Some of the links in this post contain referral links. Meaning I receive a commission at no cost to you if you sign up using my referral link. Thanks for the support!
Pete Snaps
Right now there’s a Southwest Companion Pass Promotion going on that will end soon.
It will end on March 13th, 2023, to be exact.
This promotion is one of the easiest ways to score free flights for your vacation this summer (and for that ski trip next winter). The pass if a “free” perk after you sign up for the participating credit card and hit the minimum spend amount, which is pretty easy, because: bills.
I used this promotion last year to book free flights to Maui, Hawaii and Lake Tahoe, California.
Specifically, I used this Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card to make it happen along with the promotional Companion Pass deal (which expires soon).
Here’s all you need to know before you sign up for the Southwest Companion Pass Promotion. We’ll take a look at:
- What is the Southwest Companion Pass?
- How Do You Earn the Companion Pass?
- Is the Southwest Companion Pass Promotion the Best Option for You?
What is the Southwest Companion Pass?
The Companion Pass is one of the best travel hacks out there. Period.
Let me explain.
The Companion Pass is a Southwest offer that allows the Companion Pass holder to select one lucky person to fly for free with them for the duration of the promotion.
You can switch who your companion is up to three times each calendar year.
This means you and your Companion can save 50% on flights off top. Not to mention, you get rapid rewards bonus points for signing up for any Southwest credit card. These bonus points can be used to pay for the other 50% of the flight cost.
Voila. Say hello to free flights.
This type of travel hack is part of what makes me excited to write about using credit cards to book discounted travel. I love sharing these tips with my friends and family. It’s so fun to help others see how they can take advantage of these types of bonuses to make their next vacation more affordable.
I’ve used this hack to book free flights for two to:
- Maui, Hawaii
- Lake Tahoe, California
- San Francisco, California (hello Napa)
The Companion Pass has a way of making expensive trips much more affordable. It’s one of the easiest and most repeatable ways to start your vacation budget with essentially free flights. The card I signed up for is the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus credit card.
Since we can’t avoid taxes, you are still required to pay taxes per flight. Taxes typically cost $5.60 per one-way flight, so you can budget $22.40 for two otherwise free round-trip tickets.
How Do You Earn the Southwest Companion Pass?
You can earn the Companion Pass in 3 main ways:
- Signing up for the Southwest Companion Pass promotion
- By earning 135,000 qualifying rapid rewards points in a calendar year
- Flying 100 one-way flights in a year
Southwest Companion Pass Promotion
The easiest and fastest way is to earn the pass by signing up for the Southwest Companion Pass promotion. The promotion involves signing up for one of Southwest’s three personal credit cards during the promotional period. That period is right now and ends March 13th.
You then have to make the necessary minimum spend in three months to get the bonus and the Companion Pass. The minimum spend is usually $4,000 on the most basic of cards but depends on the exact card you sign up for.
Keep in mind that with the promotional companion pass offering, the rapid rewards bonus is usually smaller. This year, it is 30,000 bonus points. That is low compared to the regular offering, which is around 50k – 70k in bonus points.
135,000 Qualifying Rapid Rewards Points
The next easiest way to get the Companion Pass is by earning 135,000 points in a calendar year. While that amount of points is nearly impossible to hit with just regular spending, the sign-on bonuses make it possible as they count towards the rapid rewards points.
For instance, Southwest ran a killer sign-on bonus deal last year. The bonus for signing up for any of their personal credit cards was 100,000 points. These points count towards earning the companion pass. All you’d need to do then is earn 35,000 points throughout the year to earn the Companion Pass this way.
Flying 100 Qualifying One-Way Flights
Unless you travel constantly for work, this next one is the most difficult for regular people to qualify for. You have to fly 100 one-way flights, so 50 round-trip flights in the calendar year to earn the Companion Pass. It’s just that simple, but unless you can travel as much as you want or travel for work, this option is not attainable.
Is the Southwest Companion Pass Promotion the Best Option for You?
Now to answer the question of the day.
We’ve established that the Companion Pass is one of the best ways to save on travel for two.
But, is it the best move for you to sign up for the Southwest Companion Pass promotion right now?
While the promotion is the easiest way to get one free flight a year, it does mean signing up for another credit card. These credit cards also have annual fees.
There are pros and cons to everything, so here’s a quick list.
Southwest Companion Pass Promotion Pros
You should sign up for the promotional Companion Pass if:
- You need to earn the pass as fast as possible for an upcoming trip
- You don’t plan to travel that much, but need it for one or two bigger vacations this year
- Your travel destinations are in the U.S. or one of Southwest’s international locations
- You have a predictable schedule
- You don’t need a huge points bonus to get your trip for free
- You just want to get the Companion Pass, use it for a year, and be done with travel hacking
The biggest pro to signing up for the Companion Pass Promotion is how fast you can get the pass. You can sign up today, pay ahead on some bills and be on your way to booking free flights for your summer vacation. With the other methods, it takes a bit more time to get the pass and there’s a chance you won’t be able to get enough points in time.
Southwest Companion Pass Promotion Cons
Here are the cons of signing up for the promotional Companion Pass:
- You are limited to around 10 months of being able to use the Companion Pass
- The Rapid Rewards bonus is only 30,000 points vs. the regular 70,000 points
This may seem like a short cons list, but the reality is these cons are very important to consider. The biggest one to note is the length of the promotional Companion Pass vs. the length of the regular Companion Pass. The promotional pass starts when you hit the minimum spend on your new Southwest credit card and ends on February 28th next year.
The regular Companion Pass lasts through the end of the year you earned it AND the entire following year. For example, if you accrue 135,000 rapid rewards points in October of this year, you will be a pass holder through the end of this year and the entire following year.
The Bottom Line | Southwest Companion Pass Promotion
Based on personal experience, the list of pros we discussed earlier, and the fact that you probably want to enjoy your free flights this summer, I would say that yes the Southwest Companion Pass promotion is worth signing up for.
From there, you’re only a few months away from being able to book your free flights with your 30,000 bonus points and your Companion Pass. Put simply, the promotional Companion Pass is the easiest way to qualify for the Companion Pass. Once you’ve used the card for what you need, you can always cancel it after the year. If you have more questions, or you’re worried about hurting your credit score, check out some of my other posts on the topic: 52AA46
Travel Hacking and Playing the Long Game
You have to want to play the long game to qualify for the regular Companion Pass. Most people don’t want to play the travel hacking game and just want to cash in on the benefits fast. I sure did when I signed up for the Southwest Companion Pass promotion last year.
At the time when I signed up for the promotional companion pass, I just didn’t see a way for me to ever spend enough to get the 135,000 rapid rewards points needed for the regular Companion Pass.
Now, I see that if I had the time to wait, I could have tried to qualify for the regular pass by waiting for the bonus points to increase. They did, but only to 70,000 points. That still left a lot of points for me to try to hit with just regular spending. Plus, I wanted a Maui vacation the following summer.
The other option I now see is being able to sign up for some of Southwest’s business card offers that provide even more bonus points. These cards can be viable options to help you hit the bonus sooner than personal credit cards. There are just a few more details to work out with the business card application.
I hope you enjoyed this quick review of the Southwest Companion Pass promotion. If it helped you make your decision, consider signing up for the offer using my referral link. It supports the blog and helps me out!
