The Southwest Companion Pass is the most ridiculously amazing benefit in the history of airlines. This benefit allows you to choose anyone you want (which you can change twice throughout the year) to fly free with you every time you purchase or even if you redeem points for a flight. How to earn the Southwest Companion Pass: A) Fly 100 one-way flights in a year…or earn 135,000 Qualifying Points in a calendar year, and you will earn Companion Pass for the following full calendar year, plus the remainder of the year in which you earned it.
If you aren’t planning to take 100 flights next year (only the most hardcore business travelers hit that with flights), but you still think the companion pass sounds like a great idea (I mean who wouldn’t?), then you can earn it the way we have done EVERY year since 2014, via credit card sign-up bonuses. You need 135,000 points to get the pass…and YES credit card sign-ups count.
Currently (as of December 2024) the Southwest Rewards Plus Card is 40k (minimum spend of $3k), and the Performance Card is 80k (minimum spend of $5k). So once you hit the minimum spend on both of those cards you will be sitting at 128,000 qualifying Southwest points. This means you will only need 7k points to earn your companion pass for ALL of 2005 + ALL of 2026!
Timing: You want to earn the pass as early in the year as possible because the pass is valid until the end of the following year (i.e. earn the pass on 12/15/2024 and it’s good until December 31st of 2025. Earn the Southwest Companion Pass on say 1/15/2025 and it’s good until December 31st of 2026. BOOM!).
– Sign up for the Plus Card first. It will take a few weeks to receive your card. Get your card, and change all your automatic payments to the new card (like Netflix, Apple Pay, car insurance, cell phone, grub hub, amazon, home insurance, renters insurance, etc)
– Sign up for the Business Performance Card (currently 80k point sign-up bonus). This card is very helpful (but not mandatory) if you have an LLC you can use it. This can be a business you help your partner with, and need this card for expenses, or your own LLC. If you do not have an LLC you can still apply as a sole proprietor, you will just likely need to call the reconsideration line and speak to them and explain your business.
– It will take a few months to hit your minimum spend to earn the sign-up bonuses. BUT REMEMBER, don’t hit the minimum spend amount in the last few months of the year…whenever possible hit them in Jan/Feb/March, so you can have the companion pass as long as possible!
– Remember: You will be awarded the sign-up bonus in the month when you hit your minimum spend, so make sure you hit the 2k minimum spend after January 1st.
Note: We do not work for Southwest, we simply love their company ethos…and their rewards program is hands down the best in the world. We do not make any money if you use the links above, they are our personal “share-with-a-friend” links, so Southwest gives us miles if you sign up via those links.
Note #2: If you are a traveling couple, only one of your should sign up for these card offers to earn the companion pass for 2025 + 2026…then at the end of 2026 your partner can earn the pass and take you as their companion (Anne and I have had the companion pass EVERY YEAR since Jan 2014)
If this blog post helps you figure out how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass we’d LOVE to see a photo of you on your first Companion Pass flight together. Share it over on our Facebook wall and we can inspire even more award travelers!
Questions about how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass
And if you have any questions about how to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, just ask them in the comments below, or send us a DM on Instagram, or email….we are here to help!
And if you have read this far you are obviously intrigued by the miles & points game….so you should go subscribe to our miles & points newsletter, where we highlight the best offers, travel hacks, and other deals in the travel space. Drop your email over here fam!
Huge love!
Mike & Anne