying points

The number of qualifying points you’ll earn on flights depends on which fare class you purchase and if you have loyalty status. You can check how many points you’ll earn in any given situation on Southwest’s website. For reference, Southwest has four fare classes, and you’ll earn the following points per dollar on base fares without Rapid Rewards member status:

• Wanna Get Away: 6 points per dollar
• Wanna Get Away Plus: 8 points per dollar
• Anytime: 10 points per dollar
• Business Select: 12 points per dollar

You'll do much better with status and the most premium ticket. If you start the year as an A-List Preferred member and exclusively purchase Business Select fares, for example, you’ll only need to spend $5,625 on flights throughout the year to earn a companion pass. Conversely, if you don’t have status and only purchase Wanna Get Away, you’ll need to spend $22,500.

Credit card use

If you don’t want to focus solely on flying to earn a Companion Pass, you can sign up for one of five Southwest credit cards. Any welcome offer you qualify for and spending you do can bring you closer to a Companion Pass. All three personal Southwest cards also boost your Companion Pass points by 10,000 every year, lowering your required threshold.

Right now, each of the three cards — Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Premier Credit Card, and Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Priority Credit Card — has a welcome offer that further notches your required points down. After earning this, you can fly Southwest and spend at its shopping and dining partners to earn extra points.

Focus on timing when getting a new card to maximize the Companion Pass. You can apply for a new card toward the end of a calendar year and then work on meeting the welcome offer requirements at the beginning of the following year. Points earned on credit card spending or flights don’t post to your account immediately and can take a statement cycle to post, so you can time them to post in January or February, giving you more time to utilize the benefit.

How to use a Southwest Companion Pass

1. Choose a travel buddy.
2. Book a flight for yourself.
3. Add your companion to that flight.
4. Pay the taxes/fees for the second ticket.

Once you’ve earned the Companion Pass, you’ll need to designate your travel partner. You can do this online from your account dashboard. When you’re ready to book a flight, buy your ticket first, ensuring that there are at least two seats open on the plane. After your flight is confirmed, go to your reservation in your account and add a companion.

Since you have already designated your companion, it will autofill their information. Then, you’ll pay the taxes and fees on the companion ticket, and you’re all set. There are no blackout dates or restrictions, and you can use the pass anywhere Southwest flies. Fortunately, Southwest has increased its routes in recent years, making the Companion Pass more worthwhile than it used to be. You can even use it on international destinations, but watch for higher taxes and fees.

You can also use the Companion Pass on flights booked before you earn it, as long as it’s within the validity window. You cannot use it to book flights that will happen after the pass expires. Since it’s a companion pass, you’ll need to do everything together with your partner — checking in and traveling together. If one person can’t travel, the other can’t either.

FAQs

Bottom line

If you want to get one of the best deals in the industry, the Southwest Companion Pass is worth going for. Timing is crucial for maximizing this reward; since it’s valid through the end of the following calendar year, you want to earn it as early in the year as possible.

After you qualify, start planning trips right away. With all the hard work you put into earning the pass, you’ll want to squeeze as much value out of it as you can. Also, don’t forget that you might have more than 135,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points available after reaching Companion Pass points requirements. Depending on how you use them, they could go a long way.

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Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card

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Southwest Rapid Rewards^® Plus Credit Card

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Current Offer

Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening

Annual Fee

$69

Rewards Rate

2X points on Southwest purchases and Rapid Rewards hotel and car rental partners; on local transit and commuting, including rideshare; and on internet, cable, phone services, and select streaming; plus 1X points on all other purchases

Benefits and Drawbacks

Benefits

• Solid rewards rate
• Redeem points for flights, gift cards, and more
• 3,000 bonus points after cardmember anniversary
• 2 EarlyBird Check-Ins® per year

Drawbacks

• Has annual fee
• Has foreign transaction fee
• Limited travel benefits compared to premium Southwest cards

Card Details

• Earn a $400 statement credit and 40,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 4 months from account opening.
• 3,000 anniversary points each year.
• Earn 2X points on Southwest® purchases.
• Earn 2X points on local transit and commuting, including rideshare.
• Earn 2X points on internet, cable, and phone services; select streaming.
• 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year.
• Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases.
• Member FDIC