The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the greatest tools to getting tons of travel for free. Once you have it you’ll be able to designate a companion to fly with you for free on your Southwest flights, regardless if you paid with cash or points. Not only can you designate a companion to fly with you for free, but you can change this companion multiple times per year. And if you time it right you can have the Companion Pass for almost two years! This benefit is unlimited during this time – your companion can fly with you on every flight you take and there are no blackouts other than the fact that there has to be a seat available on the flight.

I earned my first companion pass in 2014 and since then either my wife or I have had one active – we typically alternate earning the pass so that we can always fly 2-for-1 on Southwest.

How to Earn the Southwest Companion Pass

Southwest provides two methods of earning the companion pass but only one of them is reasonable for a non-business traveler You could either take 100 flights (no thanks) or you could earn 125,000 qualifying Rapid Rewards points in a calendar year. 125,000 points might sound like a lot, but Chase is constantly offering Southwest credit cards that allow you to get the points needed fairly quickly and easily.

The 125,000 points must all be earned in the same calendar year. So if you earn one Chase sign-up bonus of 80,000 points in May and one 50,000 sign-up bonus in August of the same year, you are going to get the Companion Pass for the remainder of the year plus the following year. As you can see, earning the points earlier in the year helps you maximize the time that you have the pass. You don’t want to earn the points crossing Dec 31st (i.e. one bonus in November and another in January) because you won’t receive the Companion Pass that way.

Which Southwest Points Count Toward Companion Pass?

Through trial and error, I’ve discovered that the below all count toward the companion pass:

As you can guess by looking at the list above, there are a few shortcuts to earning a Southwest Companion Pass. The easiest of these is going to be to start with a Chase Southwest credit card so that you have a nice large base pool of points, and then you can add to it with other methods. Don’t worry if this sounds daunting – I’m going to explain exactly how to do this.

The Chase Southwest Credit Cards

Chase currently offers three personal Southwest cards and two business Southwest cards. Each of the cards is fairly similar, but here’s the breakdown:

Chase Southwest Plus Credit Card

  • Annual Fee: $69 (not waived)
  • Anniversary Bonus: 3,000 points each year you keep the card open
  • Note: You should only sign-up for this offer when it’s 50,000+ points

 

Chase Southwest Premier Credit Card

  • Annual Fee: $99 (not waived)
  • Anniversary Bonus: 6,000 points each year you keep the card open
  • Note: You should only sign-up for this offer when it’s 50,000+ points

 

Chase Southwest Priority Credit Card

  • Annual Fee: $149 (not waived)
  • Anniversary Bonus: 7,500 points each year you keep the card open
  • $75 annual Southwest travel credit
  • Four A1-A15 boardings every year
  • Note: You should only sign-up for this offer when it’s 60,000+ points

 

Chase Southwest Premier Business Credit Card

  • Annual Fee: $99 (not waived)
  • Anniversary Bonus: 6,000 points each year you keep the card open
  • Note: You should only sign-up for this offer when it’s 60,000+ points

 

Chase Southwest Performance Business Credit Card

  • Annual Fee: $199 (not waived)
  • Anniversary Bonus: 9,000 points each year you keep the card open
  • Free in-flight WiFi credits
  • Four A1-A15 boardings every year
  • Note: You should only sign-up for this offer when it’s 80,000+ points

 

In recent years Chase has added new rules on the Southwest cards that you need to follow.

First, Chase applies its 5/24 rule to these credit cards. This means that if you have opened 5 or more personal credit cards with any bank in the past 24 months then you won’t be approved for these cards. In general, business cards that you apply for are not included in this limit. 

You cannot get the sign-up bonus on a Southwest personal credit card if either of the below applies to you:

  • Currently have any Southwest personal card card
  • Have earned the new cardmember bonus on any Southwest personal card credit in the last 24 months

You earn the welcome bonus on a Southwest business credit card if either of the below applies to you:

  • Currently have that specific Southwest business credit card
  • Have earned the sign-up bonus on that specific Southwest business credit card in the prior 24 months

The Southwest credit cards commonly offer between 40,000 and 100,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points, both of which are short of earning the Companion Pass on their own. The easiest way to earn the Southwest Companion Pass is to sign-up for a personal Southwest credit card and a Southwest business credit card.

Applying for Chase Business Credit Cards

Chances are pretty good that you have a business and don’t even realize it. Do you sell items on eBay, tickets on StubHub, or any other type of income-generating activity? If so, then you do enough to qualify for a small business credit card as a sole proprietor.

Business credit cards aren’t true business credit – they’re based on your personal creditworthiness just like a personal credit card. 

When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor you should make sure to:

  • Use your own name as your business name (For example, business name = “John Smith”). Do not use “John Smith Consulting” unless you are truly registered with the IRS as John Smith Consulting. 
  • Use your own address and phone number as the business address and phone number.
  • Use your social security number as the business Tax ID. 

Earnings the Rapid Rewards Points

Southwest Rapid Rewards will post to your account a few days after the closing statement in which you complete the required minimum spending. As mentioned previously, you’ll want to ensure that you time your credit card applications and spending so that you will achieve two credit card bonuses in the same calendar year in order to have the Companion Pass for the remainder of this year plus next year. 

Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal

Shopping portals can be a great way to earn miles and points, and in this case, it’s worth checking out the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal. This is a great way to really boost your points earnings because in addition to the 1x point from spend on your credit card you’re going to get an extra multiplier. For example, I recently needed to place an order for my contact lenses and I spent $720 at 1-800 Contacts. Because I went through the Southwest shopping portal I earned 4x points on my order, which was an additional 2,880 points toward my Companion Pass. 

Final Words

The Southwest Companion Pass is easily one of the best deals in travel hacking and I’m all about getting the best deals! Not only does your companion get to fly with you for free everywhere you go, but you still get all the normal benefits of Southwest like free checked bags and the ability to cancel your flight up to 10 minutes before the trip!