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Southwest Companion Pass.

What is it:

The SW CP is arguably the most valuable airline perk available today. It allows you to bring a companion with you for free on any Southwest flight, regardless of whether you are on a revenue or award ticket. All you pay are the government taxes on the ticket. The pass works for all Southwest flights, including international flights. The pass also works on Airtran flights that are sold on Southwest.com. Airtran flights that are not sold on Southwest.com are not eligible.
Like all other Southwest award bookings, the CP is not subject to any capacity controls, and as long as there is still a seat for sale on a particular flight, it is yours.
The pass is valid for the year it is earned in and the entire next calendar year. If you earned your CP in July 2014, your pass will be valid for the remainder of 2014 and the entirety of 2015.

How to get it:

The SW CP is obtained by earning 125,000 Southwest points in one calendar year. For example, if you earned 8k points by flying at the beginning of 2014, you need to earn another 117k points throughout the rest of 2014 in order to qualify for CP. Once 2015 rolls around, the points you've earned in 2014 no longer qualify for earning your CP, although they will still be redeemable points.

The primary method of accumulating Southwest points is CC signup bonuses. The Southwest CC frequently offers 50k point signup bonuses on all 4 flavors of Southwest cards and signup bonuses count towards earning the CP. Get approved for 2 of these cards, meet the 2k spending requirement on each and you are only 21k points away from the CP.

All points earned through the Rapid Rewards shopping mall also count towards SW CP eligibility.
Points transferred from Hyatt, Club Carlson, Marriott, and Wyndham all count towards CP status.
Points transferred from Ultimate Rewards do not count towards CP, although you can transfer can transfer 50K Ultimate Rewards points into 50K Hyatt and 50K Hyatt transfers into 30K Southwest.

Points earned by crediting hotel stays and car rentals to Southwest also count towards CP.

Using the CP:

Using your CP is very simple. Once you book a flight on Southwest, an "Add a companion" button will appear under your reservation. Just fill out the info and pay the taxes and you are done.
It is best to add your companion right when you book your own flight as there have been instances where people have forgotten to add their companion, the flight subsequently sold out and they were not able to add their companion. One thing to keep in mind is that online changes with a companion booked are not possible, you need to cancel the companion, wait 10-15 min, make the change and then add the companion again. You can make the necessary changes over the phone though.
You can change your companion up to 3 times during the life of your CP. (I believe you can change it 3 times per calendar year.)

« Last edited by pointer on January 23, 2020, 03:35:55 PM »

Author Topic: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread  (Read 316311 times)

Offline bobthebuilder

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Re: Southwest credit card companion pass
« Reply #120 on: November 24, 2013, 04:22:16 PM »
Hey im kind of new to this and was wondering if i transfer points from say my starwood card to my southwest account and that  equals 110k will that get me a companion pass??
SPG transfers to SWA?

Offline BigDanFan

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Re: Southwest credit card companion pass
« Reply #121 on: November 24, 2013, 04:34:10 PM »
Yes :(
(Unless you're ready to open another card (a third) and hold off with your second until '14.)

Yes, I was thinking of that and it would work,
BUT -- the 50K bonus is gone, so I'd really have to spend another $55K!
...too hard...
#DDSCLE,#DDSLA, spg platinum 2016,

Offline Shmulyg

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Re: Southwest credit card companion pass
« Reply #122 on: November 24, 2013, 05:12:15 PM »
Yes, I was thinking of that and it would work,
BUT -- the 50K bonus is gone, so I'd really have to spend another $55K!
...too hard...
It'll be back soon enough.

Offline Redbull3

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Re: Southwest credit card companion pass
« Reply #123 on: November 24, 2013, 07:57:25 PM »
Can someone familiar with this help me out? Step by step instructions if you don't mind lol

I have 50k RR in an existing account, and just got premier and plus (50k each), signed up with blank ffn's. One of the new ones closes 12/1 and one closes 12/8, so I plan to do the spend in mid December so all the points post in Jan, then close the cards to get the fees refunded.
Anyway do I need to first make sure that all 3 of my RR accounts are merged? How do I go about doing that. Also, will it be a problem if they are merged into my existing one with 50k? Because i already got those points from a sw premier a couple of months ago - will it "not work" if they try to post the bonus to a RR account that already received the bonus?

