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The Southwest Companion Pass is without doubt one of the most respected journey perks on the market. It permits you to deliver a companion with you on each Southwest flight, even should you e-book it with factors. You solely have to pay the taxes and charges related together with your companion’s ticket, which will be as little as $5.60 on home flights.
There’s no restrict to the variety of occasions you should use this perk, and you may even change your designated companion up to 3 times per calendar yr. Depending on how typically you journey and the place you fly, Southwest’s Companion Pass may prevent hundreds of {dollars} a yr on airfare.
Earning a Southwest Companion Pass is less complicated than you may assume. You could make progress in the direction of the cross through the use of Southwest credit or debit cards, flying the airline and leveraging different Southwest partnerships.
The Southwest Companion Pass is a perk supplied to Southwest Rapid Rewards members that allows you to deliver a designated companion on each Southwest flight you are taking, for simply the price of taxes and charges. Flights will be booked with money or factors, you should use the cross as a lot as you’d like and it really works on any Southwest-operated flight, together with worldwide routes and flights to Hawaii.
You’ll earn the cross once you earn 135,000 Companion Pass factors or fly 100 Southwest flights in a calendar yr. The cross is legitimate for the rest of the yr through which you earn it and the whole lot of the next yr, so you’ll be able to maximize time with the cross by incomes it as shut as attainable to the start of the yr.
While there are numerous methods to earn Companion Pass factors, not all the things counts. For instance, transferring Bilt Points or Chase Ultimate Rewards® factors to Southwest Rapid Rewards doesn’t rely towards incomes a Companion Pass. The identical goes for transferring resort factors to Rapid Rewards.
Thankfully, there are nonetheless loads of methods to earn Companion Pass factors with out flying. I’ll run by every of those within the following sections.
Earn a Companion Pass with Southwest credit score and debit playing cards
The easiest method to earn a Southwest Companion Pass is to open a new Southwest bank card. This is as a result of all factors you earn on the cardboard — together with the welcome bonus — rely as Companion Pass factors. Depending on the cardboard you open, its welcome bonus alone may get you many of the method to the Companion Pass.
Additionally, having any Southwest card in your pockets offers you 10,000 bonus Companion Pass factors yearly. This successfully reduces the qualification threshold to 125,000 factors.
Here’s a take a look at welcome bonuses supplied by private Southwest bank cards. Each card has various advantages, together with annual bonus factors, free checked luggage and seat choice.
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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card ($99 annual payment): 80,000 factors after you spend $1,000 within the first three months from account opening.
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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card ($149 annual payment): 85,000 factors after you spend $2,000 within the first three months from account opening.
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Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card ($229 annual payment): 90,000 factors after you spend $3,000 within the first three months from account opening.
You can solely have one Southwest private bank card open at a time, however that doesn’t preclude you from opening a Southwest enterprise bank card. Owning a enterprise is an apparent method to qualify for a enterprise bank card, however you’ll be able to possible qualify additionally with a aspect hustle or a part-time enterprise.
These are the present affords for Southwest’s two enterprise bank cards:
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Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card ($149 annual payment): 60,000 factors after you spend $3,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
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Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card ($299 annual payment): 80,000 factors after you spend $5,000 on purchases within the first three months from account opening.
Say you’re a enterprise proprietor and open the Southwest Performance Business card and the Southwest Plus card, and meet the spending necessities for the bonus. This would offer you no less than 166,000 Companion Pass-eligible Rapid Rewards factors (160,000 from the bonuses and no less than 6,000 from spending), providing you with a Companion Pass and a ton of free journey. Travel web site The Points Guy values Rapid Rewards points at 1.25 cents apiece, that means 166,000 factors are value roughly $2,075 in the direction of airfare.
Southwest additionally has a points-earning debit card — the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Debit Card — that earns factors at a decrease fee than Southwest’s bank cards. However, all your spending on this card counts towards the Companion Pass, and also you get 7,500 bonus Companion Pass factors each calendar yr you retain the debit card open.
As you may anticipate, you too can make progress in the direction of a Companion Pass once you fly with Southwest. Companion Pass factors are earned on the identical fee you earn Rapid Rewards factors, which is predicated on the price of your flight (earlier than taxes) and the kind of fare you e-book.
Here’s what number of factors per greenback every Southwest fare earns:
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Basic: 2 factors per greenback
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Choice: 6 factors per greenback
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Choice Preferred: 10 factors per greenback
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Choice Extra: 14 factors per greenback
You’d want to fly Southwest a lot to earn a Companion Pass from flying alone. But should you’re flying Southwest anyway, this may be a great way to complement your Companion Pass level earnings from bank cards.
Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping permits you to earn Rapid Rewards factors once you store on-line. Just click on by the portal before you purchase one thing, and also you’ll earn a set variety of factors per greenback spent. The portal helps most main retailers, together with Apple, Home Depot, Clinique and lots of others.
