One of the most popular and coveted things to earn in the points and miles space is the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass.
The pass allows you to bring a companion with you on any flight that you are taking, as long as there are seats available, and you only need to pay taxes and fees.
For domestic flights that is $5.60 one way. The taxes and fees are a little more to their international destinations but they are still much less than paying for a ticket.
Currently, Southwest has made it possible to earn the companion pass by opening up the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Card. You need to hit all of the spending requirements for the card by the end of the year.
Who qualifies for a business card?
You can open up a business card if you own a business. I know, duh! The great thing is that you don’t have to own a business to open up a business card.
Credit card companies have a broader view of what a business is. For example, selling items online, walking dogs, freelancing, blogging, consultants, babysitters and vacation rental hosts are just a few of the things that would classify as a business.
Earn Companion Pass with One Card
To earn the Southwest Companion Pass, you can do it in two different ways. The first is to fly 100 qualifying one way flights in a year. That is a lot of flying.
The other way is to earn 135,000 qualifying Southwest points in a given year. This is usually done by opening up two different Southwest credit cards.
I earned the Southwest Companion Pass by opening up one business card and one personal card. Through earning the sign up bonuses and points from spending, I earned the necessary 135,000 points.
Right now the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card has a bonus offer of 60,000 Rapid Rewards points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening.
You can also earn an additional 60,000 Rapid Reward points after spending $15,000 in the first 9 months. This is a tremendous value for a card that has a $99 annual fee.
If you would get the card right now and reach the $15,000 in spend by the end of the year, you would earn the Companion Pass for the rest of 2023 and all of 2024.
The breakdown of the points you would earn includes: 120,000 points from the sign up bonuses and at least 15,000 points from your spend. You earn at least 1% on each purchase with the card.
Each year Southwest rewards card holders with 10,000 points that can be put towards a companion pass. So, you would have at least 145,000 points in all.
You want to make sure that you earn the points all this year since the clock to earn points to a companion pass starts over on January 1. The points need to be posted to your account by the end of the year to earn it for 2023.
Once you earn the points for a companion pass, you get to keep the points. You don’t have to turn them in to get the companion pass.
It really is a great deal. You earn a pass to bring a companion with you. Plus, you have a ton of points to use towards flights.
Perks that come with the card
The following perks come with the card.
- Two EarlyBird check in passes per year
- 25% on inflight purchases
- 1,500 tier qualifying points toward A-list status for every $10,000 that you spend on the card
- No foreign transaction fees
- 6,000 bonus points every year on the card anniversary
Different earnings on the card include:
- 3 points per dollar on Southwest purchases
- 2 points per dollar on Rapid Reward hotel and car rental partners
- 2 points per dollar on local transit and ride sharing services
- 1 points per dollar on all other purchases
Final Thoughts
If you are planning on doing domestic travel or travel to the Carribean or Mexico then the Southwest Companion Pass would probably be a great fit for you.
You can get the Southwest Companion Pass by getting the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business card and meeting all of the spending requirements. This offer is good until August 28th.
If you want to know more about how the Southwest Companion Pass works, you can read my post “Steps to Earn the Southwest Companion Pass.”
