Our Experience with Companion Pass
IN 2020 Jordan and I got married and as we all know wedding come with lots of coasts so we decided to use these upcoming costs to start traveling hacking! We got a personal southwest credit card, met the minimum spending and received the bonus. After receiving that 50,000 points we continued to use this credit card for every purchase we made for the remainder of the year and just days before the new year (when you must recieve all your points from) we got companion pass! During that year we took 34 flight free of charge (other than $5 taxes and fees)! The next year we got preformance Business Card, got the 80,000 bonus points and used it for all our other purchases until we met the 135,000 points to recieve companion pass! After this two year processwe discovered a much easier and faster way to recieve companion pass!
What is Companion Pass?
Southwest Companion Pass is a loyalty program offered by Southwest Airlines that allows a designated companion (In my case my husband) to fly with a Rapid Rewards member for free (excluding taxes and fees with is about $5 domestically) on any Southwest flight, whether paid for with cash or points. To earn the Companion Pass, a member must either accumulate 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year or take 100 qualifying one-way southwest flights. When you’ve earned 135,000 points you dont only get companion pass but you also have the 135,000 points that you are able to redeem for free flights. During the 2 years we had CP I would use points for my flight and companion pass for jordans. This got us 34 free flights! Once earned, the Companion Pass is valid for the remainder of the calendar year in which it was earned, as well as the entire following calendar year. This can be extremely valuable if you often fly domestically and it can save you so much money on airfare costs!
Fastest way to recieve
The absolute best and fastest way to get companion pass is to sign up for both a business and personal card. you may be thinking, Elizabeth, I dont have a business! Well, neither did I. But I did tutor every once in a while so I signed up for my business card for my “tutoring business”. Sign up for one card at a time, meet the sign up bonus and sign up for the next. These two sign up bonuses along with the points you earned meeting the bonus will be enough to earn you over a year of free flights! And remember, the faster you meet the bonuses the faster you get companion pass. So save any big purchases you have and put all your daily spending on these cards! Once you meet the bonus you no longer have to use the card!
80,000 points + 5,000 points
+
50,000 points + 1,000 point
=
Companion Pass
135,000 points needed
Alternative way to get Companion Pass
You signed up for a personal southwest card a while ago so cant take advantage of both sign up bonuses? Thats what happened to us too! Sign up for the performance business card, get the 80,000 points and then put EVERY SINGLE THING YOU BUY on this card! And start as early in the year as you can! It will be challenging butif you dont make it you still got the bonus! You got this!!
+ 50,000 more points through spending
+ 85,000 more points through spending
The worst way to get companion pass
Let’s say you already have both of these credit card, or have reached your visa card limit! Well, there is a third way you can get it! Its not easy but if you have some really big purchase coming up or are big spenders you can spend a year putting ever purchase on your southwest card and hope for the best!
