I flew Southwest Airlines this past weekend to Washington DC and met the nicest couple on board (I hope Bonnie is reading this 😀). We got to talking about points and miles and their future travel plans.
I want to share their situation with you because it is the model scenario for when it makes sense to jump ON the new Southwest Companion Pass promotional offer that ends on March 19th. This offer is a Southwest Companion pass valid through February 28, 2024 and 30,000 Southwest points for opening one personal Southwest credit card and spending $4,000.
The Southwest Companion Pass is the best travel perk out there. It is a BOGO on any Southwest flight as many times as you want for as long as the pass is valid.
Usually, you need to earn 135,000 Southwest points in a single calendar year to get the pass. You can earn those points by opening credit cards, flights, shopping and more.
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Why This Couple Should Take Advantage Of The New Southwest Companion Pass Offer
Bonnie's boyfriend earned the promotional Southwest Companion Pass last February through a similar offer and it expired Feb. 28th 2023. You are eligible to earn a bonus from a Southwest personal credit card just once every 24 months and you can only hold one personal card at a time. So in this case, Bonnie's boyfriend is NOT eligible to earn another bonus until February 2024 so our regular two credit card method to earn the pass won't work for him.
But Bonnie's boyfriend shared with me that he travels for work and actually has more than 100,000 Southwest points in his account.
So in this case, Bonnie could apply for the Southwest personal credit card promotion offer and get the Southwest Companion Pass and 30,000 points. She does not have a business and would not qualify for a business credit card.
But when they go to book their flights, here's the go around.
The boyfriend should book Bonnie's flight using his points and include her Rapid Rewards number in the reservation. Once the reservation shows up in Bonnie's Southwest account, she can actually add her boyfriend as her companion and he will fly for FREE using the companion pass. Make sense?
Once the promotional companion pass expires in February 2024, the boyfriend should be eligible to earn the bonus again. At that point, he can follow our plan, open two credit cards and get the regular companion pass valid for two years and lots more points OR if Southwest offers the promotional pass again, he could hop on that and they can keep trading off.
For this couple, the promotional offer is a good one! If it is good for you too, please consider using my referral link.
