If you’re a frequent Southwest Airlines customer in search of a travel credit card, now might be the time to consider adding one to your wallet.
Southwest and credit card partner Chase have announced a limited-time promotional offer that could land you access to the popular Southwest Companion Pass through February 2024!
This airline perk allows a designated traveler to accompany you on a flight at no additional airfare cost (taxes and fees do apply for the extra traveler).
Let’s take a look at this new offer, which details how your spending with the credit card could land you the pass.
How New Credit Card Customers Can Earn Southwest Companion Pass
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Cards from Chase are giving new cardmembers the opportunity to earn Companion Pass privileges through February 28, 2024.
This perk, along with 30,000 Rapid Rewards Points that don’t expire, can be earned by new cardholders after they spend $4,000 on purchases made with the card in the first three months from account opening.
The offer launched on February 7, 2023.
So, if you hurry to apply and hit your spending requirement, you can earn access to the Companion Pass for nearly a full year.
Which Credit Cards Can Earn This Offer?
Chase offers a handful of different Southwest Airlines co-branded credit cards, so let’s look at which cards are eligible for this limited-time Companion Pass offer:
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Premier Credit Card
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
How the Southwest Companion Pass Works
Companion Pass is a Southwest Airlines benefit that allows you to choose one person to fly with you, free of airline charges (does not include taxes and fees from $5.60 one-way) every time you purchase or redeem points for a flight.
Designate a Companion
Once you’ve earned the perk via your credit card welcome bonus, you’d need to follow these instructions from Southwest to select a companion and then book qualifying travel that includes them:
- Log in to your Rapid Rewards account at Southwest.com.
- On your Snapshot tab, find Choose Your Companion, click Enter Companion Info, and follow the instructions.
- Or, if you’d prefer, give Southwest a call at 1-800-435-9792.
- Once you’ve completed the process, a Companion Pass Member kit and membership card will arrive in seven to ten business days.
Traveling with your Companion
Now that you’ve set up your companion, Southwest provides the following instructions for booking travel with this person:
- First, book your flight and then, to book your Companion’s flight visit the My Trips section of your account.
- Find your flight in the Upcoming Trips section and click Add Companion. This link will take you to the price page of the Companion booking flow.
- Click Continue to go to the purchase screen and complete your preferred payment method for applicable taxes.
- Click Purchase to complete your Companion’s flight reservation.
Requalifying for the Companion Pass
If you hit the credit card spending bonus, you’ll enjoy that complimentary period of Companion Pass access through the end of February 2024.
But after that, you will be required to requalify for access to the Companion Pass on an annual basis.
To requalify for your Companion Pass, you’ll need to earn 135,000 Companion Pass qualifying points or fly 100 qualifying one-way flights in a calendar year. That’s a significant amount of travel!
But you’ll notice in the card descriptions above that there are other ways to accrue points aside from flying, and there are bonus categories that will multiply your points earned on select spending.
You can read more about the Companion Pass requalification process on Southwest’s website.
Final Thoughts
Though Southwest has had its share of bad press for the way it ended 2022, this is a piece of good news for the airline’s loyalists.
The Companion Pass is a great way to travel as a couple at a discounted rate. Money expert Clark Howard has a Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card in his wallet and has long held the Companion Pass for frequent travel with his wife.
If you have some traveling you’d like to do between now and February 28, 2024, grabbing one of the Southwest credit cards and meeting the welcome bonus spending requirement may be the easiest path to the Companion Pass you’ll find.
And if you’re a frequent Southwest traveler, there are some long-term perks that the Rapid Rewards credit cards could offer you to make one of them a solid addition to your wallet.
Will this new Companion Pass offer tempt you to sign up for a Southwest credit card? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.
