February 6, 2025
Should You Go For the Limited-Time Southwest® Companion Pass Offer?
Alex
The Southwest® Companion Pass has been one of my very favorite things in the world of points and miles for a while now. The pass lets you fly someone free (plus taxes and fees) with you every time you fly while you have the pass. Typically, to earn the pass you have to accumulate 135,000 points in one calendar year and then you have the pass for the rest of the year you earned it and all of the following year. This is traditionally done by opening up a Southwest personal and business card. But right now there is a promo going on where you can earn the pass just by opening up one Southwest personal card. Let’s go over the details and see if you should go for the limited-time Southwest® Companion Pass offer with one card or earn it the traditional way with two cards.
Limited-Time Southwest® Companion Pass Offer
There are three different Southwest personal cards, and each one has the same welcome offer. This offer expires on March 23, 2025. Remember that you can only earn the welcome offer on any of the personal cards once every 24 months. So if you’ve received the welcome offer on one of the cards listed below in the past 24 months, you won’t be eligible for this offer. You also won’t be eligible if you currently hold one of the cards listed below.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
Earn a Companion Pass through 2/28/2026 plus 30,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
All information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Earn a Companion Pass through 2/28/2026 plus 30,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
All information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card is no longer available through Travel Mom Squad.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Earn a Companion Pass through 2/28/2026 plus 30,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months from account opening
All information about the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card has been collected independently by Travel Mom Squad. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.
Traditional Companion Pass Options
Technically, the traditional way to earn the Companion Pass is probably taking a bunch of Southwest flights or spending tons of money on your Southwest card, but that’s not the traditional way in the points and miles world 🙂
The traditional way to earn the Companion Pass in the points and miles world is to open both a personal and a business card and earn 135,000 points through the welcome offers.
The standard welcome offer on the personal cards is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 in the first 3 months. The standard welcome offer on the card_name is 80,000 points after you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months. Once you complete the minimum spend on both cards, you would have 130,000 points from the welcome offers plus at least 6,000 points from spending on the cards for a total of 136,000 points.
After earning the Southwest® Companion Pass the traditional way, you’d have it for the rest of the year you earned it and all of the following year. This means if you earned all 135,000 points at the beginning of the year, you would have the pass for close to two years!
One of our many flights utilizing the Southwest Companion Pass
Which Is the Better Way to Get the Companion Pass?
Both the traditional way to get the Companion Pass and the limited-time promo are great! It very much varies from person to person which will be best for you if you want to try to earn the Companion Pass.
I prefer the traditional way to earn the Companion Pass—you have a lot more points to work with (136,000 vs. 34,000), and you could potentially have the pass for a lot longer. You would also only need to spend $2,000 more in minimum spending this way to get a lot more points. If you have a business or any little side gig, then I would recommend you go this route.
If you don’t have a business or side gig, or you don’t want to open two credit cards, then the promotional Companion Pass is a great option!
Bottom Line
The limited-time Companion Pass offer on the Southwest personal cards is a great option for those who don’t have a business or don’t want to open two credit cards. Otherwise, you will earn a lot more points without spending much more money by going for the Southwest® Companion Pass the traditional way.
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This is so helpful thank you! Am I understanding right that you get the companion pass with the personal card as soon as you reach the minimum spend? Then if I open the business card later this year and hit 130,000 by January or February 2024, I’d get another companion pass for the rest of 2024 and 2025. Is that right?!
You would get the companion pass with the special offer this year. You would not be able to use the miles you get from this card to combine with the business card you’d get later. If you wanted the companion pass for after February of next year, you’d have to put a whole 135,000 on that business card (or two business cards which would be easier) the traditional way. Or you could have a spouse do it for 2024 and 2025 the traditional way. I hope that makes sense.
Great info! I am just confused. I have a business card and personal. How do you combine the two? Thanks!
You should have one Rapid Reward number that is linked to them both so the points will automatically be combined.
I was on track for the 3 card method for myself and my husband. The last card we needed was the personal card for him, but then I realized it’s offering the companion pass now. Can he open a 2nd business card to make it work? I was hoping not to wait until 3/12/23 to apply for that card after the current offer expires.
A person can hold two business cards so that should work fine.
