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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 316318 times)

Offline AJK

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #900 on: February 23, 2016, 04:19:51 PM »
Yup. Little known (awesome) bennie.
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline wonderlust

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #901 on: February 23, 2016, 04:27:28 PM »
Yup. Little known (awesome) bennie.

Does this set off any known flags?

Offline wonderlust

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #902 on: February 23, 2016, 04:29:02 PM »
So if someone was an A-list member they can get status even while booking an award thru someone else's account?

Offline ShlockDoc

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #903 on: February 23, 2016, 04:30:01 PM »
So if someone was an A-list member they can get status even while booking an award thru someone else's account?

Yes.

Offline AJK

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #904 on: February 23, 2016, 05:59:26 PM »
Does this set off any known flags?
NAFAIK
2015: 116K bkd | 1.6M brnd | F: OZ,NH,AA,EK | J: UA,CA,TK,DL,TN,AF,VA | LIH,NRT,ROR,PEK,CNS,BOB,MEL,TLV & Pacific Hopper

Offline ShlockDoc

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #905 on: February 23, 2016, 06:01:13 PM »
Does this set off any known flags?

There's nothing wrong with it.  I'm always switching between my account and my wife's account buying for us or others.  Southwest doesn't care who buys the ticket...

Offline Yellow

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #906 on: March 01, 2016, 02:33:38 PM »
Random question, my sister and brother in law want the southwest companion pass. But they both screwed it up and each got a personal card. For some reason they closed them before meeting the spend requirement and getting the bonus's ( :o )

At this point is there anything they can possibly do? I'm thinking maybe they can try to reinstate the card(s) (and hopefully they'll extend the timeframe to meet the spend requirement) and then apply for the business card as well.
If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears!
Thanks!
« Last Edit: March 01, 2016, 02:37:34 PM by Yellow »

Offline D93

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #907 on: March 01, 2016, 06:07:17 PM »
Random question, my sister and brother in law want the southwest companion pass. But they both screwed it up and each got a personal card. For some reason they closed them before meeting the spend requirement and getting the bonus's ( :o )

At this point is there anything they can possibly do? I'm thinking maybe they can try to reinstate the card(s) (and hopefully they'll extend the timeframe to meet the spend requirement) and then apply for the business card as well.
If anyone has any other ideas, I'm all ears!
Thanks!

Did the spend threshold date pass yet?

Offline yyss

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #908 on: March 03, 2016, 09:53:13 AM »
does any one know if you reach 110k from sw card signup bonus and get a companion pass, and then close the card . does that affect your abbility to use the companion pass? I am assuming that they are not dependent on each other, but can someone confirm this?

Offline yakovwogi

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #909 on: March 03, 2016, 09:55:26 AM »
does any one know if you reach 110k from sw card signup bonus and get a companion pass, and then close the card . does that affect your abbility to use the companion pass? I am assuming that they are not dependent on each other, but can someone confirm this?
confirmed- once the points post and you have earned the pass you are good

Offline yyss

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #910 on: March 03, 2016, 09:58:15 AM »
confirmed- once the points post and you have earned the pass you are good
thx

Offline Ergel

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #911 on: March 03, 2016, 11:57:38 AM »
Why can WN (bid to) fly to Cuba, but not to YYZ?
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

Offline bb1836

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #912 on: March 23, 2016, 02:48:20 PM »
I'm sure it was mentioned before but just to clarify...im able to use points in my account even before i hit the 110k and it won't mess up my progress towards CP correct?
As @davidmal says: "Likes" feed the family

Offline yakovwogi

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #913 on: March 23, 2016, 02:49:13 PM »
I'm sure it was mentioned before but just to clarify...im able to use points in my account even before i hit the 110k and it won't mess up my progress towards CP correct?
correct, just have to EARN 110 in a calendar year.
Not bank them until you earn the pass...

Offline yyss

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #914 on: March 30, 2016, 11:25:05 PM »
if you had a bad flight experiance and a rep adds points to your account as a compensation will those points count toward a cp?

Offline Aaaron

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #915 on: March 31, 2016, 11:43:38 AM »
if you had a bad flight experiance and a rep adds points to your account as a compensation will those points count toward a cp?

Check the CP chart on your RR account?

Offline chucksterace

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #916 on: May 07, 2016, 10:21:29 PM »
Status note. Transferred Marriott to SW yesterday, Friday May 6, and points showed up today.

Companion Pass Achieved .
You may not hold me responsible for any actions taken that were recommended from my account or username.

Offline ttn

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #917 on: May 08, 2016, 09:49:52 AM »
up till when can i cancel  the annual fee for the southwest premier and get the annual fee back?
thanks

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #918 on: May 08, 2016, 10:16:18 AM »
up till when can i cancel  the annual fee for the southwest premier and get the annual fee back?
thanks
I believe 60 days.

Offline GAM Z.

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #919 on: May 08, 2016, 10:19:31 AM »
up till when can i cancel  the annual fee for the southwest premier and get the annual fee back?
thanks
You can cancel up to 180 days and ask for it back. Within 60 days, you'll get it back automatically.