The Southwest Companion Pass is a game changer for bigger families and it’s how we’ve been able to take our family of 5 on trips to places like Maui, Washington DC, Costa Rica and Kauai. We’ve also been able to take a few kid-free weekend getaways to places like San Francisco and NYC, and that’s just in the last year!
What is the Southwest Companion Pass?
The Southwest Companion Pass allows you to choose one person to fly with you, free of airline charges. You still pay taxes, which for domestic flights are $5.60 per leg, but you can use the pass unlimited times whenever you purchase or redeem points for a flight as long as there is a seat available on that flight. There are no blackout dates.
To earn the companion pass, you can either fly 100 qualifying one-way flights or earn 135,000 qualifying points in a calendar year. Once you earn the pass, you’ll have it for the remainder of the year in which you earned it, plus the following full calendar year. You can also change your companion up to three times per calendar year.
How to earn the Southwest Companion Pass (or two of them)
I can assure you that we did not fly 100 flights – instead, we each opened 2 Southwest credit cards and the signup bonuses were enough for us to each earn a Companion Pass. In my opinion, this is what makes Southwest the most affordable airline for us. If we only had one, it just wouldn’t be as beneficial. Then, we each designate one of our children as our companion. When we go away for a long weekend just the two of us, one of us calls Southwest to change our companion to the other and voila – 2 flights for the price of one.
How to maximize the Southwest Companion Pass:
If you want to really maximize the pass and get the most out of it (aka have it for the longest amount of time) then the best time to start opening the cards is going to be end of October or anytime in November of any calendar year. This table shows the exact cards we opened, the exact dates we opened them, and the amount of bonus points we got for each:
| Player | Card Opened Date | Cards Opened | Sign up Bonus | Points Earned with dates |
| Raya | October 14, 2022 | Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business card | 80,000 points | January 2023 |
| Raya | December 1, 2022 | Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus card | 50,000 points | January 2023 |
| Duane | November 1, 2022 | Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business | 80,000 points | February 2023 |
| Duane | January 20, 2023 | Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus card | 50,000 points | February 2023 |
I earned my Companion Pass January 18, 2023 and Duane earned his in February. We used them to take our family of 5 to Maui in March!
If you notice in the table above, we made sure to earn all of our points in Jan/Feb of 2023. This is very important because all 130,000 points need to be earned in the same calendar year in order to achieve the companion pass. I cannot stress this enough, and every year so many people make the mistake of earning their sign up bonuses too soon.
One other thing to note – all the credit cards listed above have varying annual fees. The strategy here is to, yes, pay the annual fee for the first year. The value you’ll get from the points and the Companion Pass(es) will greatly outweigh the annual fees. Some of the cards also have additional benefits like a reimbursement for Global Entry/TSA Precheck that can offset the cost too. Once your first year anniversary hits and the annual fee posts for the second time, you have 30 days to cancel your card and get the annual fee refunded back to you. This is what we have done and will continue to do. It is not recommended to cancel any credit card before first having it for an entire year.
Now that you’ve got the gist, there is a bit of nuance to this process, and it’s important to pay attention to the details in this situation.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Southwest currently has 5 available credit cards – 3 personal and 2 business cards. You can only hold one personal card at a time, which means your strategy here needs to be either opening 1 personal and 1 business card, or opening two business cards.
All 5 of the Southwest cards are issued by Chase, so that means that you need to be under 5/24 in order to apply for all cards. If you are cutting it close at 4/24, I would do one of two things:
- Open the business card first (because you need to be under 5/24 to get approved for a chase business card) and then open the personal card at least 30 days later. The personal card will use up your last 5/24 spot, so you have to be ok with giving that up.
- Skip the personal cards and just open both business cards and keep yourself at 4/24.
Pay very close attention to the minimum spend on each card, and leave yourself at least a $500 buffer on the card (meaning spend at least $500 under the minimum spend required to get the bonus points) and then put the card away until after January 1st. Do not put any recurring charges on this card, do not give it to a partner or spouse. Once January hits, go crazy, spend the rest of the money to meet the minimum spend and earn your points.
It’s very important to note that returns will still count towards your minimum spend. This means if you buy something that puts you over the minimum spend, and then return it (even if it’s returned immediately), you are likely going to earn your points early. (Note: this is not a hack to get points without actually meeting the minimum spend as there is a chance the bank could take away your points).
What happens if I screw up and earn my points before the end of the year?
Well, you have a couple options.
Option 1 – you can hit the minimum spend on your second card before the end of the year and still earn the companion pass for one year at least.
Option 2 – if you were originally planning to do 1 personal and 1 business card, then you could open up the second business card (you can hold 2 biz cards at once, just not 2 personal cards) and continue with the original plan to meet the minimum spend on both cards after January 1st. Alternatively, if you already opened 2 biz cards and no personal cards, then you could apply for one of the personal cards (assuming, again, you’re under 5/24).
The best part about the Southwest Companion Pass, besides 2 flights for basically the price of 1, is that once you’ve earned the 130,000 points to unlock the companion pass, you still have those points you can use to book flights! You do not have to use those points to “buy” the pass, per se. So if you have 2 people getting the companion pass, that amounts to 260,000+ points to book flights for your family! It’s really incredible.
Why can’t I choose my seats on Southwest?
Sometimes Southwest gets a bad rap because it’s the only airline where there are no assigned seats. While I understand this can be stressful for some families, I can assure you it’s not that bad. Southwest does boarding in groups – at checkin you’ll be assigned either Group A, B or C. Group A goes first. Then B, then C. I do recommend setting an alarm and checking in immediately at the 24 hour mark prior to your flight time. In our experience, our kids who have the companion pass each get assigned the number right before ours during checkin, even when they check in hours later. So, for example, if I check in and get B55, and then I check in my companion, my companion will get B54.
After the A group boards, they will do family boarding. The SW rules state that if you’re traveling with a child age 6 or younger, you’re eligible for family boarding. However, in our experience (and according to other data points from recent travelers, including this article from The Points Guy) any child up to age 13 will be allowed to board during this time. This has been our experience each time we’ve flown Southwest – and if you board after Group A, there are still plenty of seats available for a family of 5 like ours to sit together.
Is Southwest Companion Pass worth it?
If you’re planning trips to any of the places Southwest flies, then the Southwest Companion Pass is an absolute must. It makes air travel for larger families much more affordable. Not to mention, when booking with points you can cancel a flight up to 10 minutes prior to departure and get all your points back. This is an amazing feature if you have kids who get sick at the drop of a hat (isn’t that all kids?). And each passenger (including companions) get 2 free checked bags on every flight! All these benefits are a testament to the incredible value and flexibility that Southwest offers to its loyal customers, making it an unparalleled option for those families looking to maximize their travel benefits without compromising on the quantity or quality of their trips.