Offline jaywhy

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Re: Southwest credit card companion pass
« Reply #124 on: November 24, 2013, 10:38:41 PM »
Can someone familiar with this help me out? Step by step instructions if you don't mind lol

I have 50k RR in an existing account, and just got premier and plus (50k each), signed up with blank ffn's. One of the new ones closes 12/1 and one closes 12/8, so I plan to do the spend in mid December so all the points post in Jan, then close the cards to get the fees refunded.
Anyway do I need to first make sure that all 3 of my RR accounts are merged? How do I go about doing that. Also, will it be a problem if they are merged into my existing one with 50k? Because i already got those points from a sw premier a couple of months ago - will it "not work" if they try to post the bonus to a RR account that already received the bonus?
Definitely wait until the points post before attempting a merge. If the 100k points are earned in 2014, the earlier bonus should not affect CP eligibility.

Offline RJ898

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #125 on: November 24, 2013, 11:08:05 PM »
I've never flows southwest before. Got my companion pass and just booked a ticket.
I have a kid that will be 2.5 months by the time I travel.
Assuming they treat him like any other infant (even though I used a cp) am I guaranteed a seat if I'm at the gate on time? (considering they first board families with children)
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Offline askmoses

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #126 on: November 24, 2013, 11:41:50 PM »
I've never flows southwest before. Got my companion pass and just booked a ticket.
I have a kid that will be 2.5 months by the time I travel.
Assuming they treat him like any other infant (even though I used a cp) am I guaranteed a seat if I'm at the gate on time? (considering they first board families with children)
Hey RJ! Welcome to the CP club! I doubt they will have a seat for the infant if it's a sold out flight. They simply let you board early bc of the child, however being that they sold every seat (just no seat assignments) you will not have a seat for the baby.

I did notice on my LGA-LAX flight today (of course with companion in tow) today that they did family boarding immediately after group "a". This means if you are meticulous with your online check in time you might land a better spot in line then the family boarding.

Offline jaywhy

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #127 on: November 25, 2013, 12:13:00 AM »
I've never flows southwest before. Got my companion pass and just booked a ticket.
I have a kid that will be 2.5 months by the time I travel.
Assuming they treat him like any other infant (even though I used a cp) am I guaranteed a seat if I'm at the gate on time? (considering they first board families with children)
What I do is either preboard or do family boarding, find an empty row of 3 and put my daughter in the middle seat while my wife and I take the aisle and window. People walk by and assume that she's ticketed and find another place to sit. Worked for getting a row for ourselves on every flight we've taken except for a fully sold out flight.

Offline Redbull3

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #128 on: November 25, 2013, 07:08:16 AM »

Definitely wait until the points post before attempting a merge. If the 100k points are earned in 2014, the earlier bonus should not affect CP eligibility.

So if I wait, I'll be earning 110k across 2 ffn. Then I merge them and the companion pass should just appear? Is that what people do?

Offline lfas25

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #129 on: November 25, 2013, 11:18:21 AM »
So if I wait, I'll be earning 110k across 2 ffn. Then I merge them and the companion pass should just appear? Is that what people do?

I used the same number for both cards.
I only paid 15% by switching to dansdeals

Offline alpicone

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #130 on: November 25, 2013, 02:13:47 PM »
Hey RJ! Welcome to the CP club! I doubt they will have a seat for the infant if it's a sold out flight. They simply let you board early bc of the child, however being that they sold every seat (just no seat assignments) you will not have a seat for the baby.

I did notice on my LGA-LAX flight today (of course with companion in tow) today that they did family boarding immediately after group "a". This means if you are meticulous with your online check in time you might land a better spot in line then the family boarding.

If you book a seat using the companion pass why wouldn't you have a ticketed seat for the infant?