Thank you for this information! If I were to get this card for this year and next year, go for the companion pass again would I be eligible to open two business cards at the end of this year, but meet the minimum in January so that I can qualify for the companion pass all of 25 and all 26? Just wondering if I open this personal card, if it will make me ineligible for the other cards. I’m thinking if I could have this for one year and then qualify again for two years with the business cards
You can hold the personal card and still get those business cards later in the year.
If you don’t want to take advantage of this current offer and instead open the business card and personal card for more points etc do you have to wait until this current promotion is over?
Yes, for the personal card but you could open the business card now.
Thank you!!
I already have a SW Chase card, but I have the lowest level personal card. Could I upgrade and take advantage of this offer? I am also at my 5/24. 🤷♀️
You can only have one personal card at a time. I don’t think they would do this but you could always ask.
Are you certain that the same past promotions on personal cards would be offered after the limited time companion pass offer expires? Has Southwest repeated this current promotion in the past? Many thanks for your response.
We don’t know what the next promotion will be for sure after this promotion. I sure wish they would let us know or we had that crystal ball. It will probably just go to their standard offer.
I don’t see the personal card that offers 50,000 points. I only see the personal cards that offer 30,000. If I have a business card and want the personal one to get 136,000 points, which personal card should I get?
The 30K offer will be gone mid-March and will go back to 50K likely. The current offer does not work well with the SW Companion Offer for the traditional method.
Okay, thank you. So we will get the personal cc after the current promo is over then. I’m confused though on how we get the companion pass for all of 2025 as well.
When you get the Companion Pass, you get it for the rest of that year and the following year. If you reached the point threshold in September, you’d have it the rest of 2024 and through 2025.
Hi there, I have the Southwest personal cc with 75k Sub hit in January 2024. Will get SW business card to get CP, but not sure if I should get performance ($199AF) or premier($99AF)…. Is it worth the extra $99. Thank you!
Do you want the extra miles? Do you value anniversary points or Business Select four passes? Really, it all depends on what You value.
If I’m following you could go for both the traditional and promo CP using your P2? So, I have a personal SW visa with about 60k points on it right now. If I applied for the biz card, then with the 80k bonus on the biz card I’d hit the 135k required and then have the CP for the rest of this year (after earning the 80k and merging the points). My husband, could apply for the promo getting his own CP. So, we’d have two CP’s this year and one for next year (mine would carry over, his would not) and our 2 kids would fly free this year. Right?
Yes, that is correct!
Is this correct? If I get this offer with the Companion Pass through 2/28/25 + 30K by spending $4,000 now, then I can open a business card in 2024 and I’d have 30K + 80K miles (110K). Then I’d just have to earn another 25K miles to get to 135K to qualify for the Companion Pass through 2025. I’m trying to get my son on a companion pass by mid-April, so the traditional method may take too long to get there. I’d rather hit the $4K ASAP so I can add him!
These 30K points will be a stand alone offer. You can’t use them to add to the business card offer. If you want to go the traditional way, wait until this offer ends. However this offer is good for almost a full year so it works for many.
What time of year is best to start if we’re going for the traditional offer, to make sure you have it for 2 years? Like June? I hope my question makes sense… looking to qualify in a January.
Late Fall is best. Here is more info: https://travelmomsquad.com/how-to-get-the-southwest-companion-pass-2024/
Can I sign up for this deal now…then in Oct/Nov sign up for the business card for me and the personal card for my husband or will I not be able to link mine and my husband’s card. Would both need to be through me to combine points?
You cannot link your cards. Each of you have to earn the Companion Pass separately.
just received my personal card 3/8/24. Do I need to spend the $4k before 3/11/24 to get the companion pass?
No, you have three months. That is just when the deal is over to apply.
I am attempting the current bonus offer for the included CP. I last received the bonus in 2023 with the personal Plus. I opened the card March 2023, received the bonus May 2023. When did the 24 month clock start? (I have since closed the plus card to be eligible again).
Can you confirm that you can’t earn the traditional companion pass for the rest of 2025 and 2026 by reaching 135,000 by the end of 2025 if you get this limited time promotion? I have seen other bloggers say you can get it that way (although the 30,000 SUB is lower than normal personal cards so you have to earn additional points than you would normally). Thanks!
You’d be 20K points short so you’d have to earn the additional points through spending or a referral bonus and earn those before the end of 2025 to extend the pass another year. You’d need the performance business card too.