Every Rapid Rewards level earned by Rapid Rewards Shopping counts as a Companion Pass level. Depending on how typically you purchase issues on-line, this might make the cross far more attainable. This is very true for enterprise house owners who want to purchase stock or gear for workers on-line, as these bills can add up rapidly.
Rapid Rewards Shopping often affords bonuses for spending a certain quantity by the portal. Note that the factors earned from these bonuses don’t rely as Companion Pass factors.
Southwest additionally has a eating portal, Rapid Rewards Dining, which rewards you once you eat at collaborating eating places. Create an account, hyperlink your bank cards to the Rapid Rewards Dining portal and also you’ll mechanically earn factors once you eat at a collaborating restaurant.
You’ll earn Rapid Rewards and Companion Pass factors at these charges:
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Opted in to promotional emails: 3 Rapid Rewards factors per $1 spent at a collaborating location.
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Opted out of promotional emails: 1 Rapid Rewards level per $2 spent at a collaborating location.
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Dining critiques: 10 Rapid Rewards factors for every eating evaluate you permit.
You can earn bonus Rapid Rewards factors by finishing different necessities. For instance, you earn 300 bonus factors each time you earn 1,000 factors from eating and critiques. Unfortunately, these bonuses don’t rely towards the Companion Pass.
Earn Companion Pass factors once you e-book lodges and rental vehicles
Southwest has a resort and rental automotive reserving portal the place you’ll be able to earn Rapid Rewards factors. Points earned by these portals additionally rely towards the Companion Pass — however there are some quirks to pay attention to.
On the resort aspect, you’ll earn factors primarily based on the resort you e-book and the way a lot you spend. When you run a search on the resort reserving portal, you’ll see what number of Rapid Rewards factors you’ll earn after you full your keep. You’ll earn the identical variety of Companion Pass factors. However, resort bookings made by Southwest don’t earn resort factors or elite standing credit score with the resort’s loyalty program.
The identical goes for rental cars booked by Southwest’s rental automotive portal. You’ll earn Rapid Rewards factors and Companion Pass factors after you full your rental, they usually’re earned at equal charges. That stated, charges is perhaps greater than reserving your rental automotive straight.
Unfortunately, Getaways by Southwest trip packages don’t earn Companion Pass factors.
According to NCS Underscored’s credit card methodology, we consider playing cards primarily based on a number of elements, gauging their utility for real-world customers, not simply card specialists. The principal elements we contemplate are the next:
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Earning fee versus redemption worth: A excessive incomes fee is effective however provided that the rewards are too. We stability each elements to assess a card’s total worth.
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Fees towards advantages: We evaluate annual charges to the tangible worth of a card’s perks. Travel advantages, comparable to lounge entry, assertion credit and insurance coverage protections, are weighed relative to a card’s annual price.
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Welcome supply: A large welcome supply might make making use of for a card worthwhile in itself, however provided that the spending goal within reason attainable.
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Ease of redemption: We consider whether or not rewards will be simply redeemed and whether or not playing cards with transferable factors have sturdy airline and resort companions.
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Travel and buy protections: Trip delay and interruption protection, baggage safety and rental automotive insurance coverage add important worth to travel-focused bank cards. Purchase protections like prolonged warranties and worth safety can even make sure playing cards stand out.
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Interest charges and stability switch affords: While we advise avoiding curiosity fees, we consider 0% APR introductory affords for shoppers trying to handle debt strategically.
This relies upon on how you intend to earn your Companion Pass. It may price up to $67,500 should you solely earn Companion Pass factors by flying Southwest Basic fares, which earn 2 factors per greenback spent. But it may price considerably much less should you earn your cross by opening a new Southwest bank card.
Yes, the Companion Pass will be value it should you commonly fly Southwest with a companion. However, you must run the numbers earlier than going out of your method to earn it.
You would not have to apply for the cross. Instead, all you will have to do is create a Rapid Rewards account and earn 135,000 Companion Pass factors in a single calendar yr. Then, you’ll mechanically obtain a Companion Pass for the remainder of the present yr and the whole lot of the next yr.
Not free of charge. You have to be on the flight in your companion to fly free of charge.
NCS Underscored’s staff of professional editors and contributors rigorously critiques bank cards, journey rewards and loyalty packages to assist readers navigate modifications and make knowledgeable monetary choices. Our professional suggestions are grounded in real-world worth, not hype, and backed by thorough evaluation, professional perception and a dedication to readability and transparency.
For this text, contributing author and former NCS Underscored senior cash editor Andrew Kunesh employed his expertise as a a very frequent flyer and bank cards professional to define all of the methods to acquire Southwest’s Companion Pass.