How to Earn the Last Few Points for Southwest Companion Pass

The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the most sought-after perks in the airline industry, especially in the United States where Southwest Airlines operates the majority of its flights.

This benefit allows you to choose one companion to fly with you for almost free on Southwest flights (you still have to pay for any mandatory taxes and fees levied on that flight). Obviously, this perk can be extremely valuable, particularly if you take a lot of Southwest-operated flights while the benefit is valid.

How to Earn Companion Pass

To earn the Southwest Companion Pass, you’ll need to meet one of the following two qualifications:

• Fly 100 qualifying one-way flights in a calendar year.
• Earn 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year.

Before Southwest implemented its 24-month welcome bonus rule (which states that you can earn only one welcome bonus on a personal Southwest co-branded credit card in a 24-month period), it was possible to earn the Companion Pass quickly by signing up for two Southwest cards and earning the bonus on both. Unfortunately, it’s now a little harder to earn the Companion Pass due to these current restrictions.

The good news is that the 24-month bonus rule doesn’t apply if you earn one welcome bonus from a consumer credit card and one from a business credit card. So, it’s still possible to get the Companion Pass (or at least get close) by signing up for a Southwest business credit card and a Southwest personal card.

The welcome bonus offers on the Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card and Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card vary, see below for the current welcome offers on these cards.

The information for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card has been collected independently by 10XTravel.com. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Sometimes these welcome bonuses are labeled as “limited-time offers” on Chase’s website, so you may need to act fast if you want to earn one of these offers.

Once you’ve earned a bonus from a Southwest personal credit card, you can then earn a second welcome bonus from a Southwest business credit card within the same year.

The Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card and the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card tend to offer welcome bonuses that are slightly higher than the bonuses on the personal cards. So, depending on the current welcome offers on Southwest personal and business credit cards, you may be able to immediately earn the Companion Pass just by signing up for two credit cards or at least get yourself pretty close to the 135,000-mile requirement.

However, when chasing the Southwest Companion Pass, there are a few other things to be aware of, such as the Chase 5/24 rule and the requirements for a business credit card. So, let’s discuss the easiest ways to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, which credit cards will get you there and ways to earn a few thousand extra points if you’re close.

Side-By-Side Comparison of Southwest Credit Cards

As previously mentioned, the easiest way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass is to sign up for one Southwest business credit card and one personal credit card. All Southwest co-branded credit cards are issued by Chase. With the current welcome offers, you can earn the Companion Pass by signing up for any one Southwest consumer credit card and any Southwest business credit card.

However, before you open any of these cards, you should consider factors other than the welcome bonus to determine which of these cards is going to be the best for your wallet in the long term. So, here’s a side-by-side comparison of every Southwest co-branded credit card.

As you can see, most of these Southwest co-branded credit cards offer fairly similar spending bonuses and other benefits with slight differences. So, when choosing which of these cards to apply for, you’ll want to look at your spending patterns as well as each card’s benefits and annual fees.

Of course, if your sole reason for opening these cards is to earn the Companion Pass, then you’ll want to sign up for cards with the lowest annual fees, which would be the Southwest Plus Card and the Southwest Premier Business Card.

Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Overview

As previously mentioned, to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, you’ll need to either complete 100 qualifying flight segments in a calendar year or earn 135,000 Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year.

It’s worth noting that not all Rapid Rewards points contribute toward the Companion Pass. Only points earned from revenue flights booked through Southwest, points earned from co-branded Southwest credit cards and base points earned from Rapid Rewards partners can help you earn the Companion Pass.

Once you earn the Companion Pass, it will be valid for the remainder of the year in which you earned it as well as the entirety of the following year. For instance, if you were to qualify for the Companion Pass in June 2024, the benefit would be valid for the rest of 2024 as well as all of 2025. For this reason, it’s better to earn your Companion Pass earlier in the year.

If you want to book a flight using the Companion Pass, you’ll need to book a flight for yourself first. Then, visit the “My Trips” section of your Rapid Rewards online account. Find the flight on which you’d like to use the Companion Pass in the “Upcoming” section and if there are empty seats left, click on the “Add Companion” link. Finally, add your plus-one’s information and complete the reservation.

Companion reservations made using the Companion Pass won’t earn any Rapid Rewards points or tier qualification points (TQPs).

It’s worth noting that you can change your designated companion up to three times per calendar year that you maintain Companion Pass privileges. That means that you could potentially use your Companion Pass to book free flights for up to seven different people over its validity term (four in the first year and three in the second year). Keep in mind that if you change back to a previous companion, it still counts toward your limit of three changes per calendar year.

If you want to update the name of your designated companion, you’ll need to do so by calling Southwest Rapid Rewards customer service.

Companion Pass Rules to Consider

When trying to earn the Companion Pass, there are some rules and restrictions to be aware of. Let’s take a look at some of these rules and restrictions so you can avoid wasting time and money.

