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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 316417 times)

Offline chinagel

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1220 on: March 16, 2017, 11:47:24 PM »
You can transfer the SPG from your account to hers assuming they've both been open for thirty days and you have the same address on file. If that's not an option, you can pay $10 to transfer from your Marriott to hers, this is waived for plats and possibly if you tell them that it's for a specific redemption. Were those SW earned from CC's?
marriott is 50k limit a year and its waived even for golds

Offline mmgfarb

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1221 on: March 17, 2017, 01:12:16 AM »
marriott is 50k limit a year and its waived even for golds
Yep, forgot about the gold, doesn't help in this situation anyways because of the 50k cap.
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Offline 12HRS

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1222 on: March 17, 2017, 10:01:45 AM »
Yep, forgot about the gold, doesn't help in this situation anyways because of the 50k cap.

50k cap is overridden for a specific redemption. should be doable.

Offline nifty21

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1223 on: March 17, 2017, 01:27:58 PM »
Thanks. Yeh the 65k was cc. Except my wife Durant gave her own dog just a shared card

Offline nifty21

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1224 on: March 17, 2017, 05:27:38 PM »
Opened SPG account for my wife so I could transfer to but says it has to be open for 30 days. Any way around that? Should I just transfer my points to my marriot account (just opened) and from there pay $10 to transfer to my wife (also just opened) and then she can transfer to southwest? I don't have gold status with marriot. Will they let me transfer 120k to my wife?
« Last Edit: March 17, 2017, 05:31:36 PM by nifty21 »

Offline mmgfarb

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1225 on: March 17, 2017, 06:04:37 PM »
Opened SPG account for my wife so I could transfer to but says it has to be open for 30 days. Any way around that? Should I just transfer my points to my marriot account (just opened) and from there pay $10 to transfer to my wife (also just opened) and then she can transfer to southwest? I don't have gold status with marriot. Will they let me transfer 120k to my wife?
If you tell them it's for a specific redemption (nights+ flights package) they should let you do it for free.
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Offline nifty21

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1226 on: March 21, 2017, 12:13:09 PM »
Do you think I can still pull it off or the miles won't post to southwest before the first?

Offline yakovwogi

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1227 on: March 21, 2017, 12:51:54 PM »
Do you think I can still pull it off or the miles won't post to southwest before the first?
Should be good. Takes only 2 days or less in my experience

Offline nifty21

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1228 on: March 21, 2017, 01:21:04 PM »
K thanks

Offline mmgfarb

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1229 on: March 21, 2017, 02:52:49 PM »
Do you think I can still pull it off or the miles won't post to southwest before the first?
I would do it as soon as you can, no reason to put yourself in a situation where you'll have to fight for it, I have a feeling SW is going to be very strict with this.
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Offline nifty21

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1230 on: March 21, 2017, 03:52:44 PM »
tried transferring my 120k marriot points to my wife but they said it exceeds the 50k limit. I told them I'm helping her complete the nights and flights certificate. They said I need an actual reservation booked. What do I do?

Offline nifty21

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1231 on: March 21, 2017, 04:00:00 PM »
anyone have luck letting you transfer points from one spg member on an account that's less than 30 days old?

Offline 12HRS

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1232 on: March 21, 2017, 04:49:47 PM »
tried transferring my 120k marriot points to my wife but they said it exceeds the 50k limit. I told them I'm helping her complete the nights and flights certificate. They said I need an actual reservation booked. What do I do?

have them make a speculative booking in the process.

Offline nifty21

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1233 on: March 21, 2017, 05:02:14 PM »
Can I cancel without a charge?

Offline mmgfarb

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1234 on: March 21, 2017, 05:08:42 PM »
Can I cancel without a charge?
Yes, look for a hotel beforehand that'll be the right number of points and check the cancellation policy, then call, transfer, book, call back and cancel.
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Offline Moshe26

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1235 on: April 21, 2017, 12:48:41 AM »
if i recently got my CP- Havent yet added my DW. question is would i be able to add my bro as CP and book a flight for sept then change the CP to DW and fly with her beforehand (summer time) and still be able to fly with my bro in sept eventho he is no longer my current companion?  TIA

Offline 12HRS

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1236 on: April 21, 2017, 12:50:42 AM »
if i recently got my CP- Havent yet added my DW. question is would i be able to add my bro as CP and book a flight for sept then change the CP to DW and fly with her beforehand (summer time) and still be able to fly with my bro in sept eventho he is no longer my current companion?  TIA

won't work.

make wife companion, fly in summer
make bro companion, fly in september

Offline Moshe26

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1237 on: April 21, 2017, 07:33:17 AM »
won't work.

make wife companion, fly in summer
make bro companion, fly in september
I will do that I just wanted to book flights now as they are sooooo cheap 10k points round trip

Offline skinfarrock

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1238 on: April 21, 2017, 07:51:22 AM »
I will do that I just wanted to book flights now as they are sooooo cheap 10k points round trip
Book now. Add companion later

Offline Moshe26

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1239 on: April 21, 2017, 01:58:01 PM »
Book now. Add companion later
are u saying I can book 2 tickets now total will be about 35k points (price went up) and then in Sept change my  companion to my bro call sw and they'll give me back my 17k points for him?