Have You Earned Your Southwest Companion Pass Yet?

 

Even though Southwest had a meltdown over the holidays, hopefully that did not change your goal to earn the Southwest Companion Pass. 

If you have been following my blog, you know that I am working on earning my pass right now along with you. 

In fact, due to the meltdown, Southwest extended the expiration date for the 2022 companion pass to January 31, 2023 so if you had it last year, well, you get an extra month to use it. Southwest also added an extra month for those people trying to qualify for A-list and to earn the companion pass in 2022. But don't worry, this won't penalize those of us who are trying to earn the pass for 2023-24. 

The Southwest Companion Pass is the best travel perk out there. It's a BOGO pass for any flight, any time for up to two years. Amazing. 

I have had this pass for 6 years and I estimate the savings at thousands of dollars. I have used it to travel to the East Coast for college trips several times, for college family weekends, for travel to Cuba, Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica, New York City, Salt Lake City, New Orleans, Napa and so many more. 

In fact, last year, I didn't try to earn the pass again because I didn't think I would get much use out of it. Big mistake and I regretted that decision for most of 2022. 

To earn this pass, you need to collect 135,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year. It sounds like a lot, but we have discovered an easy way to get this done. You can read about it here. 

Or you can join my business partner Lyn with Families Fly FREE, she is hosting a webinar on Jan. 18th and 19th where she will explain simply how to do it and she is giving away prizes like 30,000 Southwest miles. Nice. You can register here. 

So if you are already working on your pass with me, how are you doing?

Consider this your check in.

Remember, we opened our credit cards in mid November so you need to keep an eye on that three month deadline to reach the minimum spend. Chase only gives you three months to spend the minimum which was $3,000 for the personal card and $5,000 for the business card. 

You can check your statement close date in your online Chase account and don't be afraid to pay that credit card bill early to trigger the bonus. I am planning a spring college scouting trip and I need those points asap to book the flights. You can always add a companion as long as there is any seat available on the plane. 

I went ahead and paid the bill early, but after January 1st just to be certain the points would credit in 2023 and NOT 2022.  

And bam, within a day or two, the bonus appeared in my Southwest Rapid Rewards account. 

I'm still waiting on the second bonus and the 10,000 points for having a Southwest credit card to drop into my account (Chase and Southwest say this will happen February 1st) to reach the 135,000 points and trigger the companion pass. 

That should happen soon! 

Let me know how you are doing on earning your pass and if you have any questions! 

And if this has sparked your interest in earning the pass, read this article and then consider using my referral link to apply for your Southwest credit cards.