You could earn the Southwest Companion Pass from 1 card, but should you?
That’s what everyone wants to know right now!
They’re screaming in excitement!
Is it because of this offer?
Southwest Companion Pass from 1 Card, But Should You?
All three personal Southwest credit cards are offering a bonus of 30,000 points and a Southwest Companion Pass in the first 3 months:
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
- Southwest Rapid Rewards(R) Priority Credit Card
This offer ended February 11, 2019.
Update: The credit card offer in this post is no longer available. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. Check our credit card page for the latest offers.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
With the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card you get:
- Earn 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year
- 3X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases
- 2X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners, rideshare, local transit and commuting
- 1X point on all other purchases
- 6,000 bonus points every cardmember anniversary
- Earn up to 15,000 tier qualifying points towards A-List and A-List Preferred status
- No foreign transaction fees
- Points don’t expire
- 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost each year
- All points earned from this card count toward the Southwest Companion Pass
- $99 annual fee
- Member FDIC
Pro-tip: Anniversary bonus points count towards the Companion Pass.
Read the ultimate guide on earning Southwest points without flying for more ways to earn Companion Pass qualifying points.
Who Should Get This Card
The Southwest Premier Credit Card is a good card for anyone who flies Southwest regularly. Because you earn 2X points on your Southwest ticket purchases. The points earned through credit card spending count towards the Companion Pass.
Plus you can earn status through spending. A-List and A-List Preferred status gets you in boarding group A.
As you know, boarding group A gets you on the plane first (after passengers who pre-board). This means no more middle seats!
Here are a few tricks on how to get a whole row to yourself on the plane.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
The Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card gives you:
- Earn 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of opening your account
- 2 EarlyBird Check-In® each year
- 2X points per $1 spent on Southwest® purchases, hotel and car rental partners, rideshare, local transit and commuting
- 1X point on all other purchases
- 3,000 bonus points every cardmember anniversary
- No foreign transaction fees
- Points don’t expire
- 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost each year
- All points earned from this card count toward the Southwest Companion Pass
- $69 annual fee
- Member FDIC
Who Should Get This Card
The Southwest Plus Credit Card is a good card if you only fly Southwest occasionally. Of course, that may change once you get the Southwest Companion Pass!
With a lower annual fee, the money you save can pay for another flight.
This is a great card for families because you get a lot of perks but for a lower annual fee.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
With the Southwest Rapid Rewards(R) Priority Credit Card, you get:
- Earn 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening
- $75 Southwest® travel credit each year
- 4 upgraded boardings each year
- 25% back on inflight drinks and Wi-Fi
- 3X points per $1 spent on Southwest purchases
- 2X points on Rapid Rewards® hotel and car rental partners, rideshare, local transit and commuting
- 1X point on all other purchases
- 7,500 bonus points every cardmember anniversary
- Earn up to 15,000 tier qualifying points towards A-List and A-List Preferred status
- No foreign transaction fees
- Points don’t expire
- 10,000 Companion Pass® qualifying points boost each year
- All points earned from this card count toward the Southwest Companion Pass
- $149 annual fee
- Member FDIC
Pro-tip: Anniversary bonus points count towards the Companion Pass.
Read the ultimate guide on earning Southwest points without flying for more ways to earn Companion Pass qualifying points.
Who Should Get This Card
The Southwest Rapid Rewards(R) Priority Credit Card is a great card if you fly Southwest regularly, have or want A-List or A-List Preferred status, and buy Wi-Fi when you fly.
You can quickly earn A-List and A-List Preferred status when you buy Southwest tickets and spend money on your credit card.
The 25% rebate on Wi-Fi saves you money.
This could be a good card for families because of the upgraded boarding.
But you have to do the math to see if it’s worth paying $50 more for the Southwest Priority Card vs the Southwest Premier Card.
What You Should Know About This Offer
The Companion Pass from this offer is valid through February 28, 2023.
In other words, if you earn it from this offer, you get it for this year.
Why does it sound like a good deal?
Because you get the Companion Pass.
Southwest Companion Pass
Timed correctly the Companion Pass gets you 2 years of free flights for your companion on Southwest, not counting the $5.60 airport tax.
Yep, two years of free flights.
You could fly every weekend or every day.
As little or as much as you like.
Totally awesome, right?
Yep! Best Companion Pass ever.
But should you jump on this deal that lets you earn it quicker but you can only use it for 1 year?
Southwest made a similar offer last year. That was SO MUCH better.
