Southwest is offering a pretty great welcome bonus right now, and it's perfect timing to earn a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass Promotion! In this post, I will walk you through the step-by-step process to earn a Companion Pass for most of 2026 and all of 2027. If you follow the steps and open two credit cards, you'll have buy-one-get-one-free plane tickets for almost two years.
How to Earn a Southwest Airlines Companion Pass
- Use this link to open a new Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit Card by September 17, 2025.
- Pay the annual fee of $99 on your first month's bill.
- Spend $4,000 on this credit card in the first five months of opening the card, but NOT BEFORE January 2026.
- Get a sign-up bonus of 100,000 points in January 2026.
- Use this link to open a Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Business Credit Card.
- Pay the annual fee of $149 on your first month's bill.
- Spend $3,000 on this credit card in the first three months of opening the card.
- Get a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points.
Make sure to watch your account closely and be careful not to meet the minimum spend on the personal card until January 2026. If you meet the minimum spend too early, your points will be added to your account in 2025, and the plan won’t work. But if you follow these steps, the incredible Companion Pass is yours, cue happy dance.
You’ll earn a Companion Pass for the remainder of the year in which you earned it (2026), plus the following full calendar year (2027). You can use the 167,000+ points to “buy” your tickets, so you won’t have to pay cash for your tickets for quite some time.
What's So Great About the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass?
The Southwest Companion Pass is the benefit that allows you to choose someone to fly with you for free whenever you purchase or redeem points for a flight. You do have to pay $11.20 in fees for round-trip domestic flights, but that's essentially free. International flights have higher fees, but it's less than $150.
You can change your “companion” up to 3 times a year. You used to have to call and wait on hold to do this, but now you can easily change the person who will fly with you for free online. I went to New York with my daughter as my companion, then I changed it to my husband for our family trip to Maui, and then I changed it to my sister when we went on a girls' trip to Florida.
Do not add anyone as an "authorized user" when you are applying for a credit card. If you add someone as an authorized user, they won't be able to get a sign-up bonus for their own card. Because it lasts for almost two years, I'll earn a Companion Pass, and then two years later I'll refer my husband. Then he can earn his own. So every two years, we alternate who has a Companion Pass. Yes, they will give you another sign-up bonus every two years, crazy, I know.
Other Benefits You Get With a Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card
You get a free checked bag for yourself and up to 8 additional passengers in the same reservation. For a family of 5, this would be a savings of $350 on one round-trip flight. In January 2026, you will need to pay to select your seats. But with a branded credit card, you can get complimentary standard seat selection within 48 hours of departure.
Cardmembers and up to 8 passengers in the same reservation will board with Group 5, giving them earlier access to overhead bins. Your Rapid Rewards points never expire and are not linked to your credit card, so even if you close the card, you can keep your points.
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