The Southwest Companion Pass is one of the best travel deals available!  With the current limited-time offer, you can earn the pass quickly and start enjoying free airfare for your companion. Don’t miss out on this opportunity! 

What is the Companion Pass:

The Southwest Companion Pass lets you add a designated companion to your ticket and that companion flies for free (excluding taxes). You can add a free traveling companion whether you pay for your ticket with points or cash. The pass is highly coveted due to its ease of use and minimal restrictions. You can use the pass as many times as you want during its validity, and you can change your designated companion up to 3 times per year.

Here’s the important part:  Once you earn the required qualifying points, the companion pass is valid for the remainder of the calendar year in which it is earned and ALL of the following year.  For example, if you hit the 135,000 on 10/31/25, your Companion Pass is valid through the end of 2025 and all of 2026.  Therefore, the earlier in the year that you can hit the 135,000, the longer you will have the benefits of the companion pass.   The goal is to earn the pass in early 2026, so how do you do that?

How to earn the Companion Pass:  

To earn the Companion Pass, you need to accumulate 135,000 Southwest Rapid Reward points in a CALENDAR year.  The timing is VERY important because you want to earn your welcome bonus in January and complete the remainder of the point accumulation in that same year!

Points earned through credit card bonuses, credit card spending, or revenue flights all count towards the required points.  Additionally, if you have a Southwest Airlines credit card, you’ll automatically receive 10,000 points towards the pass, reducing your requirement to 125,000 points.  Typically, the quickest way to reach 135,000 points, without extensive travel, is obtaining welcome bonuses from two different Southwest Credit Cards.

2025 Strategy:  With the current Limited Time Welcome Bonus, you can get close to earning the companion pass with just one credit card!

Southwest Airline’s Chase co-branded credit cards are currently offering a 100,000-point welcome bonus if you spend $4,000 in the first 5 months of opening the card, which is sufficient to get you to CLOSE to a Companion Pass (especially when combined with the points from your actual spend).   

The strategy in 2025 is to open the card in September, but WAIT to hit your $4,000 spend until early January 2026.  This way your bonus will count towards the Companion Pass in 2026.  If possible, wait to spend most of your $4,000 until 2026 so it will count towards the necessary 135,000 points.  

You will receive a 10,000 bonus from Southwest, which leaves you with approximately 21,000 more points to earn.  

How to earn Rapid Rewards points

• Flights taken with paid tickets
• Points earned from credit card spend, including the multiplied points on bonus categories
• Points earned from the Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping portal (exception: seasonal bonuses from the portal do not count)

Card Descriptions:

Click on this link to find out more about the Southwest cards and to apply:  Southwest Credit Card or visit our credit card page.

(we might receive compensation if you use our links-Thank you)

Chase’s Credit Card Application Restrictions:

• 5/24 rule: If you have opened 5 or more consumer cards from any provider in the last 24 months you probably won’t be approved (see our Free guide for more information, which you can download below).

• 24 Month Rule: If you’ve previously had a card before, you can only get a welcome offer on that card again if you no longer have the card AND if it has been more than 24 months since you last received a welcome offer for that card. 

• Reconsideration: If denied, call (800) 453-9719 for business cards, and ask for your application to be reconsidered. Sometimes its merely a matter of moving some credit card limits around or clarifying that you are an authorized signer on someone else’s card and which should not count towards your 5/24 limit.

If you have any questions or want help deciding which card is best for you, we offer free credit card consultations by emailing us travelmore@360traveltips.com and write consultation in the subject line.