Offline george

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #131 on: November 25, 2013, 02:48:34 PM »
I've never flows southwest before. Got my companion pass and just booked a ticket.
I have a kid that will be 2.5 months by the time I travel.
Assuming they treat him like any other infant (even though I used a cp) am I guaranteed a seat if I'm at the gate on time? (considering they first board families with children)
Companion pass is irrelevant here. What matters is whether or not you have a ticket for the infant. If you do, the infant will have a seat. If the infant does not have a ticket, then it depends on whether the flight is sold out. If it is, the infant will not have a seat, no matter if you board first, last, or anywhere in between. If the flight is not sold out, they will allow you to put the infant in a seat, as long as you board early enough to grab two seats next to each other - one for you, one for infant. If you board and there aren't two empty seats next to each other, do not expect them to start moving other passengers around so that you can have a seat for your unticketed infant next to you.
As mentioned above, family boarding on Southwest is after Group A, IOW there will be up to 60 passengers already on the plane when you board.

Offline magnus

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #132 on: November 25, 2013, 04:20:00 PM »
IOW there will be up to 60 passengers already on the plane when you board.

Unless your flight has a pre-leg from somewhere else that has a lot of hold over passengers.

I've flown WN with CP and an infant.  Wife got the CP ticket and infant was free as a lapchild.  Since we preferred to put the infant in a car seat while flying, we always asked at the counter to see if there was a full flight so that I could know if I could use my car seat or not.  When the flight is plenty empty, they'll give you the thumbs up.  But when there are only 2-3 seats open, they may tell you that with only a couple seats left, they can't guarantee you a seat by showing you priority over other lapchild situations.  In this latter case, we decided to just gate check our car seat, and used the child (a little over a year at the time) sat in the middle seat between us.  We ended up getting the seat, which left me thinking that I could have just taken the car seat on.


Offline george

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #133 on: November 25, 2013, 04:23:02 PM »
Unless your flight has a pre-leg from somewhere else that has a lot of hold over passengers.

I've flown WN with CP and an infant.  Wife got the CP ticket and infant was free as a lapchild.  Since we preferred to put the infant in a car seat while flying, we always asked at the counter to see if there was a full flight so that I could know if I could use my car seat or not.  When the flight is plenty empty, they'll give you the thumbs up.  But when there are only 2-3 seats open, they may tell you that with only a couple seats left, they can't guarantee you a seat by showing you priority over other lapchild situations.  In this latter case, we decided to just gate check our car seat, and used the child (a little over a year at the time) sat in the middle seat between us.  We ended up getting the seat, which left me thinking that I could have just taken the car seat on.
Always take car seat on; worse comes to worst they will gate check it for you after you board.

Offline Dan

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #134 on: November 25, 2013, 04:36:56 PM »
Always take car seat on; worse comes to worst they will gate check it for you after you board.
Some experts say that checking a carseat is as bad as having it go through a car accident, after either of which you have to throw it away.
I never gate check a car seat, 95% of the time I get a seat but otherwise I fit it in the overhead or in the closet.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #135 on: November 25, 2013, 04:49:05 PM »
Some experts say that checking a carseat is as bad as having it go through a car accident, after either of which you have to throw it away.
I never gate check a car seat, 95% of the time I get a seat but otherwise I fit it in the overhead or in the closet.
Interesting.

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #136 on: November 25, 2013, 04:49:58 PM »
Do they let you put in closet if your in economy?

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #137 on: November 25, 2013, 04:57:58 PM »
Then again,  Dan probably wouldn't know the answer to that question :-P

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #138 on: November 25, 2013, 05:21:28 PM »
Do they let you put in closet if your in economy?
YMMV but they should find a spot if you explain the issue.

Mimi and I were once flying with her sheitel case and there was no room for it in the overhead so she stuck it by her feet.
The FA didn't like that it didn't fit all the way so she said she would have to gate check it.
Mimi opened it to take out the sheitel and all the sudden the FAs demeanor did a 180 and she apologized profusely over and over again and stuck the case in the closet.
:)
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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #139 on: November 25, 2013, 05:56:23 PM »
YMMV but they should find a spot if you explain the issue.

Mimi and I were once flying with her sheitel case and there was no room for it in the overhead so she stuck it by her feet.
The FA didn't like that it didn't fit all the way so she said she would have to gate check it.
Mimi opened it to take out the sheitel and all the sudden the FAs demeanor did a 180 and she apologized profusely over and over again and stuck the case in the closet.
:)
Ha! You think she thought you were transporting decapitated heads?