Southwest Companion Pass: How I Always Fly Free Domestically

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Since January 2020, I have taken 21 trips where I have only had to pay $5.60 each way. Ok so that’s not actually free, but pretty dang close. I’ve paid more for a bottle of water in the airport!

My secret weapon: the Chase Southwest Credit Card. By accruing 125,000 qualifying points in a calendar year, you earn the coveted Companion Pass for the rest of that calendar year + the following year. This Companion Pass allows you to bring a designated companion on any flight for just $5.60 each way (the cost of the taxes). And there are no blackout dates/flights! As long as there is a seat left on the flight, you can use the Companion Pass.

Thomas and I first signed up for this credit card in 2019 and have earned the Companion Pass every year since. He is the primary on the card and I am an authorized user, so we both have physical cards with our names but the same card number. All points earned from this credit card are also able to be redeemed for flights, so on many of these trips, Thomas has also flown free. Unlike some airlines, these points also never expire! Southwest also flies internationally and the same rules apply, so I’ve flown to Cabo and Costa Rica this way as well (note: there are higher taxes to pay for international flights).

Airline loyalty is really the key here. I’ve always experienced great customer service on Southwest and always look forward to flying with them. We live in Chicago and both Midway (a Southwest Hub) and O’Hare airports are roughly the same distance from us, but we fly out of Midway 95% of the time to take Southwest flights (note: Southwest does now fly out of O’Hare as well but we are yet to find a case where that’s a good deal financially and logistically). When booking in advance, Southwest has almost always been the cheapest option, and we wouldn’t be paying to fly business or first class on any other airline, so the fact that Southwest only has economy seating throughout the plane doesn’t bother us. Their open seating policy used to be a pain because we’d have to remember to check in exactly 24 hours ahead of time for a good boarding position, but since 2021 we’ve had A-list status and automatically get A boarding passes. And of course, Southwest offers all passengers 2 free checked bags, which we don’t usually take advantage of, but it comes in handy when we go skiing. Southwest also doesn’t have change fees, so you’re able to keep your plans flexible and if you see that the fare drops lower than what you paid, you can be refunded the difference.

An important thing to note about the Companion Pass is that you can only transfer the designated companion 3 times per year, so you can’t just bring a new person with you every time you fly. The Companion Pass works so well for us because Thomas and I almost always travel together, so it may not be that good of a deal for you if you always fly solo.

During Covid, Southwest even surprised everyone and gave thousands of extra qualifying points (not ones you can redeem to fly) to every Rapid Rewards member, making it much easier to reach the 125,000-point goal. They also periodically have flash sales where you can earn a temporary companion pass for a couple of months, so keep an eye out for those.

Ways to Earn Qualifying Points

The #1 way is to spend money with a Chase Southwest Credit Card. We put almost every expense we can onto this credit card (paying it off in full every month!) until we earn Companion Pass status and then we put expenses onto our other travel credit card.
- As the chart below shows, you can earn 1 point per dollar spent on all purchases, but some purchases can be higher, including Southwest purchases, transportation expenses, etc.
- Although it’s only applicable once, the signup bonuses can help make securing a Companion Pass the first year much easier.
Taking flights will also earn you points. The amount will depend on the tier of ticket purchased and the flight cost.
Shopping through rapidrewardsshopping.southwest.com
- Much like sites like Rakuten, shopping through this portal is free but gives you bonus points on every dollar spent at participating stores. Shopping portals that only earn you points towards one airline (as opposed to flexible transferrable points) aren’t generally considered as valuable, but if the companion pass is the goal, use the Southwest shopping portal.

Different Tiers of Chase Southwest Credit Cards

There are 3 different levels of Southwest Credit Cards: Plus, Premier, and Priority. We had the Premier card until a couple months ago, when we upgraded to the Priority because we calculated that the extra points earned + the $75 annual Southwest travel credit more than make up for the extra annual fee.

Referral Offer

If you’re interested in getting a Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card, I recommend being really strategic and signing up at the beginning of the calendar year to give yourself the most time to earn the Companion Pass.

Use this l i nk to earn 50,000 bonus points (that’s already 40% of the way to a companion pass!) when you sign up for any Southwest Rapid Rewards personal credit card. Business owners can earn up to 80,000 bonus points with Southwest Rapid Rewards business Credit Cards. In the spirit of full transparency, I’ll earn 20,000 points if you use my link.