Earn the Southwest Companion Pass for a year with the Southwest credit cards

The coveted Southwest Companion Pass is an elite travel benefit that’s almost too good to be true. This pass allows another passenger to fly with you for free (plus taxes) an unlimited number of times for the life of the pass. Traditionally, the pass is valid for the rest of the year it’s earned, plus the entire following year. This means, earn the pass now and you can ultimately fly buy-one-get-one all the way through December 31, 2025.

And thanks to the welcome bonuses from the Southwest credit card offers, there’s actually a straightforward way to earn this pass right now from the comfort of your house — with little effort required.

So how can you earn the pass with this card? And how does the Southwest Companion Pass work? Let’s dig into the details and find out if getting a Southwest Companion Pass makes sense for you.

What is the Southwest Companion Pass?

The Southwest Companion Pass is truly a no-strings-attached perk, as it comes with very few restrictions. The pass allows you to bring a companion with you on any Southwest flight for free, plus the cost of any taxes and fees, which are generally as low as $5.60 one way for a domestic flight.

The one main rule of the Companion Pass is there must be at least one seat available for sale in any fare class on a flight for which you’ve purchased your own ticket, either with cash or Southwest points.

On a standard-length Companion Pass, you’re allowed to change your companion up to three times per year (not including the initial companion), meaning in theory you could have as many as seven people as your companion over two calendar years.

To earn the pass, you must earn 135,000 qualifying points or fly 100 qualifying flights with Southwest in a calendar year. These points can be earned in three ways: paid flights booked through Southwest, base points earned from Rapid Rewards partners and points earned on Southwest credit cards.

That last method is the most important one, because this means that the welcome bonus offers on the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card and the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card will help you earn the pass almost imminently, from the comfort of your house.

The information for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card has been collected independently by CNN Underscored. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

Earning a Companion Pass with Southwest credit cards

There are currently five Southwest credit cards — three personal and two business — with sign-up offers that either come with or help you earn a Companion Pass. Here’s an overview.

And all of Southwest’s credit cards also include 10,000 Companion Pass qualifying points each year, getting you closer to the 135,000 Companion Pass point requirement.

The first three cards on the list are the personal Southwest credit cards — the Southwest Plus card, the Southwest Premier card and the Southwest Priority card. All three of these cards currently come with the same offer, allowing you to earn more than two-third of the qualifying points needed to earn the pass.

And with just one card, plus a little extra spend on the credit card, the pass can be yours in no time. Just note that all points much be earned with the same calendar year to qualify. If you’re looking to earn the pass for the 2025 and 2026 calendar year — which we recommend to maximize the length of the pass — you’ll want to wait until after January 1, 2025 to meet the minimum spend threshold. Because of this, we suggest waiting until October to apply for the card due to the three month minimum spend requirement.

Let’s put it all together to see the total points you’ll earn just from this one card. From the welcome offer alone, you’ll earn 85,000 qualifying points. You’ll then earn another 3,000 points from meeting the minimum spend requirement, assuming those points are earned in 2025. You’ll also earn 10,000 qualifying points towards the pass simply for being a cardmember on January 1st. Once added up, you’ll have 98,000 qualifying points — leaving you with just 37,000 points more to earn the pass. These points can be earned from regular credit card spend, partner offers, through the Southwest shopping portal and more.

But, if you don’t want to worry about earning the additional points needed, you can combine the personal card with either of the two Southwest business credit cards. While Chase won’t allow you to have two Southwest personal cards open at the same time, this doesn’t apply to the business cards.

For example, if you apply for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card and Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card, you’ll earn the Companion Pass almost immediately after meeting the minimum spend threshold on both cards. With the 85,000 points earned on the Southwest Priority and 60,000 points earned on the Southwest Premier Business, you’ll end up with 145,000 qualifying points — well past the 135,000 qualifying points needed. Just make sure to time your applications and spend threshold correctly to ensure that all points post in the same calendar year.

Which Southwest credit card should you get?

With many different Southwest credit cards, you might be wondering which card is best for you. With the Southwest Plus, Southwest Premier and Southwest Priority cards, you’ll earn 2 points for every dollar you spend on local transit, commuting (including ride-shares), internet, cable, phone services and select streaming purchases.

Then, with the Southwest Premier Business card, you’ll earn 4 points per dollar on Southwest purchases, while the Southwest Premier and Southwest Priority cards earn 3 points per dollar and the Southwest Plus card only earns 2 points per dollar spent at Southwest. All three cards then earn the same 1 point per dollar on the rest of your purchases.

