TheAmericanTravelProject
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For a United States based and focused family travel blog, I feel that it is my duty to reinvent the wheel and write a post about the Southwest Companion Pass. I almost wanted to call this post “The Mandatory Post About the Southwest Companion Pass That Every Somewhat Knowledgeable Travel Blogger and Their Mother Has Written” but that was too long & probably not a term that people search for on Google. Plus my mom doesn’t even know what a Southwest Companion Pass is. If you are a reader because of the Saverocity network or have moderate experience with travel tricks and tips, then this is boring and repetitive for you. If you are my mom, I will explain it to you later. Otherwise, welcome to one of the best things that ever happened to us (travelwise).
So………
What is a Southwest Companion Pass?
Considering that you just never really know what knowledge base people are starting with, I’ll just throw out there that Southwest is an airline. It has a cute heart for a logo. They claim to LUV their customers. Up for debate, that’s true. However, if the Southwest Companion Pass is a gesture of endearment then I will gladly accept.
It’s pretty simple :
If person A (let’s call him Homer for simplicity) earns a companion pass, then he can designate a companion to fly for free with him when he flies.
So Homer can designate Marge (or Bart, Maggie, Lisa, etc) as his companion. Homer buys a ticket or uses his Rapid Rewards points. He can then choose to bring Marge with him & only pay the taxes/fees for her ticket.
Random thoughts that pop into my head about the Southwest Companion Pass:
- You can only have one companion at a time
- You can change your companion 3 times (call 1-800-435-9792 to change your companion) during the life of your pass
- Your pass is good until December 31st of the following year. So a pass earned today (February 20, 2015) will be good until Dec 31, 2016
- You can book domestic flights for your companion online
- For companions under age 18, for international flights, you must call 1-800-435-9792 to book the companion
How Can I Earn a Southwest Companion Pass?
1. Earn 110,000 Qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year
OR
2. Fly 100 one-way Qualifying Flights (If you fly Southwest this many times per year then you don’t need this post)
How Can I Earn 110,000 Qualifying Southwest Points?
- From the bonus on Chase Southwest credit cards. There are 4 cards (2 business, 2 personal) & they often offer a 50,000 point bonus. You can get more than one card either at the same time or within the same year.
- Transferring points from hotel programs like Marriott, Hyatt, and Choice
- Buying stuff with your Chase Southwest credit cards
- Earning points from flights
- Earn by shopping through the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal
- Sign up for Rapid Rewards Dining & earn points for eating out
- Earn points through Rapid Rewards Travel Partners such as car rental agencies and hotels
- Points transferred from Chase Ultimate Rewards directly to Southwest Rapid Reward DON’T count toward earning the Companion Pass
- Purchased or gifted points DON’T count
- All 110,000 points need to be posted to your account in the same calendar year. So if you have 10,000 points in your account in December and then earn 100,000 in January…you will still be 10,000 short. Although you will have 110,000 point in your account, only 100,000 of them will have been earned in that year. So get 10,000 more please.
- You need to accumulate a total of 110,000 points in a year, but you don’t need to leave all of those in the account in order to earn the Companion Pass. In other words, if you earn 50,000 in January and redeem all 50,000 to bring your total to zero, then you earn 60,000 in February you will still earn the pass even though you will only have 60,000 in the account (because you redeemed the other 50,000)
We currently have 2 Companion Passes in our family. I have one (with my daughter as my designated companion) & my husband has one (with my son as his designated companion). My pass expires in December 2015, and my husband’s expires in December 2016. Idaho, here we come!
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