Last year you could earn the Southwest Companion Pass after one purchase. And you earned 75,000 points after spending $5,000. Your Companion Pass was good for one year.
A lot of people took advantage of that offer. But is this offer worth it?
Let’s take a look.
How to Earn the Southwest Companion Pass
You have to earn 125,000 points in a calendar year to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. Update: Now you have to earn 135,000 points.
With the Companion Pass, you can get up to two years of free flights for your travel companion.
The quickest way to earn the Companion Pass is by applying for two Southwest credit cards.
Chase used to let you get two personal Southwest cards like the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card and the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Card on the same day. But not anymore.
But you can still apply for one personal card AND the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card.
So the trick is to apply for one personal Southwest card and the business card on the same day. Meet the minimum spending and then you’d have your Companion Pass for up to two years.
Pro-tip: You can get a 50,000 point bonus during a Southwest flight. Some airports also have the paper applications available at the counter. But you have to ask.
The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card has a bonus of 60,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening.
With the new personal Southwest credit card offer, you can get a Companion Pass sooner with less of a spending requirement.
Who Should Take This Offer
1. Earn Companion Pass Faster
If you want to earn your Companion Pass faster so you can travel in February, you should take this offer.
Because you’ll get a Companion Pass after meeting your minimum spending on one credit card: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, or the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card.
2. Uncomplicated and Easy
If you like things uncomplicated and easy, this is the bonus for you.
You don’t have to worry about earning the right amount of points. You don’t have a deadline to meet except for the minimum spending.
With this offer, earning your Companion Pass from the Southwest Premier, Southwest Plus, or the Southwest Priority card is easy.
3. Lower Spending Requirement
You have a lower spending requirement to earn a Southwest Companion Pass with this offer.
The minimum spending to get the Pass is $5,000.
So if making the minimum spending for two cards would be tight, then you should apply for this offer.
4. You Don’t Have a Business
If you don’t have a business or can’t qualify for a business card, you should get the 30,000 points and Companion Pass offer from one of the three personal Southwest cards.
5. Chase 5/24 Limit
If you’re nearing the Chase 5/24 limit and are planning on getting the Companion Pass this year then you should take this offer.
How to Maximize This Offer
If you can qualify for a business card, here’s how to maximize this offer.
Earlier I mentioned that the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card has a bonus of 60,000 points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months.
So you could apply for one of the personal Southwest cards: Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card, or the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card AND the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card.
As you would normally without this jump-start Companion Pass offer.
You’d earn 99,000 points and the Companion Pass. (30,000 points & Companion Pass + 5,000 points from spending from a personal card + 60,000 points from the business card + 4,000 points from the minimum spending. This offer has ended, the new offer is 50,000 points.
Which gets you very close to earning your Companion Pass.
Because even though your companion gets to fly for free, you don’t.
You have to either pay for your flight or use points.
By applying for a personal and business card from Southwest you have more points to use. And you can save your hard earned cash.
You’ll have your Southwest Companion Pass for two years! So you’ll have it through December 31, 2022! Think Hawaii!
Need help earning Southwest points? Read the ultimate guide to earning Southwest points.
Pro-tip: You can transfer points from cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card, Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card to Southwest.
Those points won’t qualify for the Companion Pass but you can use them to book flights.
Who Shouldn’t Take This Offer
1. Don’t Fly Southwest
If you don’t fly Southwest or have plans to fly Southwest this year, you shouldn’t take this offer.
Just because something sounds like a good deal doesn’t it’s a good deal for you.
2. Don’t Have Any Southwest Points
You shouldn’t apply for this offer if you don’t have any Southwest points.
As mentioned earlier, this bonus gets you 65,000 points.
3. Chase 24 Month Rule
If you’ve had a bonus on any of the personal Southwest cards in the last 24 months, you’re not eligible for this offer.
Conclusion
You can earn 30,000 points and a Southwest Companion Pass from all three personal Southwest credit cards: Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, or the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card. The Companion Pass from this offer is good through February 28, 2023.
Update: The credit card offer in this post is no longer available. The new offer is 50,000 points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first three months of opening your account.
But this offer isn’t the best deal for everyone.
This is a good deal if you want to earn your Southwest Companion Pass faster, you like things uncomplicated and easy, you want a lower spending requirement, and you don’t have a business.
You can maximize this offer by getting one of the personal cards AND the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card.
This will let you stretch out your Companion Pass for two years!
Short on Southwest points? Consider transferring points from the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card, Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.
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