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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 316330 times)

Offline mdrills

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1180 on: January 26, 2017, 08:53:04 PM »
Has anyone recently had success transferring from Marriott to SW to get the CP?

Offline Yaalili

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1181 on: January 26, 2017, 09:09:54 PM »
Has anyone recently had success transferring from Marriott to SW to get the CP?

Why shouldn't it work?

Offline mdrills

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1182 on: January 26, 2017, 09:10:53 PM »
Why shouldn't it work?
No reason just confirming...it's a lot of points  :)

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1183 on: January 26, 2017, 09:39:30 PM »
yes

Offline mdrills

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1184 on: January 26, 2017, 09:40:05 PM »

Offline ShlockDoc

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1185 on: January 26, 2017, 09:40:14 PM »
Has anyone recently had success transferring from Marriott to SW to get the CP?

I did it last week.

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1186 on: January 26, 2017, 09:41:35 PM »
I did it last week.
Have you gotten confirmation of your cp

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1187 on: January 26, 2017, 09:46:58 PM »
Are there any data points on marriott's willingness to extend the voucher from one year to 2?

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1188 on: January 26, 2017, 09:47:07 PM »
Have you gotten confirmation of your cp

I didn't get an email but I see it on my account online...

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1189 on: January 26, 2017, 09:47:34 PM »
Are there any data points on marriott's willingness to extend the voucher from one year to 2?

The rep said that it's no big deal but I'm guessing its YMMV.

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1190 on: January 26, 2017, 09:47:50 PM »
I didn't get an email but I see it on my account online...
Fantastic
Thank you

Offline mdrills

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1191 on: January 26, 2017, 09:48:31 PM »
The rep said that it's no big deal but I'm guessing its YMMV.
Cant go away from Jan until may so..... and this may is not really an option

Offline Hatikvah

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1192 on: January 27, 2017, 11:37:16 AM »
Is anyone familiar with upgrading the 7 night cert from a 1-5 category to higher one by points upgrade? The actual 1-5 I have is fairly unhelpful for me. But the higher category hotel in kauai.. :D

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1193 on: February 02, 2017, 11:43:25 PM »
Can I open a spg and marriot and southwest account for my 6 year old son so he can take his 2 year old brother as companion?

Offline mmgfarb

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1194 on: February 03, 2017, 12:24:32 AM »
Can I open a spg and marriot and southwest account for my 6 year old son so he can take his 2 year old brother as companion?
Why not?
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Offline 12HRS

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1195 on: February 03, 2017, 12:26:08 AM »

Offline Hamavin

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1196 on: February 03, 2017, 08:55:36 AM »
I can have an spg and marriot and southwest with his real age of 6?

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1197 on: February 03, 2017, 09:32:13 AM »
I can have an spg and marriot and southwest with his real age of 6?
I would create an account for my wife and wed both have kids as our companions

Offline 12HRS

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1198 on: February 03, 2017, 09:34:17 AM »
I would create an account for my wife and wed both have kids as our companions

maybe he already has and this is kid 5+6

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Re: Southwest Companion Pass Master Thread
« Reply #1199 on: February 03, 2017, 01:08:21 PM »
maybe he already has and this is kid 5+6
+1