Transferred points don’t count

When trying to reach the 135,000-mile threshold, you should be aware that points transferred into the Rapid Rewards program from other rewards programs don’t count toward the Companion Pass.

For example, it’s possible to transfer points into the Rapid Rewards program from Chase Ultimate Rewards as well as several hotel loyalty programs (including Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt), but none of the points transferred from these programs will help you earn a Companion Pass.

Purchased or shared points don’t count

Rapid Rewards points that are purchased from Southwest and points that are transferred between Rapid Rewards members won’t contribute towards earning a Companion Pass.

Also, purchasing and sharing points are both bad options outside of the fact that they won’t help you earn a Companion Pass. Southwest offers points for purchase at an unfavorable rate and charges a hefty fee for transferring points from one member to another. It’s best to avoid these two options in general.

Remember Southwest’s 24-month bonus rule

As previously mentioned, Southwest and Chase have implemented a rule that forbids cardmembers from earning more than one welcome bonus on Southwest personal credit cards within a 24-month period. So, if you apply for a second Southwest personal credit card less than 24 months after you signed up for your first Southwest personal credit card, you may be approved for the card, but you can expect to be denied eligibility for the welcome bonus on that second card.

Luckily, this rule won’t apply if you open one personal credit and one business credit card. So, you should be able to earn the welcome bonus on a Southwest personal credit card and then earn another bonus on a Southwest business credit card within a single calendar year, which could earn you enough points for a Companion Pass.

You must be a “small business owner” to qualify for a business credit card

To qualify for a business credit, you need to be a small business owner. However, for this purpose, the definition of a “small business owner” is broad. Of course, if you operate a limited liability company, limited liability partnership, corporation or partnership, you should qualify for a business credit card.

You also can be approved for a business credit card if you operate a sole proprietorship, which includes gig economy workers (including food delivery and rideshare drivers), self-employed business owners (such as babysitters, online sellers and bloggers) and freelancers (including real estate agents, freelance web developers, builders, plumbers and electricians).

So, even if you don’t think of yourself as a small business owner, if you have some sort of self-operated money-making gig, you should be able to qualify for a business credit card (which is a great asset when trying to earn a Southwest Companion Pass).

Be considerate of Chase’s 5/24 rule

Another rule to be aware of if you’re trying to earn a Companion Pass with credit card welcome offers is Chase’s 5/24 rule. This unwritten rule essentially states that Chase won’t approve an application from someone who has opened five or more credit cards from any issuer within the last 24 months. There are several exceptions and nuances of this rule, but that’s the basic idea.

So, if you plan on applying for a Southwest credit card (issued by Chase) in the future, then you’ll want to make sure that you’re under that 5/24 threshold so that you can make sure you get approved. Otherwise, your plan to earn the Companion Pass with credit card welcome bonuses may be ruined.

Other Ways to Earn Your Companion Pass

As previously described, the easiest way to earn the Companion Pass is by signing up for one Southwest personal credit card and one Southwest business credit card and earning the welcome bonuses on both cards in the same calendar year.

With the impressive current welcome offers on all Southwest credit cards, opening a Southwest personal and business card will get you a Companion Pass immediately even if you’re starting with zero Rapid Rewards points in your account.

However, these welcome offers change often. And if some of these offers drop, then you may need to earn some extra Rapid Rewards points in other ways to reach the 135,000-point threshold required for the Companion Pass. Likewise, if you aren’t a small business owner and aren’t able to qualify for a business credit card from Southwest, then you’ll need to figure out other options of earning enough points for a Companion Pass.

So, let’s look at some of the ways that you can rack up Rapid Rewards points quickly and get yourself closer to buy-one-get-one flights.

Southwest Credit Cards Refer-A-Friend Bonus

If you already have a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card, a great way to rack up a large sum of points quickly is to use Chase’s Refer-A-Friend program. For every friend you refer who opens a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card through your link, you’ll earn 20,000 points. You can refer up to five people per year, which means that you could earn up to 100,000 points per year, which is most of the way to the Companion Pass.

For instance, you could open one of the three Southwest personal credit cards, earn the 75,000-point welcome bonus, then refer three friends and earn an additional 60,000 points in Refer-A-Friend bonuses, which would bring you to the 135,000 points required for the Companion Pass. If you aren’t able to qualify for a business credit card from Southwest, this is perhaps the easiest way to earn a Companion Pass.

Fly Southwest (And Book with a Southwest Credit Card)

One of the best ways to quickly earn Rapid Rewards points is the old-fashioned way—by taking flights with Southwest Airlines. You’ll earn miles for every flight and you can boost these earnings by booking “Anytime” or “Business Select” fares.