Compared to other credit cards that earn rewards, that’s not the most lucrative earning rate. For instance, the Citi Double Cash Card®, earns 2% cash back on all purchases — 1% when you make a purchase, and another 1% when you pay it off.

But even though the earning rates on the cards aren’t market-leading, there are significant differences among them that make it worth considering your options. These include the annual fees, travel credits and the option to buy up to a better boarding position.

You’ll find the benefits of the Southwest Plus, the Southwest Premier and the Southwest Premier Business are similar. The Southwest Plus costs $69 on an annual basis, while the personal and business versions of the Premier cost $99 annually. All three cards now come with 25% back on in-flight purchases, as well as two EarlyBird Check-In credits per year, which can save you between $30 and $50 annually.

Then, aside from the number of points you can earn with each card, you’ll also find a difference in the number of bonus points you get every year after you pay the annual fee.

The Southwest Plus card comes with 3,000 bonus points (worth $42 at 1.4 cents per point, which is generally the value you get when redeeming for Southwest’s “Wanna Get Away” fares) on every card anniversary, meaning every 365 days from when you were first approved for the card. The Southwest Premier and the Southwest Premier Business come with 6,000 bonus points at each card anniversary, which are worth $84 at 1.4 cents per point.

Although the Southwest Plus card is the least expensive option for the first year, if this is a card you believe you’ll be keeping for years to come, you’ll find the Southwest Premier to be the better long-term value, thanks to the bonus points.

But the Southwest Priority personal card and the Southwest Performance Business card are where the big differences lie.

With the Southwest Priority card, you’ll pay a higher annual fee at $149 per year, but the benefits are significantly better. Not only do you earn 7,500 bonus points (worth $105) at each card anniversary, you’ll also receive a $75 Southwest travel credit every year and four upgraded boarding certificates annually. The $75 travel credit can be used toward any Southwest flight purchase — just pay for your flight or taxes on your Southwest card and you’ll receive a statement credit up to $75.

The Southwest Performance Business has the highest annual fee at $199 per year, but with this card, you’ll earn 9,000 bonus points (worth $126) at each card anniversary year, four upgraded boarding certificates annually, a Global Entry or TSA PreCheck fee credit and in-flight Wi-Fi credits.

You’ll notice that the two most expensive cards both come with upgraded boarding certificates, which are unique to Southwest since the airline boards its airplanes very differently than most other airlines. There’s no assigned seating — instead, you receive a boarding position based on your flight check-in time. Passengers are assigned into groups A, B and C, and can be anywhere between 1 and 60 within each group.

Upgraded boarding certificates normally allow you to purchase an A1 through A15 position at the gate (if available), giving you the option to be one of the first passengers to board and choose almost any seat you’d like, ensuring you’re not stuck in the back of the plane in a middle seat. Upgraded boardings typically cost $30 to $50 each, so if this is something you’d purchase anyway, you can put a $120 to $200 value on this benefit. You can even use these certificates for other passengers flying with you.

Taking into consideration all of these benefits, the value of the Southwest Priority and Southwest Performance Business cards far surpasses the value of the other three cards, both within the first year and every year thereafter.

Is a Southwest credit card right for you?

I’ve personally been a Southwest Companion Pass holder for over 15 years now, and it’s saved my family tens of thousands of dollars on travel. The pass allows my husband, my children, my parents and even friends to fly with me on every Southwest flight I take just for the cost of taxes. (Domestic taxes are $5.60 each way, while international taxes vary depending on the destination.)

The best part about the Companion Pass is that you can use all the Southwest points you earned from the sign-up bonus offers to book flights — you don’t lose them by getting the Companion Pass — and then still add your companion onto your ticket using the pass. This means both passengers are essentially flying for free except for taxes and fees, theoretically doubling the value of the sign-up offers.

So, if you want to have a Southwest Companion Pass in your hands, now’s the time to grab one or even two of these Southwest credit cards and get them working for you.

Southwest personal credit cards:
Learn more and apply now for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus card.
Learn more and apply now for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier card.
Learn more and apply now for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority card.

Southwest business credit cards:
Learn more and apply now for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business card.
Learn more and apply now for the Southwest Rapid Rewards Performance Business card.

Looking for a travel credit card? Find out which cards CNN Underscored Money chose as the best travel credit cards currently available.