I’ve called Southwest Companion Pass the best deal in Travel for Americans. There’s an offer to get it the easy way.
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Why Southwest Companion Pass Is The Best Deal in Travel
I have not been shy that Southwest Airlines’ Companion Pass is the best deal in travel, though I will qualify that for those in the US. The Companion Pass allows qualified flyers to bring a named companion on any flight for only the cost of taxes and. The Pass is valid on both revenue and award flights.
Companion Pass holders can name up to three companions each year, though no more than one at a time. For example, a Companion Pass holder could name their spouse, then change to their child and switch a third time back to their spouse or someone else altogether in the same year.
The Companion Pass is valid for the rest of the year in which it is earned and all of the following year. Many enthusiasts have strategized adding credit cards to their portfolio in December (high spending month) to earn a bulk of points on their January statements to earn the pass early in the year and enjoy the benefits of Companion Pass for close to two full years.
Changes in Companion Pass for Next Year
At the beginning of 2020, Southwest moved the requirements of Companion Pass from 110,000 Rapid Rewards points to 125,000 in a calendar year. This was Pre-COVID-19 in what was, somehow, such a simpler time. The carrier dropped 2020 requirements (in effect) to just 100,000 and extended the validity of the pass by one year by adding 25 flight credits or 25,000 points toward the pass without officially lowering the requirements.
There’s no word yet what requirements will be in 2021, but as it stands today, requirements will revert back to 125,000 points accrued in a calendar year with no reduction as of yet.
The Easy Way
Earning 100,000 points this year would be next to impossible via flying. However, spending on credit cards and earning bonuses allows Rapid Rewards members to earn Companion Pass from home. Both traditional business owners and consumers who have side hustle businesses (selling on eBay, Kidizen or Poshmark are businesses) can access business credit cards.
The Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business Card (scroll through about halfway down) has a huge bonus right now but high levels of spending would have to take place pretty quickly. That’s not hard to do around the holidays but will be a stretch for some. For many business owners, this would be as simple as switching the credit card in their wallet.
If points earned from this offer close before the end of 2020, the pass will be valid for the rest of the year and all of 2021. If, however, the bulk of the points are earned in early 2021, the Pass would last through the end of 2022.
Conclusion
We don’t really pitch credit cards on LiveAndLetsFly unless the deal is extraordinary. This one is, and it would be a disservice not to mention it to readers who may want to participate. I gained a ton of value from the Companion Pass when I had it in the past, my wife did as well and I have recommended this to family and friends.
What do you think? Have you had the Companion Pass?
Not a traveler, once a year…holidays only; how can this service help my husband and I?
For those trips once or twice every year your husband would fly for just the cost of taxes. But you could also change that passenger three times each calendar year. If you wanted to take your husband on a trip with you for the holidays and then a friend for a quick weekend away, you could change your companion to your friend and they would also be able to fly with you for just the cost of taxes. You could change to a third person in the same calendar year if you’d like or back to your husband.
Hi,
Loved your article! Two questions:
1. How many dollars spent equals 125,000 points for a newbie? From what I understand from your article, I would really want to spend that amount all in January, if possible, to get the most reward time. Correct me if I’m wrong.
2. If changing the companion during the first calendar (let’s say 2021) year three times, what happens the second calendar year (2022) awarded?
Hi Rhonda:
Good questions! The first one could be answered two ways, so hopefully one of them gets it right.
1. If you’re asking how many dollars you’d have to spend on a card to reach 125,000 for this offer it would be $5,000 spent to reach the first 70,000 distribution (75,000 in total) and another $20,000 to reach the next distribution of 30,000 (105k in total) in addition to the points you would earn for normal spending (20,000) for a grand total of 125,000 points so $25k in spending = 125,000 points. If you’re asking how much those points are worth, there’s an easy way to determine that. Price out a fare in dollars that you would want to take, let’s say it’s $99 from Pittsburgh to Tampa. If you switch to points, it says that it would require 6,864 points for the same flight. Dividing the cost by the number of points it would require ($99/6964) you would get 0.0144 or 1.44¢/point in this case. So using this example, 125,000 points would be worth $1,802.88 of flights. However, since your companion flies for free, you could double that amount to $3,605.76.
2. You can name the companion in year two (it can be different than year one) and change that name twice: Person A, Person B, Person C. Or if you want Person A, Person B, Person A.