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Last week I flew to Phoenix with my family. My wife and I each had promotional companion passes. My daughter was my companion, and my son was my wife’s. He’s under 2 and could have sat on a lap, but the extra seat is really nice to have. We earned those on a previous trip paid for using Sapphire Reserve’s $500 Southwest credit (for meeting $75,000 spend) that coincided with a promo the airline was running.
And the trip reminded me just how nice Southwest’s Companion Pass is. For all of the frustrations with the airline, Companion Pass provides great value. You take your designated someone with you on your paid ticket for just the cost of security taxes (so starting at $5.60 each way) and you can do this whether your ticket is paid for with cash or with points. There are no capacity controls. As long as there’s a seat available on the plane for them this works.
I was the second person to earn a Companion Pass in 2020. That lasted for nearly all of 2020 and for 2021. I repeated the exercise in 2022 and had one through 2023. But I’ve been sans Companion Pass for awhile.
Right now, though, a Companion Pass comes as part of the initial bonus offer on Southwest credit cards.
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card (See rates and fees)
The card has an offer to earn Companion Pass through 2/28/27 and 40,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Remember also that initial bonus points and spending on the card count towards earning Companion Pass, and cardmembers require fewer points to earn one also.
Card benefits include first checked bag free (for the cardmember and up to 8 additional passengers in the same reservation); no fee preferred seat at booking; Group 5 or earlier boarding for the cardmember and additional passengers on the same reservation.
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card (See rates and fees)
The card has an offer to earn Companion Pass through 2/28/27 and 20,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Cardmembers and up to 8 additional passengers in the same reservation can check their first bag at no additional cost and can select a standard seat within 48 hours prior to departure at no charge, when available.
I have A List status from my Sapphire Reserve’s spend. But the Southwest cards provide benefits that mitigate many of the frustrations of the new Southwest – they provide a free checked bag, waive seat fees for standard seats, and get you on board faster for access to overhead bin space. Plus with a Companion Pass baked into the value proposition in the first year, that’s a tremendous offer.
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Priority Credit Card
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
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