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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 316343 times)

Online AsherO

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #20 on: January 09, 2013, 01:59:09 PM »
Data Point:
I transferred in some Wyndham points on the last day for the year to put me over 110k.
They posted on 1/2, with a date of 12/31 in the description.
I sent a message to SW, and they confirmed for me that I'm eligible for the companion pass!

(Too bad I will probably only use it once)

I transferred Hyatt and they posted 1/2 with the dscription saying 12/31/12, I emailed SW, no response yet.
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Offline LAXtraveler

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #21 on: January 13, 2013, 03:53:36 PM »
Would love to get the companion pass, but can't get the business app right now. Personal is in the bag already. Any suggestions on how to get the remaining 60k (or so) RR points without a business app and without transferring hordes of UR through Hyatt?

Offline Drago

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #22 on: January 13, 2013, 04:01:45 PM »
Would love to get the companion pass, but can't get the business app right now. Personal is in the bag already. Any suggestions on how to get the remaining 60k (or so) RR points without a business app and without transferring hordes of UR through Hyatt?
Wait till the next big shopping portal promo they have?
FM did this I believe to great benefit last year.

Online AsherO

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #23 on: January 30, 2013, 10:17:51 AM »
I transferred Hyatt and they posted 1/2 with the dscription saying 12/31/12, I emailed SW, no response yet.

They denied me, but this AM I got an email saying "Congratulations! You've just earned Companion Pass status", but my account still shows:



Data Point:
I transferred in some Wyndham points on the last day for the year to put me over 110k.
They posted on 1/2, with a date of 12/31 in the description.
I sent a message to SW, and they confirmed for me that I'm eligible for the companion pass!

(Too bad I will probably only use it once)

Did you get a CP confirmation email? Do you show it on your acct?
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Offline myb821

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #24 on: January 30, 2013, 10:35:22 AM »
it shows 0 bc u earned it last year that status is for earning it this year

Offline Drago

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #25 on: January 30, 2013, 10:39:06 AM »
it shows 0 bc u earned it last year that status is for earning it this year
+1
The email should have instructions I think about what to do. Chk it out

Also, good news, SW is allowing companion tik benefits on some Airtran routes. Hopefully, they'll roll out more during the year. This gives a bunch of international destinations.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/southwest-rapid-rewards/1432118-airtran-flights-bookable-southwest-com-points.html
« Last Edit: January 30, 2013, 10:42:38 AM by Drago »

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #26 on: January 30, 2013, 12:49:32 PM »
it shows 0 bc u earned it last year that status is for earning it this year

But what about on the right where it shows current status: not active?

+1
The email should have instructions I think about what to do. Chk it out

Also, good news, SW is allowing companion tik benefits on some Airtran routes. Hopefully, they'll roll out more during the year. This gives a bunch of international destinations.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/southwest-rapid-rewards/1432118-airtran-flights-bookable-southwest-com-points.html

Any chance we qualified for 2014 as well, or am I dreaming?
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Offline Yaalili

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #27 on: April 10, 2013, 07:46:58 PM »
Slight OT. Just saw on MMS that anyone with Companion pass status could match to virgin america gold for free, nice bonus.

Offline MEIR613

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #28 on: April 10, 2013, 07:49:14 PM »
Slight OT. Just saw on MMS that anyone with Companion pass status could match to virgin america gold for free, nice bonus.
Repost ;D

Offline Yaalili

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #29 on: April 10, 2013, 08:00:13 PM »
Repost ;D

Really? I only saw it as i continued reading the thread, that's completely OT. (UR adds VA = WN matching VX???)

Offline MEIR613

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #30 on: April 10, 2013, 08:01:25 PM »
Really? I only saw it as i continued reading the thread, that's completely OT. (UR adds VA = WN matching VX???)
Agree, but he still mentioned it first.

I'm just playin

Offline meshugener

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #31 on: April 10, 2013, 08:39:53 PM »
Meir, what's going on with you today? Its not the first time you do that today.
You remind me of....
Love me or hate me. I still love you.

Offline MEIR613

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #32 on: April 10, 2013, 08:57:12 PM »
Meir, what's going on with you today? Its not the first time you do that today.
You remind me of....
Having one of my days.....

Offline frumeyid

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #33 on: April 14, 2013, 12:41:17 PM »
How long does it take to get your companion pass once you have 110k points? Also, how do i find out my southwest account number once I sign up for the ccs? Im assuming they automatically assign one to you is that right?

Offline askmoses

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #34 on: May 22, 2013, 03:52:30 PM »
How long does it take to get your companion pass once you have 110k points? Also, how do i find out my southwest account number once I sign up for the ccs? Im assuming they automatically assign one to you is that right?
Normally [when churning] you make a new SW RR acct# and use that number.

My question is as follows. Dan wrote earlier http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/28880 that 50k UR routed via HGP will turn into 30k RR points. However it seems from the chart on Hyatt to be less then that?? I am short 21,062 points for companion and want to earn the full amount. My CC statement just closed and points posted so I don't want to wait a full month longer to close on the 62 points and really want to earn it right away. So question is can I transfer over 36k UR and have it become 21.6k RR or is it only on 50k transfers I earn the full 60% points worth on HGP--->RR transfer?

Offline magnus

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #35 on: May 23, 2013, 01:10:51 AM »
Normally [when churning] you make a new SW RR acct# and use that number.

Regarding churning, do you then merge your old and new accounts or keep them separate (perhaps to avoid suspicion from WN?) and if necessary, use your old account's RR pts to buy the new account "owner" a ticket?

Offline askmoses

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #36 on: May 23, 2013, 08:09:21 AM »
Regarding churning, do you then merge your old and new accounts or keep them separate (perhaps to avoid suspicion from WN?) and if necessary, use your old account's RR pts to buy the new account "owner" a ticket?
IME they realize on their own a bit down the line you have two accounts. They email you to merge them... Any answers on how many UR points I would need to transfer to get 21,062 Companion Pass qualifying RR points?

Offline SPLP

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #37 on: May 23, 2013, 08:37:43 AM »
IME they realize on their own a bit down the line you have two accounts. They email you to merge them... Any answers on how many UR points I would need to transfer to get 21,062 Companion Pass qualifying RR points?


Convert Points To Miles

Receive 1 mile1 for every 2.5 Hyatt Gold Passport points you convert, starting with a minimum of 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points.

Earn 5,000 Bonus Miles when you convert 50,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points.
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50,000 Points

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Hyatt Gold Passport Point conversions can be made in 1,250 increments.
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1 Exceptions

Use of the term 'miles' is a generic term that refers to all travel partner currency, including credits, kilometers, miles and points. The following travel partners support different conversion ratios:

If you convert: 5,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points you will receive:

4,000 Aeromexico®/LAN Airlines S.A. kilometers

3,200 Air China kilometers

3,200 China Eastern Airlines points

2,400 Qantas Airways points

2,400 Southwest Airlines® points

3,000 Virgin Atlantic Airways miles

Offline askmoses

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #38 on: May 23, 2013, 09:01:17 AM »
Yes I saw this... maybe I'm crunching the numbers wrong but I don't want to do 50k UR transfer over if I don't need... prob is to do the calculation I need Hyatt Points in the account which I don't have. I don't want to transfer over more then I need...

Offline SPLP

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Re: Southwest year long companion pass
« Reply #39 on: May 23, 2013, 12:51:46 PM »
Yes I saw this... maybe I'm crunching the numbers wrong but I don't want to do 50k UR transfer over if I don't need... prob is to do the calculation I need Hyatt Points in the account which I don't have. I don't want to transfer over more then I need...
i think i gave u all the info u need