Southwest just brought back its promotional Companion Pass, and the booking window is brutally short. You have until Thursday to lock this in.
Deal Details
Register for the offer through your Southwest Rapid Rewards account, then book one qualifying round trip (or two one-ways) between August 3 and 11:59 p.m. Central on August 6, 2026. Complete that travel by November 18, 2026, and you'll earn a promotional Companion Pass valid from January 5 through March 3, 2027.
The terms are unusually flexible this time around. Basic, Choice, Choice Preferred, and Choice Extra fares all qualify, and so do redemption reservations and Cash + Points bookings. You don't need to spring for a premium fare or pay cash to make this work. Companion Pass reservations, charter flights, group travel, and Getaways by Southwest bookings are excluded, so keep your qualifying trip to a standard fare purchase.
How to Take Advantage
- Register for the promotion through your Rapid Rewards account before you book anything. A reservation made before registering won't count, even if the travel dates fall inside the window.
- Book one round trip or two one-way Southwest flights by August 6.
- Fly that trip by November 18, 2026.
- Watch for an email within 10 days of completing your travel with instructions to designate your companion.
Why This Deal Matters
Normally, earning Southwest Companion Pass requires 100 qualifying flights or 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year, a serious lift even for frequent flyers. This promo compresses that into a single booked trip. The tradeoff is a shorter, more distant usage window: two months instead of the year-plus you'd get by earning it organically.
If a bigger points push fits your plans better than a one-off promo, pairing a card like the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card with your everyday spending can help you rack up Companion Pass qualifying points toward the real thing, which lasts far longer than this temporary version. For a full breakdown of that route, see our guide on three ways to earn Southwest Companion Pass, and check our complete Companion Pass overview for how the qualifying math works.
If you were already planning winter travel between January 5 and March 3, 2027, this is close to free money. If you'd be booking a trip purely to trigger the promo, run the math first. A cheap qualifying fare only pays off if you'll actually use the two-for-one window afterward.
Southwest has run some version of this promotion nearly every late summer since 2021, so if you miss this window, another one may surface next year. But if you have any winter 2027 travel on the radar, don't wait. Registration and booking both have to happen by August 6.
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