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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 316364 times)

Offline enwhycee

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #820 on: July 17, 2015, 05:41:02 PM »
Best options I've found so far are: Nassau, Cancun, Austin, and Charleston.

All around 15K RR each way.

Offline enwhycee

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #821 on: July 17, 2015, 05:43:38 PM »
Its annoying how most flights connect in MDW  ::)

Offline AJK

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #822 on: July 17, 2015, 05:45:35 PM »
The answer, from my experience, is nowhere. I've never seen a cheap last minute ticket on SW. Although, I am just about 99% positive that someone will chime saying I'm wrong and bring a proof.

Correct!
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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #823 on: July 17, 2015, 05:46:00 PM »
WN is notorious for not having long non-stop flights... for example there is no non-stop transcon... so most flights IME are max. 2-3 hrs

prob has something to do with their business model

Offline enwhycee

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #824 on: July 17, 2015, 05:46:55 PM »
Whats your definition of last minute? Within 21 days?

Online 12HRS

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #825 on: July 17, 2015, 07:04:38 PM »
WN is notorious for not having long non-stop flights... for example there is no non-stop transcon... so most flights IME are max. 2-3 hrs

prob has something to do with their business model

bwi-lax doesn't count as transcon?

Offline enwhycee

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #826 on: July 17, 2015, 07:19:21 PM »
bwi-lax doesn't count as transcon?

Wow thats a great flight for 9k.

4.5K each to go cross country.

Offline shoobi

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #827 on: July 18, 2015, 09:48:04 PM »

bwi-lax doesn't count as transcon?

My bad... But they still offer far less nonstop routes than the other airlines

Offline Bullmacher1

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #828 on: July 20, 2015, 11:43:55 AM »
Apologies if this has already been answered, though I searched and didn't find it.

Is it possible to transfer Hyatt points from my account directly to my spouse's southwest account or must they come from her Hyatt account? Trying to avoid the additional points lag.

BUMP

Offline bb1836

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #829 on: July 20, 2015, 12:07:25 PM »
if i book a flight with my companion and at the time of the flight the companions pass has expired, will it still work?
As @davidmal says: "Likes" feed the family

Offline zow

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #830 on: July 20, 2015, 05:40:35 PM »
if i book a flight with my companion and at the time of the flight the companions pass has expired, will it still work?
IME, no. I booked a flight for 2/2016, but my pass expires 12/2015, and the online system would not let me add the companion. Gave me an error message.

Offline bb1836

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #831 on: July 21, 2015, 02:09:24 PM »
if CP status was received by booking a refundable ticket, if the ticket is then cancelled can they revoke the status?
As @davidmal says: "Likes" feed the family

Offline Redbull3

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #832 on: July 21, 2015, 02:12:27 PM »
if CP status was received by booking a refundable ticket, if the ticket is then cancelled can they revoke the status?

How do you receive status by booking a ticket?

Offline bb1836

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #833 on: July 21, 2015, 02:13:14 PM »
How do you receive status by booking a ticket?
just a quick way of spending 4k
As @davidmal says: "Likes" feed the family

Offline Redbull3

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #834 on: July 21, 2015, 02:15:12 PM »
Oh I got you.

Offline bb1836

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #835 on: July 21, 2015, 02:17:55 PM »
Oh I got you.
how about the answer? anyone?
As @davidmal says: "Likes" feed the family

Offline enwhycee

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #836 on: July 22, 2015, 01:28:35 PM »
I just booked LGA-CHS for 15k with CP. Not bad.

Using a travel bank voucher on Jet Blue for the way back.

What's my best bet on a rental car in Charleston?

Offline D93

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #837 on: July 22, 2015, 02:00:29 PM »
I just booked LGA-CHS for 15k with CP. Not bad.

Using a travel bank voucher on Jet Blue for the way back.

What's my best bet on a rental car in Charleston?

You'd probably be better off asking here.

Offline enwhycee

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #838 on: July 22, 2015, 02:05:59 PM »
You'd probably be better off asking here.

Thank you, sir

Offline beeweegee

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #839 on: July 23, 2015, 02:20:41 PM »
I just tried adding a companion to my reservation made out of someone else's account, which from what I understand is not a problem, but I keep getting an error message. Think it's related to the fact that I didn't book from my own points?