Here’s how many Rapid Rewards points you’ll earn with each Southwest fare type:

• Wanna Get Away – 6X points
• Wanna Get Away+ – 8X points
• Anytime – 10X points
• Business Select – 12X points

For instance, if you book and fly a $500 flight (before taxes and fees) on a Business Select fare, you’ll earn at least 6,000 Rapid Rewards points. However, if you were to book that flight with the Southwest Premier Credit Card (which earns 3X points per dollar spent on purchases with Southwest), you’d rack up an additional 1,500 Rapid Rewards points, bringing your total to 7,500 points for that flight alone.

As you can see, flying with Southwest and booking those flights with Southwest co-branded credit cards is an excellent way to quickly boost your Rapid Rewards points balance.

Book Stays Through Southwest Hotels (and Use a Southwest Credit Card)

When booking hotels through Southwest Hotels (Southwest’s online hotel booking portal), you can earn up to 10,000 points per night. While this is proudly displayed on the front page, the truth is that most hotel stays booked through this portal will offer just 1X point per dollar spent, excluding taxes and fees. However, it’s not uncommon to find hotels that offer between 3,000 and 5,000 Rapid Rewards points per night in some locations.

So, while booking stays through Southwest Hotels probably won’t earn you a Companion Pass on its own, it’s definitely still worth earning a few points here and there by booking your stays through Southwest Hotels. Plus, you can earn even more points by paying for your Southwest Hotels bookings with a Southwest credit card.

For instance, if you were to book a stay at the Riu Plaza Manhattan Times Square for one night, you’d earn 3,000 Rapid Rewards points.

However, if you were to pay for your $304 stay with a Southwest Performance Business Card (which gets 3X points on Rapid Rewards hotel partner purchases), you’d earn an additional 912 points. That brings your total to 3,912 Rapid Rewards points for booking a one-night hotel stay.

So, if you stay in hotels often and you’re trying to earn a Southwest Companion Pass, then booking your hotel nights through Southwest Hotels (and paying for them with a Southwest credit card) can definitely help get you there.

Join the Rapid Rewards Dining Program

While many loyalty programs have their own dining rewards programs, Rapid Rewards Dining is particularly lucrative as far as these programs go. By joining the program and opting in for email communication, you’ll earn 3X points per dollar spent at participating restaurants. If you don’t opt in for emails, you’ll earn 1X point per $2 spent at participating restaurants. Don’t worry—you can always send all emails from Rapid Rewards Dining straight to your spam folder.

You’ll also receive several milestone bonuses after becoming a Rapid Rewards Dining member. For one, you’ll earn a bonus after you complete your first dine of more than $25 and submit a restaurant review within 30 days after your first dine. Then, you’ll earn a “first step” bonus of 500 points after you earn your first 1,500 points through the Rapid Rewards Dining program. After that, you’ll earn a bonus of 300 points for every 1,000 points that you earn through the program.

To use the Rapid Rewards program, you can enroll online and then link any credit card or debit card. Then, the program will track your spending at participating restaurants automatically. Plus, if your linked card is a co-branded Southwest credit card, you’ll earn an additional 1X point per dollar. That means you could earn a total of 4X points per dollar at restaurants that are Rapid Rewards Dining partners.

Again, earning points this way isn’t going to get you all the way to a Companion Pass on its own, but every little bit counts.

Pay Your Power Bill

If you’re going for a Southwest Companion Pass, one great way to rack up a lot of Rapid Rewards points quickly is to switch your energy provider. Southwest partners with several energy companies and offers bonuses of between 5,000 and 15,000 points for making the switch, depending on which provider and which plan you go with.

Here are Southwest’s energy partners, which U.S. states and how many points you could earn by enrolling with them.

As you can see, you can actually earn a good number of Rapid Rewards points by switching your energy provider. Of course, you’ll want to compare the rates offered by your current energy provider and the ones listed above before making the switch.

If you live in Texas and you sign up for the Reliant Secure 24 plan and link your Rapid Rewards account, you’ll earn 21,000 points in the first year of service, which can definitely help you get closer to a Companion Pass.

The Bottom Line

The Southwest Companion Pass is essentially a buy-one-get-one-free deal on flights, which is extremely valuable, especially at a time when airfare prices are so high. So, it’s no wonder that the Companion Pass is one of the most coveted perks in the airline industry.

To earn this benefit, you need to either complete 100 qualifying flight segments or earn 135,000 qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year (which is the easier option).

Luckily, with the great current welcome bonuses being offered by Southwest credit cards, you could instantly earn the Companion Pass by signing up for two cards and meeting the spending requirements on both. Unfortunately, Southwest now forbids members from earning more than one welcome bonus on a personal credit card in any 24-month period. So, you’ll have to sign up for a Southwest personal credit card and a Southwest business credit card.

If you don’t qualify for a business credit card, you do have other options for racking up enough Rapid Rewards points for the Companion Pass. Booking flights with Southwest, booking stays through Southwest Hotels, referring a friend to a Southwest credit card and switching your energy provider to a Southwest partner can all help you earn enough points for the legendary Companion Pass.