Hands down, besides Delta Airlines which I have strong family ties to, my favorite airline to fly is Southwest. One of the greatest perks they offer to families, that no other airline matches in value, is their incredibly valuable Companion Pass. Below is an outline of how it all works in Q&A format, based on many conversations I have had with family and friends who take advantage of this perk after I counsel them. But if this doesn’t answer your questions, reach out to me and I’m happy to help!
What is the Companion Pass? And why is it So Awesome?
Simply put, the Southwest Companion Pass grants you the privilege of allowing a companion of your choosing to fly free with you on Southwest flights. This perk is amazing on its own, but here are some of the things that make it even better:
You may change your companion three different times in one calendar year, and that’s not counting the person you initially choose as your companion. In other words, you can have four different people fly free with you in any given year, if you take four different flights.
Once you get Companion Pass status, it is valid for the rest of that calendar year, plus the following calendar year! For example, if you get the pass in March of 2019, it is valid until December 31, 2020–nearly two years!
Other Perks of Southwest Airlines
Aside from the Companion Pass, with the purchase of any Southwest ticket (whether you purchased it with points), you have the following benefits (which are huge, in comparison to other domestic airlines that don’t offer these perks):
Two free checked bags per customer (plus one free carry one and personal item). This is a huge benefit since most other airlines charge for checked luggage. Check out this info from their website about other airline baggage fees.
- No fees to change your flight. Another great perk since it varies wildly with other airlines, but it’s never cheap! If you need to change your travel times or dates, there are no fees associated with doing so. And if you book your flight with points and need to cancel, you may do so and have the points deposited back into your account, up to 10 minutes before the flight boards.
- In addition to not charging to change your flight, if a lower priced flight is available, you may rebook it at the lower price (when I refer to “price,” it relates to either dollars or points). Southwest points vary per flight, based on the current price in dollars, so it often pays to look at the price you paid in points (or dollars) before your trip. If they run a sale, which happens often, and the price of your fare decreased, you may rebook it at the decreased price! Seriously, it still blows my mind that they allow customers to do this!
- Southwest offer three different types of fares that you can learn more about here, but in short, we use “Wanna Get Away” fares since they require the least amount of points. Wanna Get Away fares offer the perks I’ve already written about, while the two other levels take it up a notch with perks that don’t hold much value to us as a family.
These perks alone have been absolutely invaluable to my family. If a family member gets sick, your plans change, or you’re just not feeling it with the destination you chose, Southwest makes it incredibly easy to change or cancel your reservation (and if you don’t know much about air travel, these cancel/modify reservation and free checked baggage perks are HUGE!).
How Do I Obtain Companion Pass Status?
To earn a Southwest Companion Pass, you need to accrue 110,000 Rapid Reward points (this is the fancy name for Southwest’s reward points) in a single year. But remember, once you have it, you keep it for the rest of the year in which you earned it plus the following year.
But how the heck do I get 110,000 points?!
The fastest way to earn massive points towards the required 110,000 for a Companion Pass is by getting the bonuses on Southwest branded credit cards.
So one credit card is all I need to get 110K points?
Technically, yes. Eventually you could spend enough money on that card to reach 110K points. But that’s not very efficient (or possible for some folks). What I do to accelerate the process is apply for 2 Southwest credit cards at the same time–one business and one personal account.
Depending on the sign up bonus, that will either automatically get me to 110K points, but more often than not, you’ll end up about 5000 to 10,000 points shy of the required 110K points. That’s where every day spending comes in to fill the gap. How much you spend on a credit card, whether it’s for your business or everyday personal spending, is how quickly you’ll get the pass. But remember, if you time things right, you’ll have the companion pass for nearly 2 calendar years. It’s definitely worth the wait to make the spend and have that amount of time to basically have buy-one-get-one-free airline tickets!
Wait a minute. I work for someone else and don’t have a business to apply for, so that’s a problem, right?
Not necessarily. Have you ever sold a book on Amazon? Or something on Ebay? Think you might do it again? If so, then in the eyes of credit card companies, you qualify as running a business. You may have to explain this to the credit card company after you apply (even with two taxable businesses I own, I still have to call and talk to them sometimes). Don’t let this deter you though. They’re very friendly and they just need to make sure you are doing something to qualify as a business (and again, it’s pretty darn simple under their parameters to qualify).
What if I’ve never sold anything and don’t qualify in any way for a business card?
I absolutely would not let this deter you from at least applying for just a personal Southwest card. The sign up bonus is always at least 40K points and bumps up to 60K occasionally (that’s where it is as of 11/15/18).
So let’s say I get 60K points from a business card and 40K from a personal credit card bonus offers, I’m only up to 100K points and I need 110K points, right? How do I fill the gap?
By now, I’m usually applauding my friends for keeping up with the conversation. I get it, it’s a lot to process initially. I promise, it’s not hard once you digest it (which, for me, usually requires rereading through things several times, every couple of years I go through this process).
Yes, you still need to get 10K points if this is the case. With these card offers, to qualify for the sign up bonus, you must meet a minimum spending requirement (more on than a minute).
So after you meet the minimum spend for each card, you’re up to 104K points (assuming your sign on bonus was 40K for your personal card and you needed to spend 1K on each one to get the bonus), and you simply need to continue to spend on one of them until you hit the 110K mark (so if you’re not doing the math in your head, you need to spend $6000 more). The extra spending to hit the 110K mark can be on either card.
IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: When I recommend using credit cards for everything you spend, it is with the assumption that you plan to pay that card off in full every month. If you aren’t in the habit of doing that or you have debt to pay down on an existing card, I’m sad to say that I don’t recommend you do any of this. The interest you’re paying on that card far surpasses the travel benefits you’ll obtain from them. Seriously folks, don’t make your life harder.
Wow, this all sounds pretty doable (and awesome)! Where do I sign up for these credit cards?
Here’s the breakdown of the offers below. There are more perks than just the points you get from the minimum spending requirement, but to avoid overloading your brain too much, I’m going to keep it simple (but clicking on each link will give you all the details). The top two offers are the one that I recommend and will talk about more:
Southwest Personal Plus Card: Earn 40,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. ($69 annual fee)
Southwest Business Premier Card: 60,000 Rapid Reward Points after spending $3000 on the card within 90 days (annual fee $99)
Southwest Personal Premier Card: Earn 40,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. Plus earn an additional 20,000 after you spend $12,000 on purchases within your first year of account opening ($99 annual fee)
Southwest Personal Priority Card: Earn 40,000 bonus points after you spend $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening. Plus earn an additional 20,000 after you spend $12,000 on purchases within your first year of account opening ($149 annual fee)
Because these offers are so generous, Chase does not waive the annual fee on their Southwest branded cards. So you will pay the annual fee indicated beside the card as soon as you open the account. The value in spending $69 for at least 40,000 airline points, which is enough to usually buy 2 domestic round-trip tickets on Southwest, is amazing.
As your 1-year anniversary of owning any of these cards rolls around, you can certainly cancel them to avoid paying the annual fee again, although they do have a points bonus attached to them when they renew (6000 points for the Premier versions, 3000 for the Plus version).
We will often cancel them though, as we have plenty of points left from the sign on bonuses (and the fact that we have the Companion Pass causes them to decrease much more slowly, despite a lot of traveling!). If you do cancel the account, you still get to keep the points, as long as you keep your Rapid Rewards account active (which is easy, just check out this link to see how you do it).
What if I already have a credit card? Do I need to cancel it or do anything before I apply for the Southwest branded cards?
Nope, you don’t need to cancel any existing accounts. But there is a small caveat: If you have applied for more than 5 personal credit cards in the past 24 months, you will likely be denied for these cards. This “rule” doesn’t apply to all credit card companies, and it’s only Chase specific. Also, if you have other Chase cards with high spending limits, you might want to message or call them and ask for the credit limits to be reduced. They can be funny about extending too much credit to one individual, understandably.
And if you’re worried about potential financial transgressions in your past that may have blemished your credit score, which would cause Chase to deny your application, you can go to a great website called Credit Karma and check it (without it registering as an inquiry which can affect your credit score). You can also find out how many credit cards you’ve applied for in the past 24 months, if you’re worried if may be too many.
Is there a better time of year to start the process of working towards my Companion Pass status?
Yes, absolutely. In short, you want your sign on bonus points to hit as close to the beginning of a calendar year as possible. Since you must earn 110K points within a calendar year, it’s much more valuable to earn Companion Pass status at the beginning of a calendar year, so you can use it for the remainder of that year, plus the following year.
So when you sign up for these cards, you have to be careful NOT to meet the minimum spend before the end of 2018. You want your bonus points to hit your Rapid Rewards account in 2019, so they count for that calendar year. But if you apply now (November), you are still well within the 90 days you have to meet that minimum spend requirement and earn them.
If that’s confusing, just reach out and I can explain it in more detail. This is one of the most important steps to get Companion Pass status for nearly 2 years, and you don’t want to mess it up by meeting your minimum spend too quickly!
Anything else I should know?
Just a couple last thoughts:, Do not even think about doing any of this if you’re struggling with credit card debt. Credit cards require a fair amount of discipline, self control, and organization for many people. This may not be a good time in your life to tackle this, and that’s okay. These offers will fluctuate but likely still be around in some capacity when the time is right.
What I’ve recommended to some friends who don’t have debt but worry that they may overspend if they get a credit card is this: Call the credit card company and ask them to lower your credit line to an amount that you can afford each month. That way, you’re forced to stay within your means.
So that’s it! Easy peasy, right?! Just kidding, I know it’s a lot to process at first. Really and truly, it’s not that hard once you get the ball rolling. And once you plan and take your first vacation with those points, and realize how many points you still have left in your account afterward to use for your next adventure, I can assure you it’s time well spent, in more ways than one.
You can certainly apply for the Southwest Personal Premier or Priority cards instead of the “Plus” version, but frankly, I don’t see the benefit if you’re comparing the two and just want to get the Companion Pass for least expensive route. Both of those cards have higher annual fees, and if you’re going to cancel the card before your 1-year anniversary rolls around, you’re just paying more for the same thing. That being said, if you’re going to keep the cards open beyond a year, you’ll earn some extra points for sticking around that Southwest gives as a thank you (and that applies to any of those cards, but the higher annual fee cards come with a few extra points).
Reach out to me if you have specific questions. I geek out on helping people with travel stuff. If the Southwest Companion Pass just feels like too much work (I promise, it’s really not, but I get it if it’s still too much to process), the Chase Sapphire card is my favorite pick for a general credit card that earns Ultimate Reward points, which can then be transferred to many different airlines and hotel chains. Here’s a post to learn a lot more about it.
Disclaimer: I do receive a small points bonus through Chase’s Refer a Friend Program if you apply for certain cards. You certainly don’t have to use my links, but I sincerely appreciate it if you do. They are the best current offers for all the cards (and I will update the information to always reflect the best offer, whether I am rewarded some points for referring you or not). 🙂