Earn & Use Southwest Companion Pass

How to Earn and Use the Southwest Companion Pass?

If you regularly travel as a pair and are looking to get the best possible price for your flights, then the Southwest Companion Pass may be just what you are looking for! This amazing travel hack will allow you to bring a companion onto your booked Southwest flight, with absolutely no extra cost!

So how do you access this great opportunity and what do you need to do to earn southwest companion pass benefits? Read below to discover everything you need to know.

One of the most important steps you'll need when Earning and Using a Southwest Companion Pass is signing up for their rewards program which can be done by signing up for Southwests Reward Program. 

What is Southwest Companion Pass?

The Southwest Companion Pass will allow you to bring a companion with you on all of your Southwest flights at no extra costs after taxes and fees and apply to both your award and normally purchased tickers.

Your named companion will be allowed to change three times a year, so you are not locked into traveling with one person to access the advantages of the pass. However, you will only be allowed to do so as long as you don't have an open flight with your previous companion still booked.

When Should You Apply for A Southwest Companion Pass?

When you earn Southwest Companion Pass benefits, you are eligible to use it for the remainder of the year when it began and the full year afterward. For this reason, it is better to try to get the pass as early in the year as possible to derive the longest possible pass coverage. Let's look at this below:

- If you were to get a pass in November 2021 - You will only get one year and one-month coverage.

- If you get the pass in January 2023 - You will get two whole years’ coverage.

If you travel a lot with Southwest, then that extra 11 months accounts for a lot of money you could potentially be saving!

How Can You Earn Southwest Companion Pass for 2022?

Passengers can earn Southwest Companion passes after they have managed to build up 125,000 Southwest Reward Points earned while flying and making certain credit card purchases (More on this below!)

Your first step will be to qualify for a Southwest Credit Card.

You can apply for a Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card as long as you have not applied for more than five personal credit cards over the past two years. Ideally, to earn Southwest Companion Pass benefits as quickly as possible, you should open two cards - a personal and a rapid rewards premier business card. (Remember to time your application so that it falls in with your plan to get a full two years of use out of the pass!)
 

What Southwest Credit Cards Will Help You to Earn points?

Southwest Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

- 80,000 points after spending $5,000 on purchases in first 3 months

- 4 points for every $1 you spend with Southwest.

- 9,000 points on your Card Member Anniversary

Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card

- 50,000 points spending $1,000 in the first 3 months

- 2 points for every $1 you spend with Southwest.

- 3,000 points on your Card Member Anniversary

Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card

- 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months

- 3 Points for every $1 you spend with Southwest.

- 6,000 points on your Card Member Anniversary

Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card

- 50,000 points after spending $1,000 s in the first 3 months

- 3 Points for every $1 you spend with Southwest.

- 7,500 points on Card Member Anniversary
 

Get Both a Business and Personal Credit Card to earn Southwest Passes Quicker

Make the most of your purchase power and collect points on two rapid rewards account cards at once. Spend $5,000 on your Business Card to earn 80.000 points, then apply for a Personal credit and use it to spend $1,000 and earn another 50,000 points. Mark down your points in a calendar to schedule the change over correctly.

Within six months you could have earned 130,000 points on purchases you would be making anyway! And you will earn Southwest Companion Pass benefits with 5,000 points to spare!

Earning Southwest Points by Shopping with Partners.

If you don't want to take the two credit card route, there are still some travel hacks you can use to earn more bonus points after spending with southwest airlines partners. Choosing to shop with affiliated, approved, and otherwise endorsed shopping partners will make earning the companion pass, that little bit easier.

You can earn points when booking hotels, hiring car rentals, shopping online, and eating in restaurants. here are a few of Southwest’s current partners who will help you earn points towards your companion pass!

• 1-800 Flowers
• Macy’s
• Staples
• Sephora
• Home Chef
• Laithwaites

Earn More Southwest Points by Shopping Online.

You can also make use of the Rapid Rewards Shopping Internet Browser Page which will help you to identify and collect points for your pass when you shop online. As well as collecting points you will be able to get discounts with certain brands and also get access to shop vouchers. So there are many bonuses to beginning to use this page the next time you decide to do your online shopping.
 

Earn Points While Paying Your Energy Bills.

You should also look into changing energy providers so that you are contributing to your points building with each energy bill you pay! Southwest is currently partnered with NRG and Reliant. But before making the choice, make sure to do your research about costs and tariffs! Does making the energy provider switch make sense for you in the long run?

Takeaway - How to Earn and Use the Southwest Companion Pass?

Earning a Southwest Companion Pass can be one of the most cost-effective travel hacks around if you usually travel as a couple and the points limit you need can be quite easy to achieve if you are smart about how you make use of your Southwest Credit Card Spending Bonuses.

Just remember to make sure that you plan your approach so that you earn your Companion pass at the start of the year. Doing this will make sure that you enjoy a whole two-year’s coverage, rather than a